#leporellian

[supercantaloupe]

three for one deal. and they're all stupid as hell

[supercantaloupe]

for oc asks 3 for helen and 4 for sally? yayy

YAYYY <333

3. If your OC could revisit their childhood, what would they want to change about it, if anything at all? - fuck man she'd probably tell herself that she'd go back and force herself to fall in love with/settle for Literally Any Other Man than the one she ended up in but she's honestly lying to herself if she thinks she can just will herself into not falling for him. also unfortunately for her she grew up at such a time that being like, an independent woman was not at all a feasible thing to do and CERTAINLY not strive for. but i think if she could go back helen would want to convince herself to not fall in love so hard with the man who seemed, at the time, to be too impossibly good to be true (but who could blame her?). and to try and convince herself that there is a gaping chasm of a difference between being a wife and being a mother.

4. Describe three of the most important photographs your OC owns. - her parents' wedding portrait, a family photo from when she was a toddler, and an old photo of john cut from a newspaper or high school yearbook or similar

[ask meme]

[supercantaloupe]

helloooo for asks if you were tasked with doing your own salome adaptation (regardless of other versions) how would you choose to do it :eyes:

hmmm. idk if this would be #controversial or even interesting to anyone other than myself but instead of using the story as an exploration of love, sexuality, abuse, or prophecy i think i would spin it as an exploration of different expressions of judaism and what it means to be a jew and navigate the world as a jew. i think it's kind of fascinating the way, technically speaking, the herodians and john are all jewish. (and considering existing adaptations like the wilde/strauss version, there's an ensemble of jews which are the only characters identified as such, and not in a very flattering way, which doesn't thrill me.) and they're so very different, and flawed in their own ways. and yet i haven't seen a version of the story told that really capitalizes on this omnipresent background jewishness of everything. it's possible one exists out there that i just am not familiar with since i'm admittedly fairly new to exploring the story and its existing adaptations. but possibly it's a consequence of it being a story whose cultural perception is dominated first by xtian perspectives and then by the wilde/strauss version. nevertheless, an adaptation that uses this story to explore the complexity of jewish identity and how different conceptions of jewish identity compete with one another for power/dominance, both within judiasm and without, is what would interest me most, were i to adapt it myself. i think there is material in there ripe for that exploration, and might even tie in quite profoundly to present day questions and conflicts over what it means to be a jew.

[supercantaloupe]

happy sleepover Saturday :) how was opera?

[ask meme]

OPERA WAS GREAT !! really interesting new take on the herod/john the baptist/salome story. in an odd way one that doesn't feel like it has any reason to be specifically herod and john the baptist and salome thematically (there's no theology here whatsoever) except insofar as the story already exists, both as a biblical legend familiar in the culture in which it was written and premiered and as an oratorio/opera that has existed for a couple centuries by now. very interesting to see a take on this story that predates the wilde and strauss versions -- it makes me wonder just how much the wilde and strauss versions have colored modern interpretations/expectations of the story, honestly.

anyway, it was really fucking good. very well performed. cool fresh take. great HIP chamber orchestra complete with theorbo and baroque guitar(!). the translation and text setting were really good too, i love that it lets itself be abstract and literary/poetic in style rather than simply trying to mimic everyday speech the whole way through which usually just turns out clunky and awkward. the whole show ended up being a fantastic tone setter for the month of october because it was creepy and fucked up in really tasty, exciting ways. i'm not a horror movie fan but i think this is what fans of those see in them. listening and learning

i'm hoping inseries will film this one and post it for streaming at some point like they've done with some of their previous works (including circus rigoletto) but in case they don't i'll put some more detailed staging and direction thoughts below the cut:

the way the whole family dynamic is presented in act i it's like. herod doesn't really love herodias but they're going through the motions of being spouses and parents together right. herodias clearly resents him for this. she's also hooking up with his brother who is also here. she seems to at times relish in this and at times feel deeply ashamed about it. (detail i noticed is that herod is wearing a wedding ring but herodias is not.) the brother is goofy but also kind of a bully and there was one section where he was playing with salome and it was hard to see from where i was sitting but it definitely turned kind of ugly, potentially even implying csa/physical abuse (from my viewing angle this blocking was obstructed so i couldn't tell for sure). the who's tommy style. herodias definitely seems to be projecting some amount of her resentment for herod onto salome, kind of at times going between being distant and commanding with her. but salome is also very keenly interested in making both her parents happy and living up to their expectations of her. also herod, herodias, and herod's brother are all smoking. like. constantly. especially herodias and the brother. also the brother snorts coke. welcome to the 1970s the garish wallpaper is peeling and our family is falling the fuck apart.

herod and salome, though, are really tender together. herod is incredibly sweet and gentle and patience with salome, who seems to be a pretty young girl in this staging -- her hair is in long ponytails and she plays with her barbie doll and stares at the tv when her mom tells her to quit bothering her. but herod looks at her with such obvious and overflowing love every time. it's a very rigoletto and gilda dynamic at the beginning, though rigoletto + gilda and herod + salome ultimately both go down very different kinds of devastating paths.

there's this interesting moment when salome is playing with her barbie doll and holds it up by its long hair, and herod sits beside her and plays along, and she gives him the barbie doll to hold by its hair. and she grabs a pair of scissors and starts chopping the barbie doll's hair off. and herod kind of sits there watching/playing along, until herodias notices and immediately rips the doll out of salome's hand (not the scissors ??) (also i think it's not a coincidence that herodias has very short butch hair in this). and shortly later in a moment of uncontrolled rage she rips the barbie's head off the body. and then seconds later realizes what she's done and looks horrified by it (of course, the doll and its head stick around and in act ii it is herodias seeing the doll head that gives her An Idea)

contrasting with all of this is john the baptist who straight up looks like he walked out of brokeback mountain. jeans. blue ranch shirt. white cowboy hat. very small, subtle silver cross necklace. leather boots. and this is baroque so he's a countertenor which definitely adds something

anyway john and herod were definitely former lovers and john shows up mid-birthday party and not only accuses herod's brother and herodias of immorality for the whole "having an affair with your brother's wife" thing but also pretty much outing herod in front of his family. and herod is clearly extremely caught by this. he and his family are enraged at the accusations of immorality and (especially lead by herodias) seize john and lock him up (THEY HAVE A PRISON CELL IN THEIR HOUSE?? LMFAO).

