Man! This is turning out to be a glamourous month. Went to see a full dress rehearsal of Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House today. It's a German Opera based on the same Danish play called Woycek that I saw a Tom Waits musical of a couple of weeks ago. I think I preferred the Waitsian score. In fact, overall, I preferred the show at the Barbican, but this was definitely a spectacle.
The best thing about grand operas are the sets in my opinion. The sets of Wozzeck were stunning in their grandeur and audaciousness. Just the rake of the stage was enough to give me vertigo and the whole thing somehow suggested you were trapped like a spider in a urinal.
It wasn't nearly as cheerful as the Waits version however. There's just something about people singing in German that lacks glee. I think if I hadn't known the story beforehand I might easily have killed myself on leaving the theatre. Thank God for light and bubbly Tom Waits. The memory of that other show kept me alive today.