#dwayne croft

[pineapplesandbananas]

while there are many wonderful parts of Jonathan Miller's production of Nozze at the Met I think the best part is little Rosina Jr. who periodically pops in and sits onstage for a bit.

the best part though, is that she gets brought onstage for Ricevete, o padroncina and stays for the rest of the third act. and yes, this does mean she watches the passive agressive argument going on between her parents, as well as Barbarina's, "remember what you said when you kissed me?"

but you know, I think watching your parents fight adds character

[aporeticelenchus]

While struck down by Covid (alas, alack, etc), I’ve been watching operas on my mom’s Met Opera account. So far we’ve gotten through:

Barber of Seville (2007, Peter Mattei and Joyce DiDonato):

Charming! A delight! I want to spend more time with the music later to get a better sense of individual movements. Largo Al Factotum looms large and is as good as promised. I enjoyed Peter Mattei as Figaro and Joyce DiDonato as Rosina a lot too! Bartolo’s patter songs are fun. Looking forward to hearing those again.

Marriage of Figaro (1998; Bryn Terfel and Cecilia Bartoli as Figaro and Susanna; Renee Fleming and Dwayne Croft as Countess and Count):

Finally watched a Figaro production after listening to it a million times! Also a delight! For some reason they switched out Susanna’s two solo arias, which threw me. I saw some reviewers thought Cecilia Bartoli did a little too much physical comedy, but I really liked her. Renee Fleming was a great countess; Porgi Amor is still a dead bore to me but that’s not her fault. Cherubino was adorable, but seemed to struggle a bit with Non So Piu.

This continues to be my favorite opera, and I enjoyed this as a production. I plan to watch the other two productions available on the Met on Demand later.

Don Giovanni (2000; Bryn Terfel, Renee Fleming, Solveig Kringelborn, Hei-Kyung Hong):

I’ve now spent enough time with Don Giovanni to have an opinion: it’s good, but I don’t like it nearly as much as Figaro. The plot flow and pacing frustrate me. There are some standout musical moments, but also some parts that drag (hi act 2 Donna Anna). I do love La Ci Darem and Hei-Kyung Hong’s Zerlina was charming. Finch’Han Dal Vino and Deh Vieni A La Finestra are songs I enjoy from Don G, and of course Lepprello’s little list is fun. Donna Elivra generally has good music behind her, as does Act 1 Donna Anna.

Does Don Ottavio need to be in this opera? I’m just…not sure he does….

Every time I hear the Statue sing “Don Giovaaaaaaaannnnniiii” at the end, my brain fills in “from thy dark exile thou art suuuuuuumoned”, and it took me a bit to realize I was pulling that from Iolanthe. I like to think it’s a deliberate musical homage by Sullivan.

I definitely want to watch some more stagings of Don Giovanni; overall I enjoy the opera and I can imagine it changing a lot with different directorial choices.

Die Fledermaus (1986, Kiri Te Kanawa, Judith Blegan, Tatiana Troyanos, and some men probably)

I love an operatta. I love a dumb musical comedy. I love a catchy waltz I can’t get out of my head. Two thumbs up; great use of my time listening, bad use of my time trying to follow the details of the plot because it did not really matter. Special shout out to the Overture for being a jam. It almost renders the rest of the operetta superfluous.

A+ joke having an opera singer character who won’t stop singing during the talky bits. Love that the prince is a trouser role; that helped me through some of the dumb gender stuff elsewhere.

Total blast. I plan to listen to some more recording, including two English-language adaptations. (The POP Opera project did their English-language adaptation set in 1920s Hollywood; that’s on my short list to watch) I think I like J Strauss II!

Carmen (2014; Anita Rachvelishvili and Aleksanders Antonenko)

I’ve seen Carmen before, but it’s been awhile. My mom loves Carmen; I…struggle with it. Maybe it’s just my pro-comedy bias.

The music is very good, of course; the Habañera and Toreador song are some of the most recognizable music today for a reason. The Act 1 overture is great! Short and punchy! I think the opera might be growing on me musically as I listen to it more; I’ve found the group numbers initially overwhelming, but with a little more time i can better parse the music and find parts I really like.

But anyway, I liked most of this production! I thought the Carmen was compelling, and Don Jose was a good singer (I just hate his character a lot). The set deign (1930s Spain vibes) worked for me, which was a pleasant surprise.

