Norwegian TV News carried a report of the livecast to a cinema in Tromsø. (thanks to Raffe)
I didn't listen to the live broadcast, but did record it. Unfortunately, with a knackered Sky+ box, the recording is less than perfect featuring frequent clicks and the occasional high pitched screech. I enjoyed it more on a second hearing, surprised at my ability to recognise many of the tunes from memory. I found the Beverley Sills lesson in how not to conduct an interview to be totally excruciating, but that's by the by. I had thought that the BBC were including Opera on 3 in their 'Listen Again' but I can't find a link, so, presumably not.
There is talk of the recordings of these livecasts being shown on TV in the USA, and hope that they will become DVDs. I don't recall any specific announcement from New York's Metropolitan Opera regarding DVDs, but presumably if they are shown on TV, DVDs will be available from the nefarious dungeons of the internet. If a DVD does become available, I'm getting it. In all honesty, I wouldn't, were it not for Plácido. But his presence certainly makes it worth my while.
Interestingly, most of the writing after the first night was negative, but subsequently, people have been more positive. Perhaps the critics reacted to the hyperbole relentlessly pushed out by the Met, which seemed to imply this was the greatest opera ever written; and perhaps the public reacted to the overly negative panning by the critics. SFist alludes to this.
Some interesting posts on Opera-L, such as these from Paolo and John
Most definitely worth a read is this detailed and evocative description from Rebecca.
The Met has a selection of clips from the December Press Conference on its website
Some photos - screenshots, I think - from Chinaview - press 'Next' rather than photo gallery, as I did.
And some thoughts from the blogosphere: Dr Dick and Dr Barbara, and Sexual Healing from Outwest Arts
Oh, and someone who demanded her money back because of the 'deflowering' scene - which is mentioned very clearly in the Met's online synopsis "The couple makes love passionately"- She was with her eleven year old daughter - who it seems she took to an opera expecting Disney...A couple of the comments are priceless:
- And I hate that sick feeling deep down in my stomach when my child has been exposed to something. We can't protect them from every thing, but we can sure try. :>);
- For heaven's sake. Is there nowhere left on this earth that it's still safe to take a young girl? How completely upsetting that must have been.
- Oh man. That's not good. I can imagine how horrified you must have felt. It's almost like we have to put ourselves in a bubble. There's just nowhere safe to go anymore.
Probably a good thing they didn't stay for the murders and The Composer ripping out his own tongue. Or perhaps that would have been acceptable fare for a child, whereas a (by all other reports) representational and fully clothed sex act wasn't? I'm sorry, but if you have such delicate sensibilities for yourself and your eleven year daughter, opera probably isn't for you, or at least you should do your homework first - eg read the Met synopsis or do a Google to find the soon-to-be-legendary phrase from Maury - "Paul Groves'...character fucks Elizabeth Futral so hard she can walk again".
