#costumes: the hague

[dresshistorynerd]

Ranking Men's Costumes in Renaissance Period Dramas - Part I: The Bad

Part II: The Good

I have a bone to pick with Renaissance costuming of male characters. Films and TV never seem to understand French hoods or the concept of tied up hair but the crimes committed with female characters costuming seem to pale in comparison with those committed with male characters costuming. It would be easy to find some atrocities that should be brought in front of the Hague from the bottom of the barrel shows like Da Vinci's Demons and Reign, both of which costuming is basically black leather jackets, pants and boots. If we're lucky, they have some vaguely Renaissance details imitating doublet or jerkin. But these shows make absolutely no effort, even the women's costumes are straight from modern fast fashion shelves (often literally). But I have noticed that even costuming that has some effort otherwise put behind it, still costumes male characters with the most boring costumes and minimal effort. The Tudors didn't have good costumes, but there's some effort towards historical immersion, even if quite lackluster, but the men's costumes are still so sloppy.

My theory is that they think men's Renaissance fashion was too goofy and embarrassing to fit their cool and sexy main male characters. Also men dressing up and taking care of their appearance? That's obviously homosexual behavior, and these hot men who the main female characters are fawning over are Manly and Heterosexual. So they don't dress up in fancy clothing or colour!

To give a fair change to the costuming, I will be selecting only shows and movies which have good costuming for the female characters. If they are not even trying, it feels kinda pointless to point that out. I have selected 10 period dramas. I haven't seen all of them so I'm not going to analyse the costuming any deeper than how good and well made they look and how well they evoke the historical setting. I don't demand historical accuracy, but I will be more harsh on that front if the women's costumes are succeeding in that. But one of the point of period dramas is to immerse into a historical setting, so if the costumes can't evoke that feeling, I think they have failed. Obviously this is not some objective ranking, but my opinions. This is in two parts (because of Tumblr image limits), so I'll start with the five worst costumes in order of best to worst.

5. Ever After (1998)

Ever After is supposedly set in Renaissance France, but the costuming resembles late 15th century and early 16th century Italy much more. It's not very historical, and clearly not really trying to be, going for more of a fantastical style. It works, I think because they make it cohesive and very pretty.

Men's costumes resemble also resemble Italian styles. The Lombardian style sleeves, short doublets and tight pants land it right there. The men's costumes are much more boring than the fun and fantastical women's costumes, but they got the least worse spot in this worst costumes list for several reasons. The pants are actually tight and they have codpieces. The sleeves are actually really great I love them. And there's no leather pants or doublets.

And look at this, at least one doublet is closed with lacing!! (I apologize for the very low image quality, it was the only picture I found of that costume.)

The biggest gripe I have with the costumes are the boots. Just let these male characters show of their calves. At least not everything is black but the lack of colour is still disappointing too.

4. Becoming Elizabeth (2022)

The female characters have quite excellent costuming. The fabrics are rich and gorgeous, the bodices are extremely smooth and crisp, some of the best I've seen, partlets are on point and correctly used. My only complained is the occasional open hair and yet another case of the weird upward pointing crown-like French hoods.

French hood didn't have any crown shaped thing, it was a hood and the headpiece is actually several headpieces made to reveal the lining of the hood in a crescent shape. So it is very much flat against the head. (I've written about French hood's construction before.) And sure they look more early Tudor fashion, the sleeves should be much more dramatic and the bodice elongated. Like here's a portrait of the actual young Elizabeth. But I think the detailing, great construction and good looking materials make the costuming beautiful and feeling enough like Tudor era.

So how does the men's costuming hold up? Pretty okay, which is why this show is so high up in the list. I haven't seen any leather pants on anyone. Leather jerkins were an actual thing, they just weren't black, and though the leather jerkin in the show was dark brown and not smooth hide, it was not black so that's something. Edward VI does have actual stockings and Renaissance shoes, which is great, but he is a kid and I didn't see any grown man rocking that style which is very cowardly behavior imo. There's some colourful silk jerkins in there too. And they even could get away with all black since that was very fashionable at the time. They are all wearing slashed trunk hose. AND! They have actual accurate codpieces sticking up! That is so rare especially in this period when the codpiece was not just a flat piece of fabric.

Unfortunately this is where the good things I have to say end. All of these court people are for some reason wearing riding boots inside and everywhere all the time. The hose are way too long and the jerkins are way too short. The hose should be just peaking under the hem of the jerkin. Obviously none except the kid uses thigh high stockings. One of the worst things though imo is the lack of structuring in the men's costumes. The women's costumes are so well structured, but the men's costumes are just wet rags hanging on them? The doublets were heavily structured to create a pigeon chest and hourglass effect.

In conclusion, there's clearly some effort made, some very nice historical details, but the overall look is very costumy and sloppy because of the lack of structuring and lacks the historical silhouette.

3. Mad Love (2001)

The movie is set around 1500 Neatherlands (and Spain). I think many of the costumes are gorgeous (like the examples below), though overall the costuming is quite inconsistent. Most of it fits at least okay to the time period and setting, though the red dress here is more along Italian styles, but not entirely off either for early 1500s Low Countries. Some costumes though are 50 years from future. Of the women's costumes alone, this would probably be the worst costuming on this list, though I think better than most Renaissance costuming, which is why it still ended up on this list.

The men's costumes resemble more early 16th century German fashion than Low Countries fashion, which was more similar to French fashion than German. In the red ensemble there's some weird jerkin looking overgarment, but jerkins were not a thing yet and they were never in this style. I will excuse the lack of codpiece since in Low Countries' fashion it was hidden under longer overgarments, even though in this more German style it would have been left in view. The hose are no where near fitted enough, and the boots should not be here at all. Overall this is kind of a mess, but it is better than the last two. We have skirt, we have weird sleeves, open neckline and most importantly, we have colour. Also while this shoulder-length curly hair wasn't in fashion outside Italy at the time, I still appreciate the sluttiness of it.

2. The Borgias (2011-2013)

Now we are getting to the territory, where the lack of effort is starting to be very obvious. Like the costumes till now were not particularly good, but clearly they at least attempted, even if not very hard. So, The Borgias. The show is set in the early 1500s Italy. The women's costumes are gorgeous. Not always the most historically accurate, but at least close enough and very pretty.

The men's costumes however... a deep sigh. Some of them are not that bad, like this first one has kinda Lombardian sleeves and a too small doublet showing off the lacing (in Italy the lacing was almost always ladder-lacing though regardless of gender, but it's something I guess). Most of it though, especially of the leading men, who are supposed to be cool and hot, is absolutely garbage. The same black leather jackets and pants seen in the bottom of the barrel shows. Like the costumes of the female characters and some of the male characters feel like they are from two completely different shows. Like sure they have codpieces, but their pants are so loosely fitted they wouldn't even need the codpieces. (I explain the use of codpieces in this post). And of course they have boots. Of course. In Italy it was even common to not wear shoes at all, they just sewed leather soles at the bottom of the hose. And even the men's costume that have tiniest bit of effort, are so dark and lacking in colour, when the most fashionable young men at the time wore these wildly multicoloured hose and doublets. The feeling I get the showrunners were so god damn afraid of giving the cool male characters any elements or details that could in anyway seen as feminine today, they stripped all the historical elements away. Like they couldn't even give Cesare lacing, they had to make it Manly Buckles?? It's such an insecure performance of masculinity. I admit the last image here is the worst offending example and there were some with a bit of color even, but in other ways most of it is exactly this bad. I will have to hand one thing to them though. They did manage to get the slutty shoulder-length hair right.

If this man is supposed to be sexy, prove it to me by showing his ass with lovingly fitted hose.

1. Rosaline (2022)

This is roughly set in the same time in Italy too as The Borgias, based on women's costumes, I'd say at the very end of 15th century. And those women's costumes are honestly great. They even have hand-sewn eyelets, ladder-lacing and cartridge pleats. Even some of the most high effort costumes don't get these details right. Honestly I only have issue with the hair, the hair goes from okay or outright terrible. They even made this super historically accurate Renaissance apron for a maid.

