Tauric Chersonese

* Notes *
Iphigénie en Tauride had a second performance at San Francisco Opera last Sunday. The singing was again excellent. The choreography was more coherent from the middle of orchestra level standing room, but I still found it overwrought. This time I noticed that the lighting, designed by Robert Carsen and Peter van Praet, was effective, making entrances and exits move along perfectly. I especially liked the scene with the Eumenides and Orestes in Act II, in which the dancers seem to just materialize and multiply out of nowhere.

* Tattling *
There were quite a lot of people waiting for rush tickets in the morning, despite the sign which read "No Student, Senior, & Military Rush For This Performance." People had called in to ask about rush tickets, and were told there were a limited number, so the sign confused them. I was asked many times about the sign, and I speculated it was from the night before.

The audience was ill-behaved for the matinée. There was a watch alarm during a choral part in Act I and a cellular phone rang during Act II.