Going to see La Boheme tonight! Wish me luck.

[operacomments]

screenshot of Rolando Villazón and Dwayne Croft as Don Carlo and Rodrigo. they are both wearing white costumes in renaissance cuts (aka doublets and puffy shorts over tights). Comment, from Wilmer Velez, reads:  “sounds good buth they look like Humpty Dumpty”

[ao3feed-harleyquinn]

Frantic fanfic

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/FVJPGHw by Thefrayfan12 Story about unhinged celebrities and characters from different media x zombies and crack ships Words: 24297, Chapters: 8/8, Language: English Fandoms: Multi-Fandom Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other Characters: Lady Gaga Fred durst Bruno mars Katy Perry and more, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Peter Griffin, family guy - Character, Fred Figglehorn, Lizzo (Musician), Megan Thee Stallion (Musician), Resident evil - Character, Beyonce, celebrities - Character, Usher, Rihanna, Korn, Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit), ninjago - Character, Spider Man, Gerard Way, brain pop, Lara Croft, Iron Man, Demi Lovato, Cardi B (Musician), Wonder Woman - Character, John Cena, Kylie Jenner, nikocado avocado, Gordon Ramsay, Lil Nas X, Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day - Character, Post Malone, ‘kevin hart, Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Shrek - Character, Darth Vader, Emma Watson, Hugh Jackman, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Megan Fox, Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Freddy Krueger, Rick Sanchez, Princess Peach, Luigi, Batman, Harley Quinn, SpongeBob SquarePants, Sonic, Maroon 5 - Character, Mario, Lil Wayne, Lois Griffin Relationships: multiple Additional Tags: unhinged, Frantic Fanfic, crack ships, cross overs - Freeform, Major Character Undeath, detailed death read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/FVJPGHw

[lesser-known-composers]

Umberto Giordano (1867 - 1948) - Fedora, Amor ti vieta

Mirella Freni, Ainhoa Arteta, Plácido Domingo, Dwayne Croft, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra and Chorus Roberto Abbado ,Metropolitan Opera House, New York, United States

[tatyana-dreaming]

Renée Fleming as Countess Rosina Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro (Met 1998) ft Cecilia Bartoli, Susanne Mentzer, Dwayne Croft, and Bryn Terfel

[monotonous-minutia]

I’ve seen so many weird productions of this, why is it I haven’t found one where she says “No” and kicks him out.

[rckflg]

CHARCTER MASTERPOST

enjoy :) hope you like this free food

i will link each character’s masterlist in this post

MOVIE MASTERLIST

STAR WARS UNIVERSE

han solo

princess leia

luke skywalker

padme amidala

anakin skywalker

obi wan kenobi

kylo ren

general hux

poe dameron

rose tico

finn

boba fett 

fennec shand

din djarin

paz vizsla

cobb vanth

HARRY POTTER & FANTASTIC BEASTS

harry potter

hermione granger

ron weasley

ginny weasley

george weasley

fred weasley

charlie weasley

bill weasley

neville longbottom

oliver wood

seamus finnegan

dean thomas

cedric diggory

luna lovegood

cho chang

fleur delacour

pansy parkinson

viktor krum

voldemort/tom riddle

bellatrix lestrange

fenrir greyback

lucius malfoy

narcissa malfoy

igor karkaroff

barty crouch sr

barty crouch jr

professor severus snape

alastor moody

sirius black

remus lupin

nymphador tonks

newt scamander

theseus scamander

MARVEL & X-MEN

black widow / natasha romanov

yelena belova

hulk / bruce banner

antman / scott lang

tasm!spiderman / peter parker

hawkeye / clint barton

hawkeye / kate bishop

echo / maya lopez

kazi

nebula

daredevil / matt murdock

mobius m. mobius

deadpool / wade wilson

negasonic teenage warhead / ellie phimister

cable / nathan summers

domino / neena thurman

storm / ororo munroe

mystique / raven darkholm

wolverine / james howlett / logan

rogue / anna marie

phoenix / jean grey

cyclops / scott summers

havok / alex summers

jubilee / jubilation lee

banshee / sean cassidy

quicksilver / pietro maximoff

angel / warren worthington

x-23 / laura kinney

magik / illyana rasputina

wolfsbane / rahne sinclair

mirage / dani moonstar

nightcrawler / kurt wagner

magneto / erik lensher

please let me know which version of the x-men characters you would like me to write for when requesting