This got the lowest ranking so you know what comes next. The men's costuming is absolutely unacceptable. I feel like it would be excessive to even describe all the ways these costumes fail since to me they are so obviously bad. The difference between these women's dresses with such gorgeously crafted details and these men's costumes that give absolutely nothing is so stark and gives such a massive dissonance. They are just wearing modern skinny-ish pants, all the colors are so muted and dark, there's no shape, no structure, no codpieces, just sloppy bland jackets and pants. Even less effort than men's costumes in The Borgias have. Except one thing they have over The Borgias, they were able to ladder-lace that doublet. Otherwise these are just bland, boring and actively ugly. And it's so weird that they took this "gritty gruff "realistic"" route, when it's a comedy about Romeo and Juliet? You afford to be a little goofy with a comedy and yet you did this.

Extreme disappointment, do better.

Part II: The Good

[erasure-picnic]

This post will cover why journalists compared Erasure to PSB, provoking their side of the “rivalry”.

Why “rivalry”? Their feud wasn’t inspired by any personal hate for each other. Even if Andy Bell had struck out first, it didn’t provoke a response from PSB–not yet, at least. Instead, the “rivalry” was largely a creation of journalists, who had started to compare the two groups. (This was already a cliche by 1989, as one article attests.) Usually, these comparisons went one way. There were far, far more articles focused on Erasure that compared them to PSB, than the reverse.

This was due to parallels in both artists’ careers, with Erasure doing many of the same things that PSB had done. In 1988, Erasure worked with producer Stephen Hague; in 1990 and 1992, they put on lavish, theatrical tours with extravagant costumes and lots of dancers. PSB had done all of these things a year earlier. Erasure also resembled PSB, in that they had a bolder, showier singer and a quieter synth player.

These parallels led many critics to assume that Erasure were merely following in PSB’s footsteps. As a result, when they would write pieces on Erasure, they would compare them to PSB. Since critics largely preferred PSB to Erasure, these comparisons were often unfavourable to Erasure. This tendency to compare the two bands shot up dramatically in the 1990s, when they were the only two synth duos of their type who had survived the 80s.

They didn’t just limit it to articles and reviews. They also did it in interviews with Erasure themselves. When interviewers would ask them about PSB, Erasure would have to distinguish themselves and justify why they did things their way. The easiest way for them to do that was by putting themselves up and putting PSB down. That’s where Erasure’s part of the “rivalry” stemmed from–in large part, because of the comparisons. Unlike PSB, Erasure hardly ever commented on their synth-pop peers unless specifically asked to. (Part 1 of 2 - see the other part in the comments)

An important element of the rivalry was class. Critics who put down Erasure in favour of PSB often implied that Erasure were a lower-class version of PSB, such as in the common phrase “poor man’s Pet Shop Boys” (a description Erasure later embraced). In fact, while PSB were middle-class, Erasure WERE working-class–and they pointed to that difference as a way to distinguish themselves. A full look into the class dimensions of Erasure and PSB could easily be its own post. It’s not in the scope of this one, but if you’re interested in reading how class played into the groups’ fanbases, this is explored in an excellent article by Lynsey Hanley, called How I became middle class (The Guardian, 2016).

Comparisons of Erasure to PSB appeared in all sorts of publications–mainstream, indie, and gay. However, the reverse–PSB being compared to Erasure–tended to be limited to the gay press, who noticed other distinctions between the bands. In the next post, we’ll look at the way the gay press treated the two groups, along with PSB’s side of the “rivalry”.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

I could not think of anything but his fingers on my neck, his thumb on my lips.

- Tracy Chevalier, Girl with a Pearl Earring

Nicknamed the “Mona Lisa of the North,” Girl With a Pearl Earring is probably Johannes Vermeer's most celebrated work. The painting has captivated so many people throughout history, drawing unprecedented crowds to The Mauritshuis, the art museum in The Hague, Netherlands where it is now housed. It became iconic for the distinct position of the girl, her enigmatic gaze, the colours and the delicate quality of the light.

Girl With a Pearl Earring was not always as popular as it is now. It ended up in Vermeer's patron collection, before it was sold on by his son-in-law. The work was lost for 200 years until a collector bought it for 2 guilders and discovered it was a Vermeer once it had been cleaned. After his death in 1902, it was donated to the Mauritshuis in The Hague, where it has been hung ever since.

Vermeer himself is as enigmatic as his most famous painting in the history of art. Once nicknamed “the sphinx of Delft”, his native town which he never left, he produced little - only about 34 paintings survive from his oeuvre. He also left behind few biographical traces, though we do know that his wife bore him 15 children. He began his career as a history painter, depicting scenes from ancient Greek and Catholic lore, but from the outset, he trained his eye on women. He soon shifted to the genre scenes of domestic life that made him famous. As the art critic Edward Rothstein wrote, his lifetime project was “an almost metaphysical quest for the precariously poised instant, an ideal we would now consider photographic.”

He is recognised as a master of light who specialised in painting women in sparse domestic interiors, and his pictures are prized in part because they are often suffused with mystery. Unlike some of his Dutch contemporaries, who crammed their compositions full of material objects and narrative detail, Vermeer got a kick out of teasing the viewer and withholding meaning. In one of his canvases, for instance, an elegant couple is engaged in a music lesson - but is the gentleman her tutor, a suitor, or her lover? We will never know.

But what of the Girl herself?

The truth is that despite frenzied speculation (was she the artist’s daughter, or perhaps his mistress?), we will probably never know the identity of the model for Vermeer’s Girl - if there even was one. As such she is even more perplexing. 17th century viewers would have looked at Vermeer’s painting and seen not a portrait but a type of picture known as a ‘tronie’. A ‘tronie’ is a study of a head and shoulders dressed in exotic clothing. The giveaway is the turban: it lends an oriental flavour to the canvas, transporting viewers to a faraway realm of the imagination. While it is possible that someone modelled for it, just as Rubens often painted figures who looked like his wife, it isn’t meant to be a specific person, but someone more generalised, timeless and mysterious - perhaps a sibyl or a figure from the Bible.” Moreover, according to one theory, the impossible pearl, which is too big to be worn in reality, was meant to be understood as a piece of costume jewellery - so adding to the general atmosphere of artifice and make-believe.

This sense of mystery is what attracts people to the Girl. Partly, she’s just gorgeous. But the composition is also very clever. Out of that dark background, she pops into our space looking very much alive - and the gesture is a big part of that. Her mouth is open, which you don’t see that much in Dutch paintings, so she seems as if she is about to talk to you. The viewer is dying to know what she’s going to say. But she doesn’t say anything, thus revealing nothing, and the viewer is left trying to fill in the story.

Tracy Chevalier, the novelist herself chipped in with a similar observation that, “The image works because it is unresolved. You can’t ever answer the question of what she’s thinking or how she’s feeling. If it were resolved, then you’d move onto the next painting. But it isn’t, so you turn back to it again and again, trying to unlock that mystery. That’s what all masterpieces do: we long to understand them, but we never will.”

[artemlegere-art]

Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers

Artist: Godfried Schalcken (Dutch, 1643–1706)

Date: c. 1675-1680

Medium: OIl on Panel

Collection: The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, United States

Description

This charming portrayal of a woman who daydreams while weaving a crown of flowers is a fine example of Godefridus Schalcken's refined manner of painting. Its meticulous technique, particularly evident in the rendering of the costume, reflects Schalcken's connection to the Leiden fijnschilders (fine painters), who specialized in small genre scenes executed with extraordinary attention to detail. These gemlike pictures, filled with brilliant touches of color and light, found favor among collectors throughout Europe.

Woman Weaving a Crown of Flowers almost certainly alludes to the yearnings of a young woman for love and marriage. The crown of flowers refers to both of these themes, which are reinforced by the cupid atop the fountain and the young lovers in the distance. The crack in the stone base of the fountain nevertheless offers a warning that, over time, even the most solid foundation of love is fragile.

