Word: divas
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Impossible the job may be; it is unquestionably important. Says retired Diva Beverly Sills, now director of the New York City Opera: "The Met has the funding, wonderful facilities, glamour, international stars. It is the most prestigious opera house in the world." As such, the Met must act as an aural museum, preserving and displaying the standard repertory: works such as La Traviata, Tosca and Die Meistersinger. But an opera house must also be active in reviving worthy pieces and commissioning new ones. Under Levine's artistic administration, the Met has successfully explored new territory in such operas...
...certain voices are total," complains a Met singer. "When he finds a voice he likes, he uses it over and over." Like any other conductor, Levine has a roster of singers he finds congenial, among them Soprano Teresa Stratas, Tenor Placido Domingo and Baritone Milnes. Sometimes, as with veteran Diva Scotto, their voices are long faded but still histrionically effective. Sometimes they are not up to major-house standards, as with Tenor Philip Creech, whom Levine has pushed beyond the limit of his modest gifts. But his commitment to certain singers has paid off in the development of several young...
...will frequently echo the Hobbit Frodo Baggins' in The Lord of the Rings. As narrative, the incidents in The Dark Crystal are unremarkable; as the excuse for special effects, fanciful decor and eccentric characters, they do nicely enough. Here, as in such ambitious films as Blade Runner and Diva, texture is more important than text. The slow funeral procession of Mystics across an undulating desert; the Skeksis' cruddy doge's palace, in which these hilariously sloppy eaters dine on live Podlings and scheme for ascendancy; Jen's dream sequence, briefly sparkling with hope and memory...
Without half its complexity of plot, Diva would be captivating. The photography is stunning, particularly during a climatic sequence in an abandoned warehouse. The acting is low-key and effective. Fredrich Andre plays the handsome Jules with an appealing and desperate innocence. Wilhelmina Wiggins Fernandez as the diva, gives the insecure prima donna an amusingly American French accent, an appropriate haughtiness of manner, and a crystalline singing voice. Thuy An Luu and Richard Bohringer (as Alba and her boyfriend) are very good at behaving strangely, which appears to be their primary function...
...only problem with Diva is that at times Beineix's knack for adding bizarreness to things like car chases and gangsters verges on the farcical. The Caribbean Connection's two henchmen are truly terrifying, especially the sinister aviator-man only says sentences beginning with "I don't like...." Yet their predilection for popping up in unlikely places becomes unbelievable the fourth or fifth time around. Likewise, Hawkins' ready acceptance of Jules as companion and confidant seems incredible, considering her "I vant to be alone" aura...