BIRDS OF PREY

harley quinn

huntress

black canary

renee montoya

victor zsasz

THE SUICIDE SQUAD (1&2)

harley quinn

rick flag

captain boomerang

polka-dot man

ratcatcher 2

bloodsport

peacemaker

LORD OF THE RINGS

merry brandybuck

pippin took

aragorn

legolas

gimli

arwen

boromir

faramir

elrond

eomer

eowyn

haldir

THE HOBBIT

bilbo baggins

thorin oakenshield

kili

fili

dwalin

THE LOST BOYS

david

marko

paul

dwayne

star

michael emerson

STAND BY ME

ace merill

denny lachance

eyeball chambers

billy tessio

TWILIGHT

carlisle cullen

esme cullen

alice cullen

jasper hale

rosalie hale

emmett cullen

edward cullen

bella swan

charlie swan

billy black

jacob black

seth clearwater

leah clearwater

paul lahote

sam uley

TELEVISION SHOW MASTERLIST

THE MAGICIANS

eliot waugh

quentin coldwater

julia wicker

alice quinn

margo hansen

penny adiyodi

kady orloff-diaz

mariana andrieski

henry fogg

fen

PENNY DREADFUL

vanessa ives

ethan chandler

dorian gray

brona croft

victor frankenstein

THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

vanya hargreeves

klaus hargreeves

luther hargreeves

allison hargreeves

diego hargreeves

ben hargreeves

lila pitts

CHARMED (1998)

piper halliwell

pheobe halliwell

prue halliwell

paige halliwell

leo wyatt

cole turner

CHARMED (2018)

macy vaughn

mel vera

maggie vera

harry greenwood

abigael cain

niko hamada

PEAKY BLINDERS

tommy shelby

john shelby

arthur shelby

ada shelby

finn shelby

polly gray

alfie solomons

luca changretta

aberama gold

bonnie gold

johnny dogs

STRANGER THINGS

jim hopper

joyce byers

dr alexei

robin buckley

steve harrington

billy hargrove

max mayfield

NETFLIX’S DRACULA

dracula

SHAMELESS (US)

fiona gallagher

ian gallagher 

carl gallagher

debbie gallagher

lip gallagher

mickey milkovich 

kevin ball

veronica fisher

male!reader platonic &/or smut & fem!platonic!reader only for ian & mickey

CRIMINAL MINDS

spencer reid

penelope garcia

luke alvez

aaron hotchner

elle greenway

kate callahan

CARNIVAL ROW

rhycroft philostrate

vignette stonemass

tourmaline

GRIMM

nick burkhardt

hank griffin

captain sean renard

seargent wu

monroe

rosalee calvert

adalind schade

trubel

N0S4A2

vic mcqueen

maggie leigh

tabitha hutter

DOCTOR WHO & TORCHWOOD

9th doctor

10th doctor

11th doctor

12th doctor

13th doctor

simm!master

missy / gomez!master

dhawan!master

rose tyler

yazmin khan

river song

bill potts

nardole

captain jack harkness

toshiko sato

owen harper

MISCELLANIOUS

PEDRO PASCAL

the mandalorian / din djarin

javier pena

maxwell lord

whiskey / jack daniels

dave york

fransisco ‘catfish’ morales

marcus moreno

OSCAR ISAAC

poe dameron

nathan (ex machina)

apocalypse / en sabah nur

kane (annihilation)

gomez addams ; platonic!reader or familial!reader only

JOEL KINNAMAN

rick flag

takeshi kovacs

pete koslow

erik heller

stephen holder

ed baldwin

ANDREW GARFIELD

tasm!spiderman / peter parker

[pineapplesandbananas]

you know what?

time casts its spell on you, but you won't forget me

[mangora]

I like seeing people’s headcanons for the characters’ full names so here’s my post (+ my hc ethnicities bc why not.)

