Skyfall

We should note that I am, perhaps, somewhat unqualified for this—I have never seen a James Bond movie. The sum total of my Bond experience at present:

•  The climax of Dr. No
•  The laser scene of Goldfinger
• The first half of Die Another Day, twice
• Skyfall

But what, I ask you, is the point of a long-running film series if it is unable to draw in new viewers? Must we expect every potential Skyfall viewer to watch 22 movies before sitting down to this one? And you can blame Adele for this, because the song was so good that I got interested in the film itself, did some research, and eventually sat down to see Skyfall this past Friday at 8:20 PM.

Götterdämmerung

Last Friday, the 3^rd of February, I ventured into NYC to see Gotterdammerung, the final installment of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera.

With this opera ends a production that has been equal parts glorious, terrifying, amazing and hideous. I have seen all four operas in the cycle and I must make my confession: I didn’t completely hate it.

Anna Bolena

What's the best kind of opera? Surprise opera!

When I was first getting into opera back in November, I took a gander at the Met's Live in HD listings for upcoming shows. One title stood out to me, appealing to my historic sensibilities: Donizetti's Anna Bolena. Unfortunately, the encore broadcast had been a few weeks ago, and I resigned myself to never seeing the opera.

You can imagine my surprise when it popped up on PBS at 9 p.m. on Friday, January 20th.

The Iron Lady

On January 17 I saw The Iron Lady, a British film by the director who brought us Mamma Mia! (which coincidentally also starred Meryl Streep), Phyllida Lloyd. I am happy to say that this is a much better film than Mamma Mia!, and I think we can thank God for that.

We all know of Margaret Thatcher, the first female Prime Minister of the UK. Now Meryl Streep brings her to the silver screen in The Iron Lady, a biographical piece about the most polarizing figure in recent political history.

Faust

On December 10th, I saw the Met's Live in HD broadcast of Gounod's Faust.

Aside from the Met's current production of Wagner's Ring Cycle, it was the first opera I'd seen. Why Faust? Jonas Kaufmann sounded amazing as Siegmund in Die Walkure this past spring. That's about it, really. Gotta start somewhere!