Susannah

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Posted 08 February 2008 - 09:10 PM

I have received a mailing about a forthcoming production by ETO at the Hackney Empire. This work by Carlisle Floyd seems well known in the States but is not performed much here- indeed this production is billed as a UK Touring Premier, even though the opera was written in the 1950s.

Any comments on the opera / musical would be much appreciated.

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#2 Guest_Guest_YankinLondon__

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Posted 11 February 2008 - 05:38 PM

It has a couple of good hits. Renee (Renaaaaay) Fleming and Dawn Upshaw have both recorded the arias from it. It is pretty popular in America and when you hear the whole thing you can see why. It is just the usual thing – it is an American opera, so we don’t see the point in this country.

You can see Fleming singing the big hit tune here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl_Hs4PNT-c

And Sam Ramey doing the guy’s big scene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WW5YBdAjSs0

I reckon it is worth the risk. Let us know what you think.

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#3 Guest_WeillFan_*

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Posted 13 February 2008 - 03:01 AM

I remember reading in the 1990s that "Susannah" was the most-produced American opera in the world one season (not counting Mennoti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors").
Yes, "Susannah" is very American, but its source is drawn from the Biblical story of Susannah and the Elders. Carlisle Floyd reset the tale in the backwoods of the Appalachian Mountains and depicts how religious fanaticism affects an isolated and quick-to-comdemn community (quite appropriate for today with the Religious Right and other conservatives holding sway in America). You can see a parallel to the Janet Jackson nipple scandal because the townsfolk in "Susannah" go bonkers when she's spied bathing nude (!) in a pond.
There is a "Susannah" recording (out of print now I think) of the opera on Virgin Classics featuring Cheryl Studer, Sam Ramey and the late Jerry Hadley from Opera Lyon. The score is filled with square dances and American folksy tunes like Susannah's big arias "Ain't it a Pretty Night" and "The Trees on the Mountains."
Floyd is quite a prolific composer. Two of his other operas "Of Mice and Men" and "Cold Sassy Tree" based upon classic American novels and have been recently released on CD.
So why not expand your horizons and hear an opera in English from the other side of the pond.

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#4 Guest_herm_*

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Posted 13 February 2008 - 12:18 PM

QUOTE(WeillFan @ Feb 13 2008, 03:01 AM)

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#5 Guest_Guest_*

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Posted 13 February 2008 - 12:24 PM

I was fortunate in seeing Susanah at the Met a few years ago with Renee Fleming, I think it was the Premiere. The two arias previously mentioned ("Ain't it a Pretty Night" and " The Trees on the Mountain") were absolutely stunningly performed and I can hear them now and see the set in my mind. The rest of the opera is OK but nothing else to get too excited about.

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#6 curzon

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Posted 16 February 2008 - 06:50 PM

QUOTE(Guest @ Feb 13 2008, 12:24 PM)

I too saw that production. I very much enjoyed and Fleming and Ramey were stunning.

Sebastian

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#7 Guest_jamesrhblack_*

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Posted 06 April 2008 - 05:56 PM

QUOTE(curzon @ Feb 16 2008, 06:50 PM)

I too saw that production. I very much enjoyed and Fleming and Ramey were stunning.

Sebastian

The current ETO show is well worth seeing, although it is not quite as powerful as the 2005 Wexford production (in which, incidentally, Sean Clayton who is Little Bat for ETO sang Elder Gleaton).

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Susannah

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