There's 18h left to see the Netherlands Opera's Verdi Don Carlos from 2004. After 16 years in Amsterdam as music director of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Riccardo Chailly conducted his final opera there (he did an opera every 2 years). Old hand Willy Decker directs a simple , striking production all in streaks of marble white/grays/blacks. A mausoleum of power and conquest and sad, failed ambitions. The great bass Robert Lloyd is King Filippo II. Not a fat, old has been King, rather virile. Astute. Rolando Villazón as Carlos. It's one of the greatest, saddest and most contemporary operas in the repertoire. The moment Maestro Chailly gives the downbeat exquisite beauty and darkness burbles within the orchestra. So, so palpable. Catch some of his La Scala Milan performances while they are still available.
EXT. AFTERNOON.
[Radio] Kitty is dancing to Ponochielli's Dance of the Hours on the garden lawn.
Andrew: Kit, you just leaped over 12feet!
Kitty: [in her funny growl] Tiger cat!
Andrew: Please be careful, I screwed up my ankle doing crazy shit!
Kitty: [another KL funny growl voice] Cat not crazy. Cat just pleased to see you:)
...some time later..
Beethoven's Sonata #28 is on the radio. Kitty is conducting (or is it playing) with her claws.
Kitty: I could be la cat in Les Chats d'Hoffmann!
Andrew: [he smiles] LOL. Remind me exactly where the cat appears in…
Kitty: It is the 'cat' of the opera! ! [she does her faux 'did you not know' etc I'm the star]
Andrew: Methinks Krzysztof Warlikowski would just love you! He's a crazy 'mothercat'! I'll put some 'whiskers' out there for you. You need to work a bit harder on your opera.
Kitty: Have cat, will sing!
Frankfurt Oper are streaming their wow Wagner Ring Cycle rolling out Tuesday May 19 through Sunday May 24 with all online until May 31. What a lot of talent and creativity can achieve on a modest budget.
Andrew: Kitty, you're gonna drive me crazy if you sing Magical Mister Mistoffelees again!
Kitty: Don't you like Kitty no more? [cheekily]
Andrew: Manipulative meowstrum:)
Kitty: Did you see Cats in London?
Andrew: Most certainly did. Many..
Kitty/Andrew: [joins in] many many cats ago.
Kitty: It's very sad [Kitty is digging at something..]
Andrew: We all sit at the same sad/happy table, Kit. OK: what do you make of this?
They both watch Brooke Adams and Tony Shalhoub in Samuel Beckett's Happy Days.
interview
For rights reasons this live at home performance will only stream until this Wed May 20.
The play concludes. Andrew looks at Kitty, Well?
Kitty: Cats FIT on the window sill..
Andrew: [smile] You get it, don't you.
Broadway On Demand will stream the virtual concert - A Night of Covenant House Stars (Monday, May 18th at 8:00 PM ET). Event proceeds will benefit Covenant House's work across 31 cities, in six countries for young people don't have the option to shelter at home without a home.
andrew and kitty attempt to sing-
