Some months ago I bought tickets to this Saturday’s performance of “The Valkyrie at English National Opera”:http://www.eno.org/whatson/full.php?performancekey=19 , having failed to notice that it clashed with “the last day of the football season”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/fixtures/default.stm . Not only did it clash, but the first act would begin at half-time. So I faced the prospect of sitting through the incestuous romance of Siegmund and Sieglinde whilst in a state of anxiety about the score at “Anfield”:http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/ . Happily, “thanks to”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/3703591.stm Southampton third-choice goalkeeper “Alan Blayney”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/bsp/hi/football/statistics/teams/s/southampton/players/255787/html/profile_hi.stm , I can relax and enjoy myself as nothing now hangs on the Liverpool–Newcastle match. Thanks Alan! Now I only have the club “selling-out to the Thai Prime Minister”:http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=300102&cc=5739 to worry about.
{ 15 comments }
push 05.13.04 at 10:46 am
opera over your football team? tsk tsk!
stefan 05.13.04 at 11:16 am
Too true. I was quite distressed when I realized that I would be at the “Lion King” during the game. So I was greatly cheered when I listened to the game last night (not having Sky) and Southampton drew.
Now I don’t have to tape the game (and put earplugs in on the way home so as to not know the score). Now if we can just buy a winger or two with some of that £30 transfer kitty…
Anthony C 05.13.04 at 12:11 pm
I don’t want to sound like a git in mentioning this – but the ENO Valkyrie got a terrible review in the Times. Apparently the director was booed when she came on stage at the end. The performances were good though, apparently.
Chris 05.13.04 at 12:30 pm
Must have been a different review to the one in The Times Online that I read, which was glowing…
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-245-1104450,00.html
The Telegraph wasn’t impressed though…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/05/10/bmwag10.xml&sSheet=/arts/2004/05/10/ixartright.html
Anthony C 05.13.04 at 1:31 pm
Arrrgh! Yes, the Telegraph. Sorry, I was reading it on the train yesterday – but I normally read the Times so I managed to get myself mixed up.
Well apparently it’s won some awards and if the Times likes it too maybe it’ll be ok. It’s far from impossible that the Telegraph critic is just a miserable old crust.
reuben 05.13.04 at 2:02 pm
Good reviews, but will Emile Heskey have a role?
Michael Otsuka 05.13.04 at 4:07 pm
But why spoil the staging by reading the reviews in advance??? The unorthodox first ‘note’ was brilliant because it was such a jolt. I thought there had been a terrible accident backstage.
Rod 05.13.04 at 4:23 pm
Forget the opera – who arranged it so that the last day of the season clashes with Eurovision!
Louisville Palace 05.13.04 at 8:52 pm
Palace have their playoff against Sunderland at 3:00 p.m. (my time) on Friday. My dilemma, therefore, is leaving work early!
FWIW, a friend told me the ENO presentation was first-rate….
Another Damned Medievalist 05.13.04 at 9:15 pm
To the Thai Prime Minister — Just say NO! There ought to be a law against it. Of course, they ought to bring back the maximum foreigner rule, too. It would kill the Gunners for a while, but I think overall, it would be a good thing.
P O'Neill 05.13.04 at 11:01 pm
>>
Happily, thanks to Southampton third-choice goalkeeper Alan Blayney , I can relax and enjoy myself as nothing now hangs on the Liverpool—Newcastle match. Thanks Alan!
>>
Indeed. The Sun’s report re Alan gets pretty close to Colemanball territory:
The nervous Ulsterman did not just tread water on an unforgettable night — he swam the flipping Channel.
Stewart Kelly 05.14.04 at 3:52 am
We got into Champs League! Yay!
We get to keep Houllier for another season! No comment…
musclehead 05.14.04 at 4:15 am
I still have a great deal of pride resting on the match at Anfield, though. My friend is a huge NUFC fan and although I won our bet about which club would finish higher in the table, I could not stand to hear her gloat about winning the last match all summer.
musclehead 05.14.04 at 4:17 am
I still have a great deal of pride resting on the match at Anfield, though. My friend is a huge NUFC fan and although I won our bet about which club would finish higher in the table, I could not stand to hear her gloat about winning the last match all summer.
Thomas Dent 05.14.04 at 11:24 am
The Times review is hidden behind a screen of registration and subscription charges…
The Telegraph review doesn’t sound prejudiced, it backs up its criticisms cogently (to my mind, at least) and doesn’t indulge in rhetoric.
E.g. “It’s work-in-progress, and still too early to make a judgment of its qualities.”
“Wotan helping Sieglinde to escape: an instance of a producer thinking she knows better than the dramatist.”
This is quite contrary to Wotan’s emotional state and intentions at the time. He is disgusted with his former proteges the Walsungs and wants no more to do with them. Unless you want to recompose Act 3 from scratch, it makes no sense. On a par with Wotan not wearing a hat in Siegfried, when the text contains the line “Why are you wearing that enormous hat?”.
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