As a young man, Schalcken moved to Dordrecht, where he was apprenticed to Samuel van Hoogstraten (1627–1678). He then trained in Leiden under Gerrit Dou (1613–1675) and went on to establish himself as an independent master in Dordrecht by the mid-1660s. In 1692 Schalcken moved to the court of King William III and Queen Mary at Windsor, where for seven years he painted portraits of the Dutch-born king and the English aristocracy. In 1699 he settled in The Hague, where he worked for the rest of his life.

[mybeingthere]

Shaman hat, Nepal.

Rare example of Nepali Shaman hat. Nepali shamans - Jankhri & Dhami who are spirit mediums and shamanic healers often have headgear with bird feathers or porcupine quills, kauries and coins attached. 

The trisule, an iconic symbol for Shiva, at the crest is also frequently incorporated into their costume. Often those shamans are from the Tamang (and perhaps also Magar) ethnographic groups in NW Nepal.Materials: cloth, porcupine quills, kauries, iron and coins.Height 28 cm - 11 inches.

Provenance: From the estate of Dutch sculptor Theo van der Nahmer and his wife photographer Marianne Dommisse, The Hague, The Netherlands.

[opera-ghosts]

Here we see the Italian bass Nazzareno de Angelis (1881 – 1962) as King Henry from Lohengrin. I love the imposing costume and regal pose.

De Angelis was born at L’Aquila on 17 November, 1881 and began his musical life as a boy soprano, first with local choirs, then at the Capella Sistina in the Vatican. After his voice lowered, he studied with one Dr. Faberi at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome. For several years, he and his mentors wondered about his true vocal placement, and he studied both baritone and bass scores with equal intensity. The top of his voice was tremendous, but it became increasingly clear that it was centred where kings, prophets and devils live. His last two years at the Accademia were spent developing repertoire, and he gave several recitals there before making his opera début at the Comunale of L’Aquila in May of 1903 in Linda di Chamounix, followed by an opera called“L’Educate di Sorrento, by E. Usiglio, at the same theatre. 

Hearing of his enormous success the management of Rome’s Teatro Quirino immediately engaged him, and, in early July, he débuted in Norma. He subsequently appeared at the Teatro Adriano as Il Spettro in Hamlet, to the Ofelia of Maria Barrientos and the Hamlet of Battistini, followed by Rigoletto and Tosi Orsini’s Yanthis. In 1904, after some twelve performances of La Gioconda at the Teatro Lirico of Milan, he appeared at Santa Maria Capua Vetere as Colline and at the Quirino in La Favorita, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Basilio), Carmen (Zuniga), Ernani, Norma and Rigoletto. Carlo Galeffi was his Rigoletto in several performances. He toured the Netherlands from December of 1904 to May of 1905, singing such diverse roles as Dr. Grenvil in La Traviata, Zuniga in Carmen, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Fouquier-Tinville in Andrea Chénier, Tom in Un Ballo in Maschera, Angelotti in Tosca, Basilio and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. The company gave performances in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and The Hague. 

In the Autumn of 1905 he appeared at Mirandola in La Gioconda, at Parma’s Teatro Reinach in Rigoletto and Faust, and at Cagliari’s Teatro Regina Margherita as Alvise, along with those first historic performances of Mefistofele. Gaspare Nello Vetro’s Teatro Reinach says of his Faust Mefistofele: “The young Nazzareno De Angelis, now at the outset of his career, received the greatest applause and had to repeat ‘Dio dell’ Or’ at every performance.” At Cagliari, after his first performance of Boito’s Devil, the applause was interminable and it immediately led to a contract at Bari’s very important Teatro Petruzzelli, where he added Lohengrin and Iris to his roster of operas. 

In the Spring of 1906 he left on his first South American tour, appearing at Santiago de Chile and Valparaiso from June to November. He sang nine roles to enormous success. On 16 August, the region was stunned by an earthquake so severe that performances had to be suspended until 1 September. The opera house at Valparaiso was almost completely destroyed, and it was there that the greatest damage occurred. Hundreds of people died, and the wounded numbered in the thousands. Despite recurring after-shocks, the season eventually returned to normal and, in addition to his scheduled performances, he participated in several hastily arranged benefits for earthquake victims. Among his new assignments were Ludovico to the commanding Otello of Antonio Paoli, and Marcel in Gli Ugonotti. His receptions were increasingly enthusiastic, and, before the season ended, he happily agreed to return. That agreement was honoured in both 1908 and 1909. El Mercurio said of him: “…. at the end of the Prologue to Mefistofele, De Angelis received a huge and most sincere ovation.” A later review stated that “he has reminded us again as Mefistofele how superb an artist he is, and in Germania has made us marvel at his versatility in this new role”. 

The 1908 season saw him in eight operas including Gli Ugonotti with Hariclea Darclee, and in 1909, he sang nine roles including the creator part of Aquilante in Gloria After his appearances at Santiago, he is thought to have sung in Buenos Aires at the Teatro Coliseo, but no details have been unearthed about his roles during that engagement. He returned to the South American continent in 1910, 11, 12, 14, 19 and 1926, and he appeared in Buenos Aires, Rosario, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and São Paolo. He sang Mefistofele in every theatre at which he appeared, and in every season, except for 1914. The list of operas he performed in South America only is long: Tannhäuser, La Sonnambula, I Puritani, Gomes’s Il Guarany and Salvator Rosa, Galitsky in Prince Igor (his only Russian opera, though sung in Italian), Les Huguenots (also in Italian), de Campos’s Um Caso Singular, Verdi’s Otello and Franchetti’s Germania.

On 15 January, 1907 he débuted at La Scala as Alvise in La Gioconda and appeared for the first time in Tristan und Isolde, La Wally and as Aquilante de Bardi in the world premiere of Cilea’s Gloria. Despite recurring arguments with the theater’s management, including one four year hiatus, he would sing twenty four roles over twelve seasons. The year offered two other very important debuts, Alvise at the Teatro Verdi of Firenze with Eugenia Burzio, and King Marke at Bologna’s Teatro Comunale with Amelia Pinto, Giuseppe Borgatti and Giuseppe Pacini. Tristan und Isolde received fifteen performances and was followed by De Angelis’ only appearances in Tschaikovsky’s Iolanthe.

1908 brought with it the beginning of his Scala partnership with Ester Mazzoleni. They first appeared in Franchetti’s Cristoforo Colombo conducted by Toscanini in a run of 16 performances, followed by a revival of La Forza del Destino. Mazzoleni described the event: 

You will not be able to imagine what happened on that opening night. Icilio Calleja started ‘O tu che in seno agli angeli’ both too soon and out of tune, at which point all hell broke loose in the house. The theatre took on the atmosphere of a bullring, and, as often happens when things are not going well, the audience vented its rage at everything in sight. Both Pasquale Amato and Luisa Garibaldi were booed and hissed without mercy. The only ones who escaped their fury were De Angelis and myself. At the end, after almost collapsing from nervous exhaustion, we received a standing ovation. Notwithstanding our personal success, Toscanini, eyes ablaze, cancelled the remaining performances. 

On 19 December, 1908 De Angelis and Mazzoleni appeared in the historic production of Spontini’s La Vestale, a revival that was repeated 16 times, and then travelled to Paris. Verdi’s I Vespri Siciliani was next in the list of successes, and, on 30 December, 1909, they caused a sensation in Cherubini’s Medea. In March 1910, they appeared in what was to be their last opera together, Meyerbeer’s L’Africaine. This unbroken string of personal triumphs is one of the most legendary of all stories associated with the Milan theatre. Among other memorable evenings at La Scala was the world première of Montemezzi’s L’Amore dei Tre Re on 10 April, 1913 in the role of Archibaldo, which he later premièred at the Colón of Buenos Aires, the Costanzi of Rome, Rio de Janeiro, São Paolo and Trieste’s Teatro Verdi. 

Of his Archibaldo in the Rome première of L’Amore dei Tre Re, Il Tempo, on 15 March, 1919, said: “De Angelis, the old lion, he of the pungent, powerful voice, sang the ideal performance of Montemezzi’s king.” 

