Making Opera: The Creation of Verdi's La Forza de Destino

Well, although not as problematic as Opera Fanatic, Making Opera: The Creation of Verdi's La Forza de Destino was not exactly wonderful. I mean, I liked it enough, but it really, really dragged for me and I was doing some serious multitasking while it was playing.

Making Opera follows a company putting together an opera from day one to the dress rehearsal 21 days later. There are very few talking heads, just scene after somewhat disjointed scene of rehearsals. It's interesting and boring at the same time.

It was interesting seeing the chorus rehearse, particularly the first time they had a stage rehearsal. It was interesting watching the singers perform their roles sitting down in a room on their first day. Although they focused on the singers, the conductor (Arenas) and the director (Copley), I was most curious about the backstage stuff. They showed all the painstaking work that is done by hand, such as the painting of every little square on the giant wall, and the sewing of the wigs and costumes. One of my favorite moments was during a principals' rehearsal. It was a one of their birthday's and the cast surprised them with a cake. I've never, ever heard such a wonderful rendition of the Happy Birthday song!

There were very long extended scenes of the singing, particularly at the end for the final dress rehearsal, and I found it boring. Maybe I would have liked it better if there were subtitles for the performance parts. The music was absolutely beautiful, but the documentary just didn't feel that compelling or even watchable.

(I thought this moment of the brilliant soprano singing in a tacky cat t-shirt particularly amusing)

(They really need to start making better opera documentaries. I did hear that the Met has one showing now called The Audition)

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December 22, Update from Meridith

Diana is spot on about Making Opera, it is most definitely simultaneously interesting and boring. The quality of the film itself is very low -- the color is off and the picture is grainy.

I thought the singing was quite good. I am not familiar with Verdi's La Forza de Destino and enjoyed the parts of it that were depicted. I would have liked to hear more commentary from the people involved including the singers, the crew and the musicians.

It is very different in feel from Opera Fanatic, but equally strange and amateurish in format and presentation.

Finally, the cat t-shirt is just the tip of the iceberg. There was more bad fashion on this cast and crew of Making Opera than I have seen in one place in a long time. The other female lead sports a metallic applique sweater that is simply hideous and it is a parade of ugly eyeglasses!