Tristan und Isolde

It's not over until the fat lady sings!

Very appropriate for Wide Open Opera's Tristan und Isolde, which was showing at the Bord Gais Energy Theatre last week, with Irish soprano Miriam Murphy in the leading role. Let me say that Miriam Murphy has a sense of humour - she says herself that she was typecast in the role of Isolde!

But what a voice! I'm generally not a big fan of Irish opera singers, but I think Miriam Murphy's Liebestod can be favourably compared to Waltraud Meier's. Just that the golden dress wasn't quite as flattering! It was quite distracting, actually. Well, none of the clothes were flattering. All singers seemed to be encumbered by these over-long gowns that made it so hard to move.

Since the demise of Opera Ireland, we haven't had much live opera in Dublin in the last few years. Thankfully, we get the Met HD transmissions, but there is nothing quite like live opera for sheer emotion and impact. Apparently, it's 50 years since the last Tristan und Isolde was staged in Dublin. And we have a brand new opera company, Wide Open Opera, to thank for the daring enterprise.

Despite the good review in the Irish Times, the auditorium in the Bord Gais Energy Theatre was far from full. Still, there were probably a good few people there for whom this was a first Wagner opera, thanks to the inclusion of this work in the Dublin Theatre Festival listing! I hope they all enjoyed Wagner's beautiful music!

And I enjoyed the picnic prepared by BB for the occasion!

And to finish, another Waltraud Meier Liebestod courtesy of YouTube!