Most of 1910 was spent in the Western Hemisphere. On 31 May De Angelis debuted at Buenos Aires’ Teatro del Opera in Lohengrin with Salomea Krusceniski, Luisa Garibaldi, Dygas and Riccardo Stracciari ,and he completed his season in Aida with Giannina Russ, Garibaldi, and Giovanni Zenatello, Norma with Russ, Garibaldi and Dygas, Mefistofele with Krusceniski and Dmitri Smirnov and Gotterdammerung with Krusceniski and Dygas. In August, the company visited Montevideo for a three week season. after which De Angelis traveled to Chicago for his only performances in the United States. 

On 3 November, 1910 he sang in the inaugural performance of the Chicago Civic Opera Company as Ramfis. The cast included Karolewicz, de Cisneros, Bassi, Sammarco and Dufranne. He subsequently sang Colline in La Boheme with John McCormack, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Ashby in La Fanciulla del West. On 18 January 1911, in a closing night gala, he appeared as Ashby with Carolina White, Caruso and Sammarco. It is curious that De Angelis accepted a contract with Chicago for roles so small when he had already become the most important bass at La Scala and in many of South America’s theatres. Perhaps the heady company that he would be keeping attracted him; that, with the hope that other more important roles would come his way. He visited several other cities, but, outside of a single appearance in Fanciulla del West at Milwaukee in November.

Upon his return to Italy, De Angelis prepared for the most important début of his career: the Costanzi of Rome. The theatre was to present a gala ‘Musical Exposition’ of opera and ballet in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the declaration of the Kingdom of Italy. Among the notable events were the company premières of Verdi’s Macbeth and Donizetti’s Don Sebastiano and the Italian première of La Fanciulla del West, with Eugenia Burzio and Giovanni Martinelli. Serge Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe presented local premières of Les Sylphides and Giselle with Nijinsky, and Toscanini conducted several of the operas. In the midst of this carnival of riches, on 16 April, 1911, De Angelis débuted as Don Basilio with the stellar cast of Graziella Pareto, Umberto Macnez, Titta Ruffo and Giuseppe Kaschmann. The theatre was packed with family, friends, colleagues from his days at the Vatican and the Conservatorio, and former teachers. Dal Costanzi all’Opera states that “it was an evening of surpassing grandeur, refinement and polish, a performance beyond any criticism”. Il Giornale d’Italia reported that “De Angelis convinced a highly expectant audience that he is truly an artist of the first rank….The tumultuous applause that greeted the singers became a roar each time that he appeared before the great curtain”. He was to tell Paolo Silveri many years later that it was the most emotionally satisfying evening of his career. The bond between singer and city had been permanently cemented and he would return in thirteen additional seasons in seventeen roles.

On 23 May, De Angelis debuted at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires as the Landgrave in Tannhauser with Pasini-Vitale, Ferrari-Fontana and De Luca. He sang in ten operas, including his first performances in Don Carlo with Agostinelli, Garibaldi, Constantino and Ruffo, La Sonnambula with Barrientos and Bonci and I Puritani with Barrientos, Bonci and De Luca. The Colon hosted him the following year in seven operas, including his only performances as Friar Lawrence in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette with Lucrezia Bori and Giuseppi Anselmi. De Angelis sang at the Colon for the last time in 1914, but he returned to Buenos Aires in 1919 as Basilio, Mefistofele, Galitzky, Mose and Archibaldo at the Teatro Coliseo. 

On 10 October, De Angelis sang Mefistofele at the Costanzi for the first time, and it would be the defining event of his career. The first night audience cheered for nearly an hour and the next day’s reviews were among the most laudatory ever seen: 

Mefistofele at Rome - Il Corriere d’Italia - 11 October, 1911. “This singer and magnificent actor can truly claim to be the greatest basso currently on the lyric stage. Extraordinary power, an excellent voice, clear and perfect diction and impeccable technique were all completely confirmed last night. His success was enormous.” 

His triumph was reported on the front page of newspapers throughout Italy and he was immediately asked to sing the role in virtually every Italian theatre. Within four months he had débuted at Turin’s Regio, Trieste’s Verdi and the San Carlo of Naples, where he sang fourteen performances of the opera. Barcelona’s Liceo received him with enormous acclaim in April of 1913 and Mefistofele was to serve as his debut role at Venice’s Fenice, Genoa’s Carlo Felice and Politeama, Brescia’s Grande, Padua’s Verdi, Palermo’s Massimo and the Verona Arena. In 1918, De Angeles sang the role for the first time at La Scala with Linda Cannetti, Elena Rakowska and Gigli, and, in 1920, at Milan’s Dal Verme, he appeared in some fifteen performances of the opera with Hina Spani as Margherita. It was so overwhelming a part of his career, that in 1923, it was the only role he sang. 

On 4 April, 1915, he sang Mosè for the first time, appearing at Rome’s Teatro Quirino and took the role to Firenze, Livorno’s Teatro Goldoni, the Comunale of Bologna and Milan’s Dal Verme. The cast included Giannina Russ, Adele Ponzano, Luigi Pieroni and Alessandro Dolci, and was conducted by Mascagni. The tour was among the very few performances he gave between the Spring of 1915 and the Winter of 1918. A 1916 press release from the Teatro Municipal of Santiago, Chile notes that, because he was serving in the Italian armed forces, he would not be able to appear. He returned to the stage at Rome’s Costanzi in February, 1918, and sang Mosè there on 23 April. 

Mosè - 2 June, 1918 - Rome Dal Costanzi all’Opera. “On the closing night, which presented the tenth performance of Mosè, De Angelis achieved one of the greatest successes of his career.” 

La Tribuna said: “The great bass received an ovation perhaps without parallel in memory. His performance was of monumental proportions, and the audience responded in kind.” 

Over the next several years, De Angelis sang Mose at La Scala, Buenos Aires, Rosario, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, Bergamo, Genoa, Ferrara, Trieste, Turin, Ancona, and, for the last time in 1925 at the Verona Arena. 

Although De Angelis’ stage debut was in Linda di Chamounix, Donizetti and Bellini seem not to have been composers for whom he felt much affinity. In 1911, he sang in La Sonnambula and I Puritani at the Colón of Buenos Aires and, on the closing night of the 1926 season at Rio de Janeiro, he sang one additional lonely performance of I Puritani. By 1912, he had stopped singing in La Favorita and Lucia di Lammermoor and seems never to have appeared in a Donizetti opera again. He sang important revivals of Norma with Giannina Russ, Claudia Muzio, Vera Amerighi-Rutili, Bianca Scacciati and Iva Pacetti, but they were few in number and widely separated in time. 

Lucia di Lammermoor at Buenos Aires - La Prensa - 27 May, 1911 Though the soprano role is the centrepiece of this opera, Barrientos’s grand companions, Constantino, Ruffo and De Angelis were all triumphant. 

Norma at Rome - Il Tevere - 28 December, 1928 The evening confirmed the triumph of Norma, and of Muzio, Luisa Bertana, the tenor Mirassou and Nazzareno De Angelis, who conferred, with beauty of voice and physical presence, the ultimate realization of Oroveso.

Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia was a very important role in De Angelis’s career, and he sang it in both the largest and smallest theatres. In the Spring of 1916 he toured among Parma’s Regio, Naples’ San Carlo, Pisa’s Verdi, Pesaro’s Salon Pedrotti and Rome’s Quirino in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the opera’s premiere. The cast for the performances was Fanny Anitua as Rosina; Carpi and Macnez sang Almaviva; Galeffi portrayed Figaro and Kaschmann, Bartolo. At Rome, the cast included de Hidalgo, Salvati and De Luca. He sang it at the Costanzi in 1919 and garnered his usual superlatives. 

Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Rome - Il Messagero - 16 February, 1919 “This old opera rarely has one divo, fewer times two, but tonight there were four, de Hidalgo, Schipa, Galeffi and De Angelis, truly an Olympus of singers. It was a marvellous evening, one which made us almost believe that we were seeing the opera for the first time. The soloists sang as though inspired by some magic spirit.” 