Note: I’m mostly basing last names on like online research and not all last names correlate with ethnicity for a variety of reasons, so sorry if they’re not like accurate. And I didn’t have super strong opinions on some characters. Also nonwhite people can live in and originate from predominantly white countries for reasons like immigration or carriers of recessive traits for skin color, so when I say things like Alejandro and Mike are from Europe I’m not saying they’re white swearsies)

Gen 1:

Gwen: Gwendolyn Addams (German/British)

Duncan: Duncan O’Doherty (Scottish)

Courtney: Courtney Barbosa-Gonzales (Filipino/Puerto Rican)

Lindsay: Lindsay Beaudrie (French)

Heather: Heather Himura (Japanese)

Beth: Elizabeth Blaine (German/Polish)

Leshawna: Leshawna Ndiaye (African Canadian, family mostly has roots from Senegal)

DJ: Devon Joseph* Wright (Jamaican)

Cody: Cody Emmett Jameson Anderson (...duh)* (Idk British or something)

Noah: Noah Mudaliar (Tamil)

Harold: Harold Norbert Cheever Doris McGrady V* (Irish/Japanese)

Eva: Eva Bortsov (Siberian)

Izzy: Isabella Kennedy (Greek/Irish)

Owen: Owen Ellis (Mixed Western European)

Tyler: Tyler Cain (German [Hebrew])

Justin: Justin Alika (Hawaiian)

Ezekiel: Ezekiel Rudd (Norse/Dutch)

Sadie: Sadie Byun (Korean)

Katie: Katelynn Pakhrin (Nepali)

Geoff: Geoffrey Sawyer (Mixed Americanized Western European, mostly British)

Bridgette: Bridgette Langley (Same as Geoff)

Trent: Trenton Loveridge (Greek/Romani & Israeli)

Sierra: Sierra Wilde (Métis/Angolan)

Alejandro: Alejandro Burromuerto* (Spanish, ancestors are from various parts of Latin America)

Gen 2:

Mike: Michael Chiarelli (Italian [Sicilian with Western Asian ancestors]/Peruvian)

Mal: Mal Grimoire (Mixed indigenous Mexican, chose his own last name)

Svetlana: Svetlana Berezovsky (Russian)

Vito: Vito Valentino (Italian)

Manitoba: Manitoba Smith* (Murri/Koori)

Chester: Chester Young (Lithuanian/Mexican)

Zoey: Zoey Ahn (Korean)

Cameron: Cameron Corduroy Wilkins* (Mixed African Canadian, no clear roots)

Lightning: Rudolph “Lightning” Jackson* (Same case as Cameron)

Brick: Brick McArthur* (Scottish/Mexican)

Jo: Joanna Gryffon (Welsh)

Sam: Samuel Croft (Mixed Western European)

Dakota: Dakota Milton* (Venezuelan/British/French)

Staci: Staci Sweet (British & Swedish/German)

Scott: Scott Baur (Austrian/Scottish)

Dawn: Dawn Orion (Norse/Greek)

B: B. Keen (Egyptian/Ethiopian & Sudanese)(Adopted, canon dead name omitted)

Anne Maria: Anne Maria Ortega (Argentinian)

Gen 3:

Sky: Sky Oxendine (Cree)

Shawn: Shawn Torres-Vidal (Mexican)

Jasmine: Jasmine Maguire (Wangkatha)

Sammy: Samantha Lafitte (French)

Amy: Amy Lafitte (French)

Dave: Dave Shukla (Indian)

Max: Maxwell Delaney (Chinese/Welsh)(Adopted)

Sugar: Reese “Sugar” Houston (Mixed Western European)

Topher: Christopher Fitzroy (Mostly French and British)

Scarlett: Scarlett Fernsby (British)

Beardo: Badru “Beardo” Mohamed (Kenyan)

Leonard: Leonard Hart (Mixed African Canadian)

Ella: Eleanor Darling (British/Scottish)

Rodney: Rodney Feldman (German/Irish)

Gen 4:

Sanders: Jasper Elizabeth Sanders (Mixed African Canadian/Angolan)

MacArthur: Marsha MacArthur (I think the Valentina Escobar thing was total BS that’s just her mom’s name)(Scottish & Irish/Colombian & Mexican)

Dwayne: Dwayne Turner (Mixed Western European)

Junior: Dwayne “Junior” Turner Jr. (Same as Dwayne)

Brody: Brody García-Santos (Mixed Latino)

