Last Sunday, a few intrepid tweeters braved the (not so bad) traffic of one of the
busiest weekends in San Francisco history to post their impressions of the final dress rehearsal of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer's
Moby-Dick before tonight's Bay Area premiere.
The tweeters shared a box-seat view of the action and went to work, tweeting observations:
The audience's low rumble of preshow chatter is just like the roar of the ocean. Can't wait to set sail on the voyage.
Look ye! Over 40 peeps on deck now. Am I the only one who expects Jack Sparrow to enter the stage next?
Haha, yes, fistfight in deck, now THIS is what I came to the opera to see!
To your boats. Stop your snoring! Everyone jumps in animated wireframe boats. Very TRON. I love it.
Photo by Cory Weaver.
Captain Ahab (sung by Jay Hunter Morris) came in for some attention to his actions and, um, difficult personality:
Captain Ahab: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know.
Jay Hunter Morris as Captain Ahab. Photo by Cory Weaver.
Wait, this Ahab dude pays for getting a whale killed? Where is @greenpeace when you need them?
I'd forgotten about Captain Ahab's demagoguery, but it's captured well on-stage by a chorus of sailors singing in unison.
Ahab precariously balanced on the bow of dinghy as blow-hole snort gets closer, louder. This can't end well.
Fun fact: Ahab sings even when crying out in his sleep. Must be something in their wine, I guess.
The inventive set design by Robert Brill and direction of Leonard Foglia sparked some pop culture comparisons:
Amazing stage work @SFOpera - ropes and more ropes, dramatic lighting (and lightning) The Captain's swinging makes me seasick.
Photo by Cory Weaver.
Clever wireframe animation projected on the curtain so we see how three months pass. Very nice. I want 3D glasses with that.
Cirque du Soleil meets the Chippendales: Bare-chested "sweaty" sailors defying gravity while singing.
There was general agreement that the ending worked:
Someone has, at last, just sung the words "Thar she blows!" very, very operatically.
WHALE WAS WORTH WAITING FOR. Fantastic. Beautifully done.
Moby-Dick opens on Wednesday October 10, conducted by Patrick Summers.
Many thanks to our tweeters:
@bitswizzler,
@dnsf,
@kittycartwright,
@noahlt,
@techno and
@WayBetterThanTV.
To see what all the tweeting is about, here’s the
Moby-Dick preview video: