Turandotty

Roy and Jo sorted the cultural outing last night - off to
Cap'Cimema in Carcassonne for the Met link up and
Turandot.
All I knew about it - apart from the song that gets sung at
football matches - I got from WikiP in advance.

Usual operatic tale of mad princess hacking of the heads of
prospective husbands since she was raped in a previous
incarnation, until one can answer all her three riddles; when
achieved, he offers her, rather decently, the chance to wriggle
out of this deal by discovering his name. Then he tells her
anyway but by then he has forced her to kiss him and melted
her ice, as it were.
The reviewers of the day thought this was morally flawed.
They don't mention the masochistic slave girl, forced to suicide,
or the blind abandoned father.
As Roy says, it doesn't do to look too closely at operatic plots.

It was Puccini's last opera. He died after the 'none shall sleep'
aria - coooor - and the tempo becomes rather brisker as the loose
ends are pulled together by someone else (its all in WikiP, dont
ask me) Very dark though, full of fin de siecality, gorgeous.

And rendered massively so by being directed by Franco Zeffirelli.
Presumably they keep all the props and cossies in a big box until
the next season - they were old money classy, no flimsy nothings.

Turandot herself was sung and performed by one Maria
Guleghina who had the most fantastic voice I think Ive ever
heard. You could almost see why he was prepared to be
decapitated to hear her... almost.