In 1919, De Angelis toured to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo as Basilio with Angeles Ottein, Tito Schipa and Armand Crabbe. It was on this tour that he appeared in Prince Igor, Il Guarany and Salvator Rosa for the only times in his career. In 1921 he appeared as Basilio at Spoleto with the inimitable Conchita Supervia and in 1922 he appeared in a lavish production at La Scala with de Hidalgo, Hackett and Galeffi. In 1925 he made both his Swiss debut and farewell as Basilio at Lugano. 

His Wagner roles were seven: King Marke in Tristan und Isolde, Wotan in both Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, King Henry in Lohengrin, Hagen in Götterdämmerung, the Landgrave in Tannhäuser and Gurnemanz in Parsifal. In 1914, he sang Gurnemanz an amazing twenty seven times during La Scala’s first season of Parsifal and premièred the opera at Buenos Aires’s Teatro Colón the following May. In January 1922, he returned to La Scala for eleven performances in a cast that included Helene Wildbrunn, Amadeo Bassi, and on the fourth night, the debut at that theater of Apollo Granforte. He appeared at Paris as Gurnemanz in May of the same year. De Angelis appeared in Die Walkuere at Rome, La Scala, Naples, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paolo and in Das Rheingold at Bologna, Rome and La Scala. In the winter of 1938 at Rome, he sang Wotan in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, as well as Hagen, in the first ‘Ring’ ever performed completely in Italian. The undertaking was supervised by Tullio Serafin and the four operas were broadcast throughout Italy. De Angelis’ last Wagner performances were as Gurnemanz at the San Carlo of Naples in April, 1938.

Of his performances in the 1938 ‘Ring’at Rome, the following reviews are quoted. 

Il Messagero, 25 January - Das Rheingold De Angelis sang with enormous resonance. His achievement was hard to imagine, sung with the greatest of expression, vigour and vibrancy.

Il Piccolo, 27 January - Die Walkuere He maintained a level of excellence throughout this very long and difficult role that was exceptional. 

Among Verdi’s operas, he sang Zaccaria in Nabucco, Silva in Ernani. Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Grenvil in La Traviata, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Tom in Un Ballo in Maschera, Padre Guardiano in La Forza del Destino, Procida in I Vespri Siciliani, Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra, King Philip in Don Carlo, Ramfis in Aida and Lodovico in Otello. Interestingly, he sang far fewer performances of Verdi than he did of Wagner. In fact, in no Verdi opera, outside of Aida, did he sing more than twenty five performances, and Simon Boccanegra, had only one revival, at La Scala in 1933. It was his last new role. 

Aida - Rome - La Tribuna - 6 October, 1911 The Ramfis of Nazzareno De Angelis showed an extraordinarily robust, mellow and vibrant voice. 

Nabucco - Rome - La Tribuna - 2 June, 1916 A memorable evening of art, of patriotic love.... in which all the artists offered a spectacle of singular interest. The interpreters, Nazzareno De Angelis in the white robes of the high priest, Zaccaria, Carlo Galeffi, Cecilia Gagliardi and Fanny Anitua gave superb examples of their great art. 

Non-operatic appearances were fairly infrequent. He sang in Verdi’s Manzoni Requiem several times, most importantly at La Scala in 1913 under Toscanini’s direction, at Rome’s Teatro Augusteo in both 1913 and 1922, and in 1924 at Vicenza and the Verona Arena. The Verona engagement with Rinolfi, Minghini Cattaneo and Taccani, was so successful that after two performances in the outdoor stadium, an additional two were given at the Teatro Filarmonico with Lucia Crestani singing the soprano music. In May 1938 he returned to the work for the last time when he sang it at Rome’s Teatro Adriano with Caniglia, Stignani and Alessandro Granda. On 4 December 1924, under Toscanini’s direction, he and Hina Spani sang at Giacomo Puccini’s Funeral in the Duomo of Milan, and on the 29th , the program was repeated at La Scala. Among De Angelis’ more interesting concerts were three at Rome’s Teatro Quirino. On 4 April 1915 he appeared with Russ and Battistini in an all Mascagni programme honouring the composer. In September, 1915 he appeared in a composition called Inno alla Patria by Zandonai accompanied by Gabriella Besanzoni, and in June 1916, he sang in Canto di Guerra, written by the great bass-baritone Giuseppe Kaschmann. 

De Angelis’ career in Iberia was not impressive. He sang Mefistofele at La Coruña, Spain in 1908 and appeared at Barcelona’s Liceo in the Spring of 1913 as Boito’s Devil. The La Coruña engagement includes a reference to Gounod’s Faust, which, if it were to have happened, would have been an extremely interesting juxtaposition of roles. Perhaps it did. There are announcements of a second engagement at La Coruña in 1912, but I have found no details. It would seem, from the evidence, that he never appeared in Portugal.

By 1927, De Angelis was averaging no more than 20 performances a year, though he continued to make recordings at a prodigious rate. In 1934, his only appearances were as Mefistofele at Piacenza and, about a year later, he sang Oroveso, Gurnemanz and Padre Guardiano at Genoa’s Carlo Felice. After a three-year absence, he returned to Rome’s Teatro Reale in January of 1938 for Mefistofele and the celebrated ‘Ring Cycle’. In August, after a debut at Rome’s Caracalla as Mefistofele, he sang his valediction at Naples’ Arena Flegrea as Boito’s Beelzebub, with Delia Sanzio, Margherita Grandi and Granda. De Angelis had appeared in fifty seven operas and had sung well over fifteen hundred performances. 

It has been reported that he gave occasional recitals until about 1942. Upon his eventual retirement, he taught in Milan and, later, at his favorite city, Rome. He died on 14 December, 1962, in Rome, at the age of 81. 

[dorottyaspectacular]

Scheveningen, one of the eight districts of The Hague is located next to the North Sea. Steeped in traditional Dutch and fishing culture, a small number of predominantly elderly women are still wearing local Scheveningen costume. We reinterpreted the idea. /Scheveningen, 2019/

[anastasiamusicalupdates]

Anastasia the Musical Female Ensemble Costumes Act Two

Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart

We only see the Parisian citizens during Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart. They wear silk dresses with bright colors and patterns.

(Left: Laura Enrech and Morena Visci; Madrid. Middle: Anastasia Stojko and Christina Gibbs; Stuttgart. Right: Beth Stafford Laird; First National Tour)

Josephine Baker

A cut costume that was only featured in Hartford and early Broadway shows. A replica of Josephine Baker’s banana costume, though the Hartford version only had a very short yellow fabric skirt with a front panel instead of bananas.

(Shina Ann Morris; Hartford on left and Broadway on right)

Land of Yesterday

Dancing alongside Lily are White Russians in the Neva Club wearing traditional flapper dresses (and occasionally harem trousers).

(Top Left: Shina Ann Morris; Broadway. Top Right: Lysanne van der Sijs and Willemijn Maandag; The Hague, Netherlands. Bottom Left: Christina Gibbs; Stuttgart. Bottom Right: Sarah Statler; Second National Tour)

Neva Club Waitresses

While we only see male workers at the entrance to the club, during the dance of Land of Yesterday several female waitresses join in. They wear identical traditional short sleeved peasant blouses, bright headdresses, and long red skirts.

(Beth Stafford Laird; First National Tour)

Ballet Processional

We see several Parisians and White Russians attending the ballet in their evening gowns. One female ballet attendee in the ensemble is named, Countess Gregory, and she wears a v-neck gold gown and matching hairband.

(Top Left: María Arévalo Saez as Countess Gregory; Madrid. Top Right: Lucy Horton; First National Tour. Bottom Left: Alison Ewing; First National Tour. Bottom Right: Carmen Danen; Stuttgart)

Odette

A specific ensemble dance track, the ballerina wears a standard platter tutu from Swan Lake. In Hartford, the tutu was light pink rather than the more recognizable white.

(Youngsil Kim; First National Tour)

Cygnets

Also specific ensemble dance tracks for the ballet (usually Romanov sisters), wearing platter tutus from Swan Lake. These tutus were light pink in Hartford, and changed to white in Broadway. They are less detailed than Odette’s tutu and are identical to each other.