Mary: Maryam Yitzhaki (Israeli/Afghan)

Ellody: Ellody Mahir (Maldivian)

Emma: Emma Ozaki (Japanese)

Kitty: Kit Ozaki (Japanese)

Josee: Josee Lachance (French Canadian)

Jacques: Jacques Laurent (French Canadian)

Carrie: Caroline Lubomir (Bulgarian/Swedish)

Devin: Devin Linyang (Taiwanese)

Tammy: Tamara Burnside (Scottish)

Jay: Jason Durand (French Canadian)

Mickey: Michael Durand (French Canadian)

Crimson: Sarah “Crimson” Murphy (Mixed Eastern European)

Ennui: Simon “Ennui” Mayer (Romanian)

Miles: Miles Deniz (Turkish)

Laurie: Lauren “Laurie” Soleil (Turkish & French/Dominican)

Stephanie: Stephanie Armstrong (Mixed African Canadian)

Ryan: Ryan Mathura (Trinidadian)

Gerry: Gerald LaPointe (French Canadian)

Pete: Peter Manh (Vietnamese)

Lorenzo: Lorenzo Bandara-Whitaker (Sri Lankan/British)

Chet: Chet Frances (French/British)

Rock: Evan “Rock” Manson (Mixed Western European)

Spud: Andrew “Spud” Cooper (Mixed Western European)

Kelly: Kelly Fournier (French Canadian)

Taylor: Taylor Fournier (French Canadian)

Tom: Thomas Hemingway (British/French)

Jen: Jennifer Carrillo (Chilean/Laotian)

Notes: Chet and Lorenzo keep their last names the same, B and Max's last names are based on that of their adopted parents. Also, my headcanons change a lot. Also also, I'm really interested in world cultures but mostly self-taught on them so if you disagree for some reason or see something inaccurate/stereotypical lmk. Also depending on the character, they either use a nickname or chose their name themselves, in which case I don't want to give out their dead name/s. Also before someone corrects me on Bridgette and Geoff the creators have said they are both from California and came to Canada.

Edit 2: Edited recently because I realized I got some of the canon ethnicities wrong, also I’ve just changed some opinions or learned more about the etymology of names.

[adhoption]

I Went To The Cinema So You Didn’t Have To

Jungle Cruise

The spiritual successor to Pirates of the Caribbean, in the somehow real ‘Blockbuster based on Disney theme park ride’ genre, and the 2021 version doesn’t fall far from the tree. In fact, it borrows heavily from the plot and tropes of the five Pirates films (yes, not just the good ones!), as well as other films in the broader genre family: The Mummy, Indiana Jones, Lara Croft, that sort of thing.

I’d never actually heard of the ride when I first saw the trailer, and so I thought this was just the blandest idea for a film, with no unique selling point and a bland title to match. “We want to do another of those treasure hunt style movies, but we need a new angle, a strong original premise to justify the tropes we then attach to it.” “Nah, just call it Treasure Hunt and build it entirely out of recycled parts, no-one will care.” Then I found out about the ride, and thought that was fair enough, given the success of Pirates from the same unlikely inspiration.

I should have stuck to my first impression.

Those other films ran so that Jungle Cruise could walk. We have a treasure hunt for a mystical artefact, ancient booby traps, the reanimated corpses of previous hunters, dart-blowing natives, and German villains hunting the same thing. Nothing that hasn’t been done before, and with more subtlety. The conquistadors-hunting-the-fountain-of-youth plot is straight out of Pirates 4, whilst their part-animal zombies are straight out of Pirates 1-3 and 5. 

In fact, the CGI seems to have worsened over the years, because they are less convincing part-animal zombies than the crew of the Flying Dutchman were. As we have observed with other media, the CGI seems to also have been limited in another sense, as they and the other budget-heavy character (a jaguar with a Latin name which is supposed to be clever but comes across as the opposite) go missing for most of the plot. 

Reviews will talk about the chemistry of co-stars Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt, who remain immaculately made-up throughout their trek through the Amazon, but they are both a bit... obvious. Blunt is your typical trouser-wearing super-capable woman-in-a-man’s-world, because Disney is not afraid to tackle the controversial topic of gender equality (and, of course, rich and white as always, because let’s not go too far), but a bit too peppy to ever fall in danger of developing a second dimension.

