Back Home in NYC

We arrived late last night and tonight did one of our favorite summer things, the free HD opera screenings in Lincoln Center Plaza, in tonight's case, Franco Zeffirelli's production of Puccini's last opera, Turandot. Dating from 1987, it was over the top and, thanks to the performers, tremendous. I really dislike Zeffirelli productions because the sets are so gaudy, full and huge in scale that they can dwarf the music. In this one, for example, Turandot spends much of the third act wearing what appears to be a chandelier on her head. In another life, Zeffirelli designed cars for Detroit in the 1950s, where no fin could ever be too gaudy. Turandot gets off to a slow start, dominated by opera's version of the Three Stooges, Ping, Pang, and Pong. She doesn't even make an appearance except in short silence until after the Three P's interminable Act II opening as they long to be back in their small home towns or basically anywhere other than the Peking palace where Turandot condemns to death any suitor who cannot solve her three riddles. However, the vocal fireworks arrived shortly thereafter with Maria Guleghina singing Turandot, Marcello Giordani doing Calaf, and Marina Poplavskaya performing Liu, the sacrificial servant girl. All had wonderful voices and great arias to sing. Calaf, who basically lets Liu die rather than reveal his name, which would cost him his life, and Turandot deserve one another and get each other in the end when she says his name is Love. Ridiculous plot as in so many operas, but oh, the music and the warm night and appreciative crowd in the plaza. It is great to be back.

My wife had two nice NYC moments in her first day back. Discussing the lack of flowers and sick trees along our block of Broadway with the woman who cares for the plants in the building next door (she blames Japanese beetles which, in addition to attacking the trees, also get into the soil and feast on plants), she saw a homeless man go up to a streetlight, open the access door, plug in his television and sit down on the sidewalk to watch. The gardener next door called 311 to report, saying it was a very dangerous thing to do. This was either just before or just after DD had seen a young man snatch the chair the the deli guys use to sit on outside the deli during their breaks. Two of them came tearing out after him as he beat it down the street toward 125th, caught him and, after some debate, reclaimed their chair.

Yes, indeed, it's great to be back.