{"id":446,"date":"2010-04-06T19:09:29","date_gmt":"2010-04-06T19:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=446"},"modified":"2010-04-06T19:09:29","modified_gmt":"2010-04-06T19:09:29","slug":"o_that_this_too_too_solid_fles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2010\/04\/o_that_this_too_too_solid_fles\/","title":{"rendered":"O, that this too too solid flesh would melt"},"content":{"rendered":"
You know, that Metropolitan Opera really is an attention floozy. The eight-page spread in the May issue of Vanity Fair <\/i>wasn’t enough? Really? Apparently not, as James C. Taylor reports on the LA Times<\/i>‘ Culture Monster<\/a> blog:<\/div>\n

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Under current general manager Peter Gelb, the Metropolitan Opera<\/a>
\nhas become more experimental, with singers performing in the aisles and
\na greater sense of realism on stage; but at Monday’s performance of
\nAmbroise Thomas’ “Hamlet,” the smoke in the balcony and firefighters in
\nthe lobby were not examples of regietheater<\/em>. Quite simply, something appeared to be on fire (and it wasn’t Br\u00fcnnhilde).<\/p>\n

In
\nthe second act, as Simon Keenlyside’s Hamlet was singing about clouds,
\nthe Metropolitan Opera House began to fill with smoke. There was a
\nlittle rustling as people whispered to their neighbor: Do you smell smoke? Is something burning?
<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em>The production never stopped, and only a few audience members left the theater. ((Let’s hear it for Neewwwww Yooorrrrkkk….))<\/p>\n

When the first few people got up and left to avoid the smoke, an older
\ngentleman in seat U2 leaned to his companion and sneered: “Cowards.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But seriously, Met Opera: you win. You get The Most Press In the Land. Your ads are Very Pretty. Your reviews are Very Good. We like you Just the Way You Are. So no more fires, K? <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, down in the District of Columbia, someone else is a little sad he’s not getting all the attention he’s accustomed to. That would be President Obama, who, like us all, is threatened by the wee Justin Bieber. Via New York Magazine<\/a>:<\/i><\/p>\n

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