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I love community theater, and I love youth community theater, and I love youth community theater showcases because you get everything from an adorable nine-year-old singing an incredibly off-key acapella rendition of "Defying Gravity" to a deadpan teenager belting out "Dead Mom" with the vocal passion of a Broadway superstar then walking off stage without any reaction to the applause. I was in tears for both.

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Wondering, because my voice teacher gave me "Faites-lui mes aveux" to practice, and she says it suits my voice, in terms of range and tessitura (I'm a soprano, and I have also been practicing this insane piece at the same time; without the interpolated high F-sharp in this recording, obviously, but with a written high C-sharp).

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2, 7, and 12 for the opera ask!

Thank you!

2-Opera people might be surprised to know you love

I think most of the operas I like come as no surprise to anyone. I feel like I'm very predictable. Maybe Il trovatore because it doesn't have any trouser roles in it.

7-Opera character with whom your friends would most identify you

I have like 1 irl friend who also likes opera lol. And on here it might honestly be kind of varied. It'd definitely be a trouser role (unless it was Elisabeth from Don Carlos). Maybe Cherubino per my previous answer or Nicklausse because of the gay writer thing. I'm honestly not sure. I have a hard time perceiving myself. What do you all think? (New ask game unlocked)

12-Favorite opera director

Surprising no one, Bartlet Sher. I've adored everything of his I've seen, and he did my favorite productions of two of my favorite operas. I'm SO SAD that his Faust wasn't filmed. I get it was killer. Also I really want to see him do Le nozze di Figaro some day.

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3,4, 5, 17 for the opera asks!

Thanks!

3-Opera you haven't yet seen that everyone assumes you've seen

Probably Rigoletto, I've been asked about it but haven't seen it.

4-Opera you're most looking forward to exploring in the near future

Probably The Hours. It's next on my to-watch list. Just have to wait for that magical moment where my free time and decent internet speeds align. I can't wait to see so many of my favorite divas onstage together and all that gay 🌈

5-Favorite opera character

Cherubino. For several reasons. One, he's like one of the best trouser roles ever and one of the most well-known so he's really easy to talk about in the opera community. He's very relatable with his youthful confusion and mischievousness. So many amazing performers have sung him so there are so many amazing recordings of him. We love to feel sorry for him. Plus, on a more personal note, he was a big part of my gay awakening growing up and Teresa Berganza's "Voi che sapete" got me through a lot of tough times in my angsty teen years.

17-Most under-rated opera

For me it would definitely be Flotow's Martha. It has everything--catchy tunes, heartrending arias, the ubiquitous "let's loudly proclaim how quietly we're leaving!" chorus, insanely witty libretto, fun twists and turns, the quintessential soprano-tenor/mezzo-baritone couples, disguises, drama, hilarity, and soooo much more. Contains hands-down my favorite comic love duet ever and I still lose my mind every time I hear it. It hurts my heart that this opera isn't in the mainstream repertoire and I really have no idea why because it's SO GOOD and it's not super long or even that hard to pull off, each act is self-contained in a single setting (except the last which has 2 scenes) so on the technical side it wouldn't be very hard. I have so many fantasy casts of this opera. Everyone should go watch it right now. (There's a great video on youtube if anyone's interested.)

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since apparently tumblr is being unhelpful about reblogging quiz links with polls:

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fam i think me & my work husband are broken up

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Opera Asks Meme!

Thought it would be fun to create one of these, so, here we go, for those who want to participate:

Favorite opera generally

Opera people might be surprised to know you love

Opera you haven't yet seen that everyone assumes you've seen

Opera you're most looking forward to exploring in the near future

Favorite opera character

Opera character with whom you most identify

Opera character with whom your friends would most identify you

Opera character you would most like to be (situationally speaking)

Opera character you would most like to sing (does not have to be your voice part!)

Favorite opera singer

Opera you would most like to direct (including any production concepts you've been harboring and feel like sharing)

Favorite opera director

Favorite opera production

Opera premiere you'd most want to go back in time to see

Opera composer you'd most want to meet (living or dead!)

Best opera for newbies

Most under-rated opera

Opera you'd most like to tweak/rewrite (and how you would do it!)

You can provide more than one answer for each question, needless to say!

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What is your opinion on Wagner (You look like you have one). Is he good or bad? Any fun facts?

horrifyingly, i do.

perhaps my best take on wagner is that he’s full of contradictions to the point that it’s very hard to get to the bottom of anything he’s trying to say. i’ll never understand how he could have such an objectively bizarre and oftentimes straight-up bad personality and still write characters that imply great wisdom and knowledge about human nature. very little in wagner’s persona screams high emotional maturity/intelligence, often rather the opposite, and still he wrote characters that are so real and true you could hold their hand, and the music to tell you all about them. i’ll never get to the resolution of this contradiction, and so i’ve stopped trying to decipher him. it’s a better idea, i think, to know what sort of person he was, and what his faults were, and to let his work take flight and to find what it means to you personally.

musically, you like him or you don’t, both is fine – i think his works are musically fantastic. they’re extremely expressive, and to me at least, there’s an element of true-ness to it, when i think yes, this is really what something feels like, physically, even for feelings his compositions aren’t often traditionally associated with, ig, like grief.

fun facts:

- he was a short little btch of ca 165cm

- he was also a fan of colourful clothes and ordered trousers, shoes and pyjamas in really weird colours (pale yellow, pink, green…)

- he was allergic to wool

- most facts about him aren’t fun because they’re about his bad personality

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i fucking hate summer <3 especially this summer this summer sucks

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38 years ago today, July 27th 1987, a song was released that would change the world forever.

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TRAGEDY STRIKES!!!! THEY TOOK THE ROH DIDONATO/COOTE CENDRILLON OFF YOUTUBE 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

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you are a sculptor in Rome who has been commissioned to make a sculpture for the Pope. the Pope, annoyed that you have not finished said sculpture, sends you an advance payment along with a heavy guilt-trip that involves you promising to have said sculpture finished tomorrow.

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Few things in nonprofit volunteering more awkward than co-running the social media with a boomer

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The song "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General" was a big part of my childhood because The Pirates of Penzance is the only opera my entire family watched together (my family disagrees on a lot of things but we're all hard core Kevin Kline and Angela Lansbury fans) (luckily none of them knew that Linda Ronstadt was part of my gay awakening) ALSO because it was one of my little brother's favorite operas and the Major General's number was his favorite in the show. Because he's a big fan of patter and silly little guys with mustaches.

So anyway it tickles me beyond expression how much this song out of anything else has permeated modern media so much, to the point where it seems like it's the go-to song for anytime there needs to be this ridiculous, fast, nonsensical number being sung completely out of context.

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more poster design practice making me wish these made-up shows were real

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you are a sculptor in Rome who has been commissioned to make a sculpture for the Pope. the Pope, annoyed that you have not finished said sculpture, sends you an advance payment along with a heavy guilt-trip that involves you promising to have said sculpture finished tomorrow.