Falstaff Again
Laundry
Constance and her human went to the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD production of Falstaff this morning, and were very entertained by the enthusiastic and delightful production. We were really happy to have seen this opera live a few weeks ago in Victoria, it is fun to compare the productions! Pacific Opera Victoria’s version was set in the quasi-16th century, and the MET’s in 1950’s USA. They were both very amusing, and as Ambrogio Maestri (the MET’s Falstaff) said when interviewed in the intermission, it is very nice to be part of an Opera production where nobody dies!
Constance pointed out that Hitty in the book Hitty, Her First Hundred Years has at least one thing in common with Sir John Falstaff – they both spent some time hidden in a basket, before being tossed into a river! Constance tries out the Falstaff method and climbs into the Quimper Hitty’s laundry, but the human stopped short of tossing her into the nearest body of water.
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Quimper Hittys 
Constance is a bit of a ham-bone in my opinion! She loves to sniff around the edge of the stage, and I suspect dreams of the footlights pointing at her while she sings famous arias. Besides which, it is fun to play in baskets!
It is true that she dreams of the stage – her proudest Opera moment was standing on the stage at the Savonlinna Opera Festival…did I mention it was in a medieval castle courtyard, on an island in a lake in the middle of Finland?
You might not have mentioned it, but I am sure that Constance has!
so glad that Constance was not cast upon the waters!! She is indeed a bit of a Diva!! Love her in the laundry basket. So glad you enjoyed the opera. We listened to it on NPR but that is not the same as seeing it!!
It is fun to think you were listening too – probably this was not a bloody enough opera for Hetty though, and I believe next week the Opera will be another version of Shakespeare, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” as interpreted by Benjamin Britten…also very little blood, but lots of fun and shenanigans.
Luckily the nearest body of water is the cat’s bowl, probably she could make an escape if she were tossed in!
Ha ha ha! So true, and come to think of it, we were right near the same bowl of water during the Lucia event…luckily she did not need to dunk her head in then, nor swim to the edge of the water bowl today! Also luckily it is no longer frozen!!!
I also went to Falstaff yesterday – HUGE fun! With so many huge people throwing things around I would think the stage of Falstaff would be the last place a Hitty would want to be!
No-one said Opera was a safe career! The characters were certainly very profligate in their flinging during Act 2 scene 2, culminating with Falstaff being flung into the Thames in his laundry hamper! Then there was the nonchalant (live) horse in Act 3 scene 1! Constance needs to think of an out of the way spot from which to view (and listen to) the opera.