(Left to Right: Rita Correia, Viviana Pacchin, Aimee de Pater; The Hague, Netherlands)

Odette and Cygnets Hartford

(Left to Right: Shina Ann Morris, Alida Michael as Odette, Samantha Sturm, Molly Rushing; Hartford)

Press Conference

Reporters flock around Vlad and Lily to get the truth of Anastasia. Despite the female reporters wearing day dresses, their costumes are quite different than the Parisians early in the act, as the reporters wear more subdued colors, checked coats, and cloche hats.

(Left to Right: Hikari Kudo, Marika Toguchi, Arisa Kojima, Izumi Gota, Rico Takahashi; Japan)

[the-firebird69]

Tommy f is showing signs of weakness and it's getting small these idiots around him are very small and we should take them out it's my suggestion and he wants me to put it forward and get people on board he's been ordering it then acting small and behaving small and the armies are not doing what they want and doing what they're ordered it doesn't have any need for them the PGA has an army that's doing what they want but the other s*** heads are on their own so we're going to put it up there

Duke Nukem Blockbuster

And we're going to silence you Trump you're a piece of s*** and you're a traitor he's right he's a young guy I couldn't stand you from the beginning and you just thought I'd sit here bothering him torturing him and he's f***** you up so bad we don't own a damn thing and Mac doesn't own much either cuz of you and the rest of the world doesn't you're a piece of s*** and a massive loser I'm going to take you to court and I'm going to The Hague so my friend recommends that I go to Mac with my criminal complaints about you for what you've done to see if he wants to approve it cuz you're a traitor I'll get rid of you you dumb a******

Bja

I can't believe this now we're fired by VGA again

Dan

You too sat here for years and they haven't recorded all that b******* you're doing that doesn't do anything except nail your own and throw away stuff damn AKA Dave now when I say recorded I mean it's on tape and it's on video and they see you in public as well and taking video with witnesses with your hand signals with cause and effect what what makes all of that suddenly go away in your brain instantly everyday every few minutes you do that to them cuz I'm sure they will knife you and shoot you for it for real you're putting your life on the line talking that way and you do it everyday does not mean that you won't get hit cuz I see you get hit all the time you're in the f****** news dead okay all the time with this stupid attitude and you're dumb motif and you're sitting on me like you're f****** this is the latest f****** loser go call the cops any cop you dumb f****** retard

Zues Hera

Just sitting here doing very stupid things I guess we're not aware of it and we're in cloud nine or something buzzing around him changing costume every second everyone hates this for it and we won't stop I got to tell you Trump is inspiring it and he's right it's the dumbest s*** I've ever seen I have to sit here and counter him and he knows that she's been has to do he's a huge fool he needs to be stopped he says it's far too late your race is almost gone your people are all dead and you can't tell cuz the cities have one out of like 10,000 by the water so that's where you are granted it's true the bunches are very small now and everybody else is walking around ignoring them I don't want to go through this but we are we should know by now that it's wrong and Trump you f***** everything up we want you dead you're such an idiot

Dan

I don't have time to sell this I don't need the shouting and all that stuff he's laughing now says what's the matter can't sleep pretty boy you little girl you're such a small little boy I sort of get something I try and harm him he's going to f****** up just like before isn't really care about me and he says I'm a genius tells me to shut up again go f****** f*** off but he's going to call the cops on me and say I was yelling

Trump

[christinealtomare]

anastasiademusical: Deze schitterende kostuums waren afgelopen zaterdag te bewonderen tijdens onze ANASTASIA tentoonstelling in het @amrathkurhaus! 👑 Heb je het gemist of kon je er niet bij zijn? Je kunt ze natuurlijk ook live bewonderen tijdens de voorstelling! 💜✨ Weet jij van wie deze prachtige kostuums zijn die je hier ziet? #anastasianl#museumnachtdenhaag

[opheliaintherushes]

Oh, HBO, look what happens when you spend money on great writers and period costumes instead of ice dragons.

[adz]

god the amount of bad music video needle drop moments. the lighting, the acting, the costumes….. she should be tried at the hague

saltburn was awful lol

[maireadralph]

Spacebats IRL Meets @ Conventions (!?)

AKA “what do you call a gathering of Spacebats?”

So something I’d been thinking about for a while was ”what if the Spacebats / Entrapdaks actually meet IRL and would the universe implode if too many Entrapta fans were in the same room together?”

So the clogs in my head started turning…what would be a good way to get nerds in the same place? What kind of space would be 100% welcoming to everyone?

Of course the answer is simple…meet at the same Anime/Pop Culture Convention, even if the Convention is trash we can still have fun talking about Hordak’s butt ears and doing our own Post-Con things (like having a Cheeky Nandos)

For those of you unfamiliar with an anime/ pop culture Convention (henceforth going to be simply referred to as a ”Con”) it is a gathering of likeminded nerds to celebrate everything nerdy from anime to K-Pop to just quirky and silly things. Typically held over the course of three days. Some Cons have dedicated spaces for playing video games, taking photos, buying unique fan merch and of course cosplay (a short hand of Costume play). While not a requirement it can be fun to dress up as a favourite character or just admire other people’s cosplays. So there’s something for everyone.

With Cons being held all over the world if should be possible to find one that some Spacebats can attend at the same time So to start I’ve compiled a list of some of the most travel accessible (ie the ones that are easy to get to for as many people as possible) Cons for the European Spacebats.

American Spacebats are of course welcome to nominate and help others find their most travel accessible Con, as I’ve only been to GenCon SoCal and Pensacon I do not have enough experience with American Cons - please scroll down to the very bottom of this post for a blank form and fill it in to help your fellow Spacebats.

Okay so here’s the Cons I recommend starting with the Europe based listed under the cut:

Convention: AnimeCon NL

Location: Netherlands 

Dates (actual/ expected): Early June

Website: https://animecon.nl/regular/en

Notes: Location varies, currently De Broodfabriek, Volmerlaan 12, 2288 GD. Next event is smaller AnimeCon Classic 2022 held in Theater Hotel Almelo 23-25 Sept but since the venue hotel is already booked out on it’s website I have not included it here

Travel:

Nearest Airport: Schiphol 

Nearest Train Station: Rijswijk Direct

Public Transport available? Yes, Tram (purchase of an OV Chip Caard is recommend), Train  

Free Water Fountains at Venue? No

Hotels: 

https://animecon.nl/regular/en/location/hotels

Nearest Hotel average price: appox €100 a night

Location from Venue: varies

Transport to Venue: varies

Food:

Nearest Restaurant: varies

Nearest convenience store: Albert Heijin

Nearest Supermarket: Albert Heijin, Jumbo

Does venue have food available? Yes - Convention Food Stalls in the Food Court Average cost of venue food/drink: €9-13 for meal, €2.50-3 for a soft drink/coffee

Local Spacebat’s Recommendations:

(I’m not the Local for here BTW but been in Den Haag enough to know a few things). At the current location Den Haag (The Hague) is a good place to stay as it is is a single 30 minute tram ride away from Den Haag Centraal Station and Den Haag has a wild wide choice of supermarkets, restaurants and shops. 

AnimeCon assigns venue locations a Zone colour with Red Zones not allow any food/drink or large bags/backpacks/shopping bags.  Smaller bags are allowed (25cm x 14cm x 7cm) which MUST fit in their sizing box (an exemption pass can be obtained for large bags required for medical reasons).  These restricted items can be stored for free in the Bag Room or placed in rented lockers.  As queues for the bag room can be long, I recommend hiring a locker in advance but please check and double check the sizing as the current lockers can only hold one (1) backpack and jacket comfortably, maybe two (2) backpacks at a squeeze.