Johnson’s character is given much more depth, a tragic backstory and emotional lines which he delivers with the same unmoving facial expression he uses for his threats and his flirting and his jokes. The jokes are awful, and not made any better by the fact they are intended to be. At some point the scriptwriters gave up on coming up with the mandatory comic lines and had the brainwave “what if we just make our protagonist rattle out bad puns in place of actual wit, or indeed a personality, and have every other character awkwardly groan through them?” 

Jack Whitehall is much better as Disney’s First Gay Character #8, even though his presence makes no plot sense, and he has the genuinely funny moments and comic acting. He and Blunt show the sort of tomboy-dandy solidarity seen most recently in Enola Holmes, but then the dynamic of the trio is taken straight out of the Mummy franchise. Again, it’s all too familiar.

Now, I went in with the expectation that this was a children’s film, and I’m sure that families will lap it up, but good family movies offer something for everyone and this is far too middle-of-the-road, done-better-before to satisfy on that count. There is an awkwardly forced innuendo in one scene (focused so much on the euphemism they forgot to make the lines make sense in any other way), as if they suddenly remembered they needed to offer something for the adults, but that’s pretty much all you get.

[ao3feed-harleyquinn]

Frantic fanfic

by Thefrayfan12 Story about unhinged celebrities and characters from different media x zombies and crack ships Words: 24297, Chapters: 8/8, Language: English Fandoms: Multi-Fandom Rating: Explicit Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi, Other Characters: Lady Gaga Fred durst Bruno mars Katy Perry and more, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, Peter Griffin, family guy - Character, Fred Figglehorn, Lizzo (Musician), Megan Thee Stallion (Musician), Resident evil - Character, Beyonce, celebrities - Character, Usher, Rihanna, Korn, Fred Durst (Limp Bizkit), ninjago - Character, Spider Man, Gerard Way, brain pop, Lara Croft, Iron Man, Demi Lovato, Cardi B (Musician), Wonder Woman - Character, John Cena, Kylie Jenner, nikocado avocado, Gordon Ramsay, Lil Nas X, Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day - Character, Post Malone, ‘kevin hart, Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Shrek - Character, Darth Vader, Emma Watson, Hugh Jackman, Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, Megan Fox, Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Freddy Krueger, Rick Sanchez, Princess Peach, Luigi, Batman, Harley Quinn, SpongeBob SquarePants, Sonic, Maroon 5 - Character, Mario, Lil Wayne, Lois Griffin Relationships: multiple Additional Tags: unhinged, Frantic Fanfic, crack ships, cross overs - Freeform, Major Character Undeath, detailed death via https://ift.tt/FVJPGHw

[mamusiq]

It's Renée  Fleming Week at the MET!

7 operas in 7 days, streamed free from the Metropolitan Opera.

Mon, Jan 11- Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with Cecilia Bartoli, Susanne Mentzer, Dwayne Croft, and Bryn Terfel, conducted by James Levine

Tues, Jan 12- Massenet’s Thaïs with Michael Schade, and Thomas Hampson, conducted by Jesús López-Cobos

Wed, Jan 13- Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier with Christine Schäfer, Susan Graham, Eric Cutler, Thomas Allen, and Kristinn Sigmundsson, conducted by Edo de Waart

Thurs, Jan 14- Rossini’s Armida with Lawrence Brownlee, Barry Banks, John Osborn, and Kobie van Rensburg, conducted by Riccardo Frizza

Fri, Jan 15- Strauss’s Capriccio with Sarah Connolly, Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, Morten Frank Larsen, and Peter Rose, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis

Sat, Jan 16- Handel’s Rodelinda with Stephanie Blythe, Andreas Scholl, Iestyn Davies, Joseph Kaiser, and Shenyang, conducted by Harry Bicket

Sun, Jan 17- Dvořák’s Rusalka with Emily Magee, Dolora Zajick, Piotr Beczala, and John Relyea, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin Visit metopera.org to watch. Each performance is available for a period of 23 hours, from 7:30 p.m. EDT until 6:30 p.m. the following day. And Wednesday at 6:30 pm, catch Renée with Kelli O'Hara, Julia Bullock, and a host of other stars in the first episode of Adam Guettel’s theatrical song cycle, Myths and Hymns at Master Voices.

