I have just come back from a splendid fun semi-staged performance of Handel's Giulio Cesare
All round a good performance, and the audience came away bubbling with enjoyment. Overall a good cast. The two that impressed me most were two I've never heard of: Danielle de Niese, who played Cleopatra - such a babe there were men in the Arena going red as they watched her - and Rachid ben Abdeslam, who played Nerenus - the campest cutest Arabic countertenor I have ever seen, who had us in stitches, almost falling off our seats, at least where I was sitting.
And a really imaginative semi-staging, with lots of falling to the floor, lying on the floor, rolling round on the floor, from quite a number of different voice types.
Very gender-bending, two counter tenors, who always confuse me, anyway, and mezzo-sopranos playing male roles, there was quite a bit of girl-on-girl action between Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. Also some sibling incest between Ptolomey and Cleopatra - got to have sibling incest...
I like Handel's operas. there's no great hidden message, they're not really designed to move you to tears. They're there to be enjoyed, with lots of lovely tunes, and a few pleasant, if not especially stand-out or memorable arias.