Travel accessible for European Spacebats

***

Convention: MCM Birmingham

Location: NEC Birmingham

Dates (actual/ expected): 12-13th Nov

Website: https://www.mcmcomiccon.com/birmingham/en-us/home.html

Travel:

Plane, Train, Car 

Nearest Airport: Birmingham International 

Nearest Train Station: Birmingham International Direct Public Transport available? Yes 

Free Water Fountains at Venue? Yes near Halls 5 and I think 7 (IIRC MCM is held in Halls 9-11)

Hotels:

Airport Hotels, Birmingham City Center 

Nearest Hotel average price: appox £180 per night source: https://hotelmap.com/events/MXE5P-LV 

Location from Venue: Airport Hotels: 15 or so minutes  City Center: 23 minute train + 10 minute walk 

Transport to Venue: Airport Hotel - Free Train Shuttle & walk.  City Center - Train & Walk

Food:

Nearest Restaurant: Wetherspoon’s (English Bar), Subway (takeaway sandwiches) in the NEC.  Nando’s, Zizzi’s (Pizza restaurant) located in Resort’s World 

Nearest convenience store: WH Smith’s located in Airport 

Nearest Supermarket: City Centre Tesco and Sainsbury’s

Does venue have food available? Yes 

Average cost of venue food/drink: around £8-15 depends on the item or meal

Local Spacebat’s Recommendations:

Be prepared for a long walk to the Halls as MCM is often held in the furthest out Halls. 

There maybe other events happening in other Halls at the same weekend. NEC has loads of space and one can wander freely around. 

There is also the Bear Grylss Adventure experience if the Con life isn’t for you and you feel like being Bow and shoot some arrows. 

Smaller two day event. 

SUPER easy to access via the Airport

Boots (a drug store) located in the Airport has packed lunch style picks and mix Meal Deals that come to around £4-5.

***

Convention: MCM London

Location: ExCel Center, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London E16 1XL 

Dates (twice yearly): 27th-30th October, End of June (check website)

Website: https://www.mcmcomiccon.com/london/en-us/home.html

Travel: 

By train, DLR (Docklands Light Railway kinda like a tram), car 

Nearest Airport: London City Airport. Heathrow (with the Elizabeth Line). Gatwick. 

Nearest Train Station: Custom House (DLR + Elizabeth Line), Prince Regent (DLR), West Silvertown (DLR + walk up a high metal bridge) 

Direct Public Transport available? Yes 

Free Water Fountains at Venue? Yes. Located at Hall S1 and IIRC Hall N5

Hotels:

Nearest Hotel average price:  around £200 a night, source: https://hotelmap.com/MJU9Y#hm;s=2022-10-27&e=2022-10-30&r=1&a=1&c=0&i=0&f=;hm 

Location from Venue: Walk 15 minutes 

Transport to Venue: Walk 15 minutes 

Notes: There is a Premier Inn or Travelodge in Woolwich Arsenal one stop away on the Elizabeth Line (3 minute ride)

Food:

Nearest Restaurant: The Fox Bar, Tapas Bar (all outside) 

Nearest convenience store: Tesco Express (unsure of location but heard it’s near) 

Nearest Supermarket: Tesco Express 

Does venue have food available? Yes, cafe and fast food 

Average cost of venue food/drink: Venue’s meal deals for one person (sandwich or equivalent with snack and bottle of drink) are around the £10.  Convention food is around the same price

Local Spacebat’s Recommendations:

Event tickets can be mailed out (for a small fee) if ordered in advance.  If these tickets are Weekend or Priority Entry then the holder can skip the main ticket queue and walk in the main Custom House Entrance. 

There are security bag checks on the entrances and bags will be checked by security upon re-entry.

 Restaurants within the venue are nearby are going to be very busy post event. I would recommend taking the Elizabeth Line one stop (3 minutes ride) to Woolwich Arsenal where it will be much quieter and there is a larger selection of restaurants like Beef Eater (a fancy English “pub grub”), [Cheeky] Nando’s (Portuguese Chicken restaurant) and McDonalds. 

Sometimes MCM will only allow Weekend Pass, Priority Pass or Disability Pass holders re-entry via the main entrance with ALL other pass holders being forced to re-entry via the ticket queue.  On the subject of re-entry MCM staff wouldn’t always mention the last re-entry time and will often stop ALL re-entry in the last hour or half hour of the event day.

***

Those are my main three, I could have gone on about other London Cons but they aren’t as easily accessible as those three  Yes there is the opportunity for Spacebats to stay at each other’s homes or rent an AirB&B I just listed options that would give us all some space - phew that was a lot of writing 😅 

And now the Blank for other Spacebats to contribute their Con wisdom - hopefully the Hivemind can find something that we can work with and finally get to meet each other IRL!!

BLANK:

Convention:

Location:

Dates (actual/ expected):

Website:

Travel:

Nearest Airport:

Nearest Train Station:

Direct Public Transport available? Y/N

Free Water Fountains at Venue? Y/N

Hotels:

Nearest Hotel average price:

Location from Venue:

Transport to Venue:

Food:

Nearest Restaurant:

Nearest convenience store:

Nearest Supermarket:

Does venue have food available? Y/N

Average cost of venue food/drink:

Local Spacebat’s Recommendations:

If applicable please add further notes on the venue, past events, restaurant recommendations and helpful tips (for example if event has a Will Call or equivalent service for ticket collection)

[tutuandscoot]

Ok so I know I’m a few days late on the 4CC stuff (i only just finished watching) but I need to say this:

Green/Parsons are doing what PC have been trying to do for the last 7 years.

Keep reading for a (hopefully I’ll keep this brief) explanation.

Side note: this is coming from the POV of a dancer that trained in high level and fulltime ballet for 15 years) danced professionally for 3 years in ballet companies, Had a contemporary production choreographed around me in my final year of school by an ex QB (Queensland ballet) and SDC (Sydney dance company) dancer/ choreographer, was accepted into the NDT (Nederlands dans theatre) [the most prestigious contemporary dance company in the world] affiliate school in The Hague, and the first production I did under my paid contract with WAB (West Australian ballet) I was the principal dancer in a piece choreographed on me by an NDT dancer and choreographer-which had never happened in the WAB company’s 60+ year history- a freshman getting a principal role. I say NONE OF THIS to brag- I say it as someone who has worked and trained in the industry that is now taking a hold in ice dance so I just say it to back up my point with facts from the work I know, (also, I am completely in agreement that art is subjective, there is no ‘right’ and ‘wrong’).

Firstly: the RD.

(I hate Janet Jackson) but this has the same class and presentation level that VM’s Prince had. It flowed the whole way through, it had a distinct style, very musical, interesting choreography. I didn’t see the distinction between the dancing and the skating. Their performance level needs to develop, I feel they would have a bit of trouble captivating an entire arena, but that will grow.

Ok but really we are here to talk about the FD.

I was planning on writing an oped sort of thing titled: ‘The Problem with PC’ (not as people, just their impact on ID) But I feel I will end up writing most of what I wanted to say in that post here. But I’ll do it in a way that compares to a current ID team, and also inevitably bring VM into the conversation too.

Gr/Pa’s FD:

Flattering costumes.

Stunning music- not overused and actually went somewhere. Similar to the RD. They had a style, or more specifically a ‘motif’ and built around it. It flowed, they used rise and fall in the music to make highlights- not just skating on one level the whole time. They were not over expressing the music with their faces. They expressed through movement (which for fucks sake is what dance is) They actually DANCED not just skated and waved their arms around. They didn’t do what they think or have seen dancers do an put it on ice, they took the essence, the inspiration of dance and put it on ice. They were doing ‘the thing’ everyone says pc do (but they do not do well or cohesively) which is just be two dancers existing in space, intertwining with one another. With pc it’s like they are skating two different programs, they might be doing the same steps and physically take up a similar space, but you in no way feel they are truely connected to the same moment in time. Commentators have said that the music PC choose and the way they ‘perform’ it really carries an audience. I don’t feel that way. The music they choose (eg, MS, to build a home) is moving music on its own. (And also not to mention has been sooooo over used that for a dancer watching it is not gonna be artistically comparable to anything else seen to those pieces of music). In Gr/Pa you don’t see the skating and dancing as two separate activities. In PC all I see is skating. Which bothers me because they are the highest scoring team in the world in a sport called ICE DANCE. I don’t feel like PC are good dancers, I feel their skating coordination doesn’t translate to dance. This is where VM excelled- skating requires different coordination to floor dancing- and u could see it when we saw VM dance off ice, but they were able to seamlessly blend dance with skating. I have never viewed PC as Ice dancers, truly just watered down pairs skaters. Especially coz they cry boo hoo when the set rhythm is announced (16/17 we’re afraid the try hip hop so they went with swing which they didn’t even do that well. and 17/18 “I can’t roll my hips on ice poor me”) Dance is about expressing emotion through movement. It’s not about picking some chello/ piano music in a minor key, putting on and angsty face for 4 mins and throwing your self at your partner. Gr/Pa appeared as two equal entities, not appearing to be different genders even -that wasn’t necessary to the story- they moved equally and in complementary motions, with equal performance quality.