[zanybohbot]

So Solid Crew As HTF Characters

So Solid Crew are a 2-step garage and hip hop collective, founded in 1997 by Megaman MC, originating from the area on and surrounding the Winstanley and York Road Estates in Battersea, London which achieved wide success from the late 90s to the early 2000s. The group consisted of many members, the most notable being Oxide & Neutrino, Megaman, Asher D (Ashley Waters), Lisa Maffia, Harvey and Romeo. Thanks to the achievements of pirate radio stations such as Supreme FM, Delight FM and Baseline FM, So Solid have been credited for being pioneers in the UK music scene. By turning UK garage from a dancey-genre to one that was darker and more MC-oriented, and gaining mainstream success, they inspired London youth to experiment with their own darker sounds, leading to what would become known as grime music. Their well known song is "21 Seconds".

Now you know the info, allow me to describe what each So Solid member would look like in Happy Tree Friends form.

Megaman MC (aka Dwayne Vincent) - A black wolf with an afro, a top hat and a black suit with a gold chain.

MC Romeo (aka Marvin Dawkins) - A violet chinchilla with Adidas tracksuit with dark sunglasses.

Asher D (aka Ashley Walters) - A golden beaver with a hat sideways and a Nike t-shirt.

Lisa Maffia - A golden lamb with dark long hair and a black dress.

Oxide & Neutrino = Before we carry on, I just want to give you a quick info about Oxide & Neutrino. They are an English DJ and MC garage duo formed in London in 1999, consisting of Oxide (Alex Rivers, born in Isleworth in July 5th 1982) and Neutrino (Mark Oseitutu, born in Brixton in May 1982). They first met in 1998 during their DJ sets in Supreme FM at the age of 16 (where they became the members of So Solid), which their music career began to take off when a year later (which is June 1999), they first recorded their first Garage track titled "Casualty" as their white label. They were only 16/17 at that time. In April 24th 2000, the song was re-released and retitled "Bound 4 Da Reload" and became an moderate hit, reaching No. 1.

DJ Oxide (aka Alex Rivers) - A light green aardvark with gold see-through sunglasses, a sideways hat and a blue hoodie.

MC Neutrino (aka Mark Oseitutu) - A light brown raccoon with short blonde hair, Nike Air Jordans and a red Adidas tracksuit. (He's mixed by the way, he's half Ghanaian and half-Scottish)

G-Man - A black squirrel with a leather jacket.

MC Harvey - A grey bear with a white Nike t-shirt.

Kaish - A light blue mongoose with a shirtless suit.

Swiss - A reddish brown fox with a white suit and a backwards hat.

What do you think, @rabid-cat-infodump and @wiionthemoon? Maybe you guys can make the So Solid Crew meet the HTF characters, I think it would be a good idea.

Tbh, that's all I remember from the top of my head, I know they are like 19-30 members of the So Solid Crew but I don't know the rest of which one or who it is and I surely can't be arsed to do the rest. But if I can name 3 or 5 more than lemme know if you want a part 2.

I'm a big fan of HTF and I'm a big fan of the So Solid Crew so why not both!

But for now, Check out their amazing songs I recommend just to educate yourselves more to who they really are and their style. @wiionthemoon and @rabid-cat-infodump, this should entertain you lot!

So Solid Crew - 21 Seconds

So Solid Crew - Dilemma

Oxide & Neutrino - Bound 4 Da Reload

So Solid Crew - Oh No (Sentimental Things)

So Solid Crew - Woah

Oxide & Neutrino (ft. Asher D & Big Kid) - Superman

Oxide & Neutrino - No Good 4 Me

Oxide & Neutrino - Up Middle Finger

Oxide & Neutrino - Devil's Nightmare (from the soundtrack of the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider)

[tatyana-dreaming]

S u s a n n a ? ? ?  | Signore... cos’è quel stupore?

This one’s for @notyouraveragejulie​ in light of the universe deciding today was a good day to celebrate this moment :’)

Renée Fleming, Dwayne Croft, and Cecilia Bartoli in Le Nozze di Figaro (Met 1998)

[monotonous-minutia]

Renée Fleming as the Countess Almaviva in the Metropolitan Opera’s 1998 production of Le nozze di Figaro