Friday, April 18, 2008

What would I do without YouTube?

Especially when I made the mistake of taking a power walk after dinner, throwing caution to the wind, since pollen is literally DRIPPING from the air...this choice, with my diet in mind, had rendered me pretty much useless. I came in, did some sweet neti-pot action and took a shower to rinse off the pollen, took more Mucinex...and promptly pronounced myself in for the night. My head was ready to explode, so I thought taking my mind off it is the best way to go.

Since I'm auditioning for a Musetta and a Zerlina coming up here in a couple weeks, I'm doing some market research. While part of me's been thinking I'm not quite right for Zerlina vocally and visually, I know for a fact I wouldn't get cast as an Elvira or an Anna-- not at this stage in the game... So I decided to check out some pirated production videos of her arias on YouTube. Love it. It's comforting to realize that it might not be as much of a stretch as I thought...I think I could bring some attitude for Miss Z.

Okay, then I started looking at Musettas, and well, I'm sure I don't have to tell you that they're alllll oooverrrr the map. I'll never forget when I saw La bohème at Chicago Lyric years ago and the Musetta was some Russian girl who could sing louder than practically anyone I'd ever heard. I didn't find it particularly alluring-- but the Mimi was Pat Racette, so that quite made up for it. After a few Quando m'en vo s, it's just too tempting to venture into the Mimi videos, so I did. I started with the one that came up first-- Mirella Freni's Donde lieta. Ohhh so fantastic. And then some other people...and it became clear to me just how important that real Italian sound is for that kind of music, with just the right mixture of bright and dark...there were a couple videos of realllly good, reallly famous singers for whom it just didn't work as well.

There's a lot of Angela bashing going around, but when I saw her sing Donde lieta, people, it brought tears to my eyes. Her legato was so unbelievable. The way she can just string the notes together to make the most miraculous phrases-- I've got to tell you, it was inspiring. She might be a diva, but she just sings that role so freaking beautifully, I just love it. Now, Alagna, on the other hand...

In other news, this weekend, I'm going out to shop for a Preakness hat. It's a major priority. Turfside Terrace, here we come.

2 comments:

Completely Coloratura said...

That's the trouble with Giovanni--it really does lack the perfect role, don't you think? I'm definitely not an Anna, and while I could sing Zerlina, there are much more prototypical Zerlinas, both visually and vocally. (And the mezzos are taking it over!) Elvira is something I'd like to think I could do eventually, but I'm not perfect for that one either.

*Giovanni hate* ;-)

Jessica said...

that is EXACTLY how I feel. thank you.