but herod very much still loves john, even if he didn't realize it until now. there's this very tender moment during the sinfonia da capo act ii where herod (in pajamas) leads john through the darkened house back to his cell and before leaving him be they embrace really close for a long while and it's so very sweet and sad. like they both know this is their last moment to be happy together, ever

anyway, act ii. so herod sits down with salome to play with her again while she's watching tv and trying to have a nice father daughter moment together. then the family comes out and gives him his birthday present. from my angle i could see herod look directly at salome and smile mouth "did you pick this out?" about the gifts (a tie and a "world's best dad" mug) like it's so sweet and sad cause man you know what's coming next. and then john cries out from the cell and herodias is enraged and sees the doll head and gets her idea. so when herod tells salome he'll give her anything and she initially says she doesn't want anything, herodias then tells her to ask for john's execution. so basically, herodias is using salome to force herod to choose between the only two people he really loves. and salome, who is established to be living in a manipulative, abusive household and is also keenly interested in living up to her parents' approval and examples (and of course herodias and her brother are terrible examples), does what she's told. and she really sells it. really plays along. she believes in this now.

there was one aria in the entire show that got an applause break outside of the finales of the acts (everything else flowed along attacca), and it was this aria where salome sings of her bitter tears, which herod can dry with tenderness and care if only he'll grant her wish (executing john the baptist). dawna rae warren is really great at shifting between the childlike and playful to simmering with manic glee, rage, despair, and her vocal control is INSANE, the different degrees of dynamics and harshness/sweetness of timbre, it was incredible. very well deserved applause. if you've read any of my other opera reviews you'll probably know that by now i'm not usually the reviewer who spends much time commenting on individual singers' voices so it should say something when i do go on a tangent to talk about one. girl was gooooood

anyway, herod is just like fucking ruined by this. that's his baby girl. he loves her so much. he can't deny her what he promised. but he loves john too, more than anyone except salome. and he's also unfortunately convinced that his relationship with john is the sin that's ruined his family and life and the thing he needs to atone for. the brother (gleefully) does the execution and herodias watches and she's like, disgusted by it but also delighted. licks the knife and then kisses the brother and everything before they leave the stage. and the final duet has herod sitting at the table with john's head presented on top of what's left of his birthday cake while salome dances around. and takes out her mother's cigarette stuck into the side of it and pops it into her mouth (final transformation into her mother perhaps?). and they both end singing together the question of "why?" (in two very different tones) before the opera just, Ends. like the music ended Abruptly. i'm not sure if that was an inseries choice or if that's original but that's a killer, ridiculously-forward-thinking ending for a work of this era if it's the latter

it was dope man. it was so cool. really great little opera.

[supercantaloupe]

happy saturday!! someone at my school chalked in a diagram of the planets on the ground but they’re like actually proportionally distant from each other so it’s a little bit of a walkway from one end of campus to the other. it’s really fun

wait that's really fun. are they proportionally sized too

[ask meme]

[supercantaloupe]

for sleepover saturday: most interesting things you saw at the costume sale earlier ?

honestly my favorite thing was seeing people walking around wearing costume pieces they were going to buy while they were browsing for other stuff. top hats and silly feathered tricorns were always fun to spot. same with people in period coats and vests over their regular t shirts. saw a dude absolutely swimming in a giant fur coat with a silly fake sword holstered at his side. women trying on dresses and seeing their faces light up in the mirror while a costume attendant or friend helped lace them in. a couple trying on some spooky cone shaped macbeth witches masks and lamenting that they didn't have a third person to justify buying the last one to go with it and break up the set

also the number of times i saw a total stranger put something on and then i immediately had to tell them how amazing it looks. and vice versa!! it was so much fun everyone was playing dress up. unbelievably fun i really recommend going to your local theater company's costume sale the next time they host one

as a bonus here's a coat i ALMOST bought (from cosi fan tutte) but ultimately decided against. it had too many stains i thought would be a nightmare to clean out. it fit pretty well though and was so fun to try on

[ask meme]

[supercantaloupe]

i think art trademark that comes to mind specifically is how skilled you are with anatomy and clothing folds (do not respond with “well i use references” or smth similar. waking up to michelangelo and being like LMAO THAT GUY USED A POSE REFERENCE). it boggles my wee mind

CLOTHING FOLDS ARE SO HARD THO and i still feel like i don't really get it right most of the time even with references. anatomy too i feel like i need to branch out in terms of posing and angles and stuff but shit's sooooo hard. it's good to know it doesn't look awkward to other people the way it does to me 😭

[ask meme]

[supercantaloupe]

hiii happy saturday :) today has been an uneventful day on my end but tomorrow i have to load in a show so i guess this makes up for that LOL. people are actually going to the opera i worked on which is really nice i feel like a lot of the time the operas here just go under the radar. anyway idk where im going with this maybe… inspired by my new hobby do you have any favorite kinds of plant ?

yay for opera being good and people enjoying it

umm. i'm not really much of a plant guy i guess esp houseplants bc i'm bad at taking care of them and fragrant flowers like lilies can give me headaches...uhh i like those sensitive plants where the leaves fold up when you disturb them. i think they're funny

[ask meme]