What pc want to be is contemporary dancers on ice. That’s it. They don’t want to be well rounded and truly fulfill the requirements and true tradition of the sport.

What pc have brought to ice dance (which would not have been possible without the likes of VM’s ‘Valse Triste’, ‘The Great Gig in the Sky’, and to an extent Mahler- these thin, lean themes that do not exist as a mechanism for the audience, but for the skaters to immerse themselves in) is a style and theme taken straight out of the high level competitive dance world, which started around 2011/12. It is like all things. A phase. A concept/style that became popular in dance. Now ice dance, and in both fields has been rewarded because it appears ‘modern’ and ‘forward thinking’.

One of the things I admire most about VM is they were trend setters who never set a trend. That’s what will make them stand out years from now. No one could copy their style even if they wanted to, both because they never let themselves settle, and were so unique in their approach to the sport and art they could never be replicated. All we see now are 15 pc teams in one competition.

Essentially, from my experience in dance, I know exactly what pc have tried to do. But it’s not coming off how they think it is. It’s in a similar way to how I hate when teams try to do legit ballet steps in ice skates. It doesn’t work. You can’t just pick similar music to dancers, where similar costumes, and put on (what you think) is a similar expression and go out there and call yourselves ‘innovative’. And it’s not coming off as genuine.

Pc ushered in this “style” and the community around ID and the overriding bodies have determined it to be ‘the only winning style’ everyone will (has) start doing it to be in medal contention. But what was once a ‘pc’s style’ is now an almost everyone thing.. and there’s going to be teams that will (and have) come along, during their rein even, that do it a lot better. Because they have a better understanding, respect for dance as an art, respect for their sport and are more talented than pc. They are just the only ones who can’t see it.

Gr/Pa are clearly a team that are understanding the memo. Good luck to them.

I’m done for now. Congrats if you got this far.

[i-am-robie]

i am HERE for bashing alex’s costume!! can’t believe they did her like that it’s truly awful. chyler i’m so sorry

Look I’ve been preparing my indictment at The Hague to try the CW makeup and wardrobe department for war crimes for a while now, you better believe that’ll be on the exhibit list

[keanureevesisbae]

When in Amsterdam

A one shot in the universe of ‘The Alluring Charm of Henry Cavill’

Henry Cavill x Adelaide Park

Summary: Henry decides to surprise Adelaide with a trip to Amsterdam

Wordcount: 1k

Masterlist // January Masterlist

This is my first time in Amsterdam. I’m so grateful that Henry took me on this trip. We already went to his place in the UK, we spend some time in Jersey with his family. Since we were close by, he thought it would be a great idea to go to the Netherlands. We already visited the Hague and Rotterdam and now we spending the last few days here in Amsterdam, before we head to New York for filming my newest movie.

We went on an Amsterdam Canal Cruise, we visited Volendam for a picture in traditional costume (and laughed so hard when Henry walked in clogs) and ate way too many ‘stroopwafels’.

We are strolling over de Dam, but we quickly take a detour, because of the billion uncontrolled pigeons flapping around.

‘Henry,’ I say to him, when it’s a little less crowded.

‘Yes, my love.’

‘Thank you for this trip. I really like spending time with you, especially when we’re in another country.’

‘I love traveling with you,’ he says, squeezing comforting in my hand. ‘How about you and I travel the world together?’

Together… Being together with Henry, it’s time well spend. I love being around him and the time I’m not with him, I miss him so much. ‘Where do you want to go?’ I ask him.

‘I want to visit at least Australia, South-Africa and Brazil with you, but there are more places I want to go with you. How about you, sweetheart? Where do you want to go to?’

‘South Korea,’ I tell him. ‘With you and my parents, so you can meet some of my family. If you want to of course.’

‘I would love that.’ Henry stops walking, as we look out over a canal. ‘You know,’ he says, ‘I always enjoyed going to different places on my own or with friends, but traveling with you… It’s like a whole new world opened up for me. You are a great travel companion.’

My heart swells hearing those sweet words. ‘That’s oddly romantic.’

‘Why add the oddly?’ Henry asks, semi insulted. ‘I was being so insanely romantic and now you broke my heart with your oddly romantic.’

I roll my eyes. ‘Drama queen, you. But I do have to say… It’s sweet that you like traveling with me.’

‘Not just like. Love.’ He places on hand on the edge of the railing, as he wraps a strong arm around my shoulders. ‘I’m so lucky to have such a fun traveling partner with me.’

After our stroll through Amsterdam, Henry walks us to the hotel suite and plops on the bed, sprawled out, confiscating the entire bed with his large body. I take off my jacket and place it on the back of the chair. ‘Come here, Addy,’ Henry says, ‘I am cold, I want a hug.’

‘Liar,’ I chuckle, ‘you just want a hug.’ I jump on the bed and partially on top of him. Thankfully I know he can handle it, because he laughs and wraps his arms around me. ‘Henry,’ I say to him, my tone changing from playful to serious.

‘What’s wrong?’ he asks, pushing a strand of hair out of my face.

‘Did you see that couple?’ I ask him, ‘at the last cafe?’

He nods. ‘With those kids?’ he fills in.

I nod. ‘They were cute, weren’t they?’

‘They sure were,’ he admits.

‘You ever think about kids?’ I ask him. ‘Not right now, but later on in life?’

Henry smiles. ‘I do, honey. Specifically kids with you.’

My heart flutters as I bite my lower lip to prevent myself from squealing. ‘Really?’

‘Really. Can you even imagine how cute our kids would be? My curls, your eyes and they would probably be really tiny.’

I can’t help but laugh. ‘Shut up. I want my kids to be tall.’ I run my fingers through his soft curls and ask: ‘Where do you want to raise them?’

‘Is that why you’re worried?’ he asks me. There was a time that he didn’t know how what was going through my mind, but we passed those times a long time ago. He can look at me and know almost exactly what I’m thinking, even if it’s making a decision at a grocery store.

‘Maybe a little. I have been thinking about our future for awhile now.’

My mouth all of the sudden turns a lot drier. I wasn’t exactly sure where this conversation was going, but since it is happening right now, I feel like I cannot wiggle myself out of this.

Much to my dismay.

‘Sweetheart, you can tell me all about your thoughts about our future.’

‘Well,’ I start, ‘I don’t want kids right now, but maybe later on in our relationship. It’s just that I was wondering where you want to raise our children. I know it’s not something we should worry about now, but… Never mind.’

‘No, no, no.’ Henry turns around, so I slide from his chest and we’re both on our sides. ‘Not never mind. We’re gonna talk about this and I want you to be as honest as possible. Tell me, sweetheart, where do you want to raise our kids?’

I sigh. ‘You truly want to know about it? I thought about it long and hard.’

‘Of course I want to know,’ he says, a soft smile toying on his lips, while his rough finger tips graze over my cheek.

‘I kinda want to move to the UK.’

Henry’s eyes tell me he sure wasn’t expecting that. ‘Really?’

‘Together with my parents,’ I say. ‘LA is my hometown and forever will be, but I cannot raise my children there. Not after everything that happened there. I also want my parents to live close by, so they can see their grandkids grow up. I know they would love that. Besides, my dad would love it to move here.’

He smiles. ‘I totally understand it,’ he says. ‘How about… You and I find a nice house outside of London and we’ll look for a nice place for your parents close by?’

‘Are you sure?’ I ask. ‘I don’t even know where you want to raise our kids.’

‘You do,’ he says with a smile. ‘In a lovely place a little outside London with your parents close by.’