The Passion of Opera

This review comes a bit after the fact due to my hasty departure to Prague (and on the way to Krakow and Budapest). However, I thought I would review my third opera seen in standing room at the Wiener Staatsoper, Richard Strauss' Arabella . The production was avantgarde in some ways, and relatively standard in others. It was well produced and the singing was, for the most part, very well done. On the evening I saw the production, I found that it got better and better as it went along, after a somewhat lackluster first act. I must apologize that this review will be slightly shorter as I am also trying to blog about my travels throughout Europe; I wanted to write this review while Arabella  was still fresh in my mind, but I did not have access to a cast list while travelling. Therefore I will do my best to reconstruct my opinions a week and a half after the fact. Conductor - Franz Welser-Möst Director - Sven-Eric Bechtolf Set Design - Rolf Glittenberg Costumes - Marianne Glitt...