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Tuesday Morning Update
Oct. 7th, 2014 08:58 amWent to a dress rehearsal of Madama Butterfly with my Mom last night, at the Toronto opera house--Patricia Racette starred, mainly "marking" her higher and more intense notes, but her physical performance was so dynamic and subtle I still cried through Act Two. I was thinking in particular about how the character of Cio-Cio-San is really only eighteen when she kills herself, and how her son Sorrow Pinkerton has therefore lived the first three years of his life watching a highly-trained teenaged geisha diva having a constant nervous breakdown. "That kid's gonna end up becoming the villain in some Hong Kong movie," I told Mom, as we left.
(Oh man, and as with every time I see any version of that opera, I ended up wanting to boo the guy playing B.F. Pinkerton--Sorrow's feckless, happily Imperialist father--off the stage. It wasn't that he was giving a bad performance, it's just that Pinkerton is such a fucking sleaze! He spends all his time in Act Two basically bawling about how much he's suffering over what Butterfly's going through, then bolts the minute he thinks she's about to show up, essentially forcing his best friend Sharpless and his poor wife deal with her for him. There was a really interesting staging trick they did during Sharpless and Pinkerton's duet to that effect [Pinkerton: "I feel so BAAAAD!" Sharpless: "You damn well should, because you SUCK!"] which had the two dudes in the front, singing away, while Suzuki and Mrs Pinkerton interacted behind them, glimpsed moving around the house through various open screen doors. I kept wanting to know what they were saying, and for the guys to shut the hell up.)
In other news, I am...basically halfway through the new story, "Ghost Pressure," and determined to get a full draft by tonight, when I have to go to choir. It's going pretty well, IMHO, so fingers crossed. And I also got the single nicest comment I've ever gotten on a piece of fanfiction, over at the AO3, from bloodofthepen, who just blazed through both "This Old Death" and "Death To Everyone" and gets exactly what I've been trying to do with this thing:
THIS IS AMAZING.
Truly. You've utilized the power of AU as it was meant to be: an experiment in changing the dynamics of the characters, the events, so keenly parallel to the original that it excites and pains and keeps you absolutely hooked. The characterizations are spot-on in a way I wasn't sure anyone could manage--I'm impressed by the consistency overall, and especially with the Governor and Rick. Holy hell. The subtleties. The back-and-forth even in Rick's mind. I wasn't sure I could swing reading that pairing in any way, shape, or form, but I can't help wanting more of this terrible, abusive, powerful, awful, twisted relationship even now. Damn.
On another note, your imitation of the structure of the show comes out beautifully, both in this fic and the last. Utilizing your THEN/NOW manipulation of time effectively creates suspense and familiarity. Body language, dialogue, changing the symbols in the show to adapt to this new universe and medium--all just absolutely fantastic.
Thought you ought to know.
Worth every moment I've spent on this crazy ride, right there.;)
(Oh man, and as with every time I see any version of that opera, I ended up wanting to boo the guy playing B.F. Pinkerton--Sorrow's feckless, happily Imperialist father--off the stage. It wasn't that he was giving a bad performance, it's just that Pinkerton is such a fucking sleaze! He spends all his time in Act Two basically bawling about how much he's suffering over what Butterfly's going through, then bolts the minute he thinks she's about to show up, essentially forcing his best friend Sharpless and his poor wife deal with her for him. There was a really interesting staging trick they did during Sharpless and Pinkerton's duet to that effect [Pinkerton: "I feel so BAAAAD!" Sharpless: "You damn well should, because you SUCK!"] which had the two dudes in the front, singing away, while Suzuki and Mrs Pinkerton interacted behind them, glimpsed moving around the house through various open screen doors. I kept wanting to know what they were saying, and for the guys to shut the hell up.)
In other news, I am...basically halfway through the new story, "Ghost Pressure," and determined to get a full draft by tonight, when I have to go to choir. It's going pretty well, IMHO, so fingers crossed. And I also got the single nicest comment I've ever gotten on a piece of fanfiction, over at the AO3, from bloodofthepen, who just blazed through both "This Old Death" and "Death To Everyone" and gets exactly what I've been trying to do with this thing:
THIS IS AMAZING.
Truly. You've utilized the power of AU as it was meant to be: an experiment in changing the dynamics of the characters, the events, so keenly parallel to the original that it excites and pains and keeps you absolutely hooked. The characterizations are spot-on in a way I wasn't sure anyone could manage--I'm impressed by the consistency overall, and especially with the Governor and Rick. Holy hell. The subtleties. The back-and-forth even in Rick's mind. I wasn't sure I could swing reading that pairing in any way, shape, or form, but I can't help wanting more of this terrible, abusive, powerful, awful, twisted relationship even now. Damn.
On another note, your imitation of the structure of the show comes out beautifully, both in this fic and the last. Utilizing your THEN/NOW manipulation of time effectively creates suspense and familiarity. Body language, dialogue, changing the symbols in the show to adapt to this new universe and medium--all just absolutely fantastic.
Thought you ought to know.
Worth every moment I've spent on this crazy ride, right there.;)
