May 23 2008
Houston charms
Oh, La Bohème! The idea of delving into the vast Uroboros of Internet and finding out what to do a weekend in Houston excited me. I had everything I needed for the ride: a car, a GPS system — I admit it; I could not find my way around any single town without it, one of my Penelope Glamour traits — and the fantasy to go for it.
The Houston Grand Opera website appeared first in my Google search options — the Chances bar experience will be left for another entry.
I clicked, I saw, I bought. The last performance of La Bohème was on, and I said to myself I would go. It had been a long time since I had last seen the opera. Probably around 15 years ago, when I met my prospective suitor/opera critic by chance on a bus to the Teatro Argentino de La Plata (oh, Adelaida Negri in Turandot, forgive me Maria, I did not mean to betray you). I digress, again.
Back to Houston’s Bohème. It was on Saturday May 3, 2008. An evening performance, a good seat. The opera house is immense, and I would have expected Mimi to wear a stetson, but she did not. No, sir. I was not seeing La Fanciulla del West, but La Bohème.
When you read the opera brochure they give you as they usher you to your seat, you realize how much money goes into the whole venture. Oil companies fund the opera with generous offerings going beyond the US$ 100k figure. And that’s what you get for their money. Soprano Ana Maria Martínez is a regular, trained at home, and she is one of the most seductive and technically apt voices you can get in today’s opera scene by and large. After Natalie Dessay’s decadence in the past few years (her once pristine voice is no longer so, alas!), to listen to a group of singers with full-bodied voices and amazing stage presence amusing the audience (yes, Americans do laugh at opera performances when the script is funny) was a once-in-a-lifetime return to the roots. At home in Buenos Aires, the Colón will remain closed until further notice and, when it opens, God knows what quality we’ll get. I saw great operas there, now it seems I will be able to see them in Houston, of all places. God bless America, for Opera’s sake…
