[I have a weak spot for the “working class girl saves the day” staging by Kratzer. Clearly, said girl should also have had the option to take home the 7ft. dramatic soprano, be it as Leonore or as Fidelio. – Amanda Forsythe (Marzelline) and Lise Davidsen (Leonore) in Beethoven’s “Fidelio”, London/ROH 2020]
…
On the eighth Day of Christmas, the White Shirts sent to me:
one alternative ending to “Fidelio”.
.
.
.
.
and…
…one reminder that Mezzos Are The Champions:

…
…one horny homeboy:

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…one magical romance:

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…one nightly embrace under the pine trees:

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…one knight ready to lend a hand:

…
…one Cretan serpentinata:

…
…and one shirt-sleeved Emperor’s true groove.

…
Oh yes.
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OH YES.
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Leonore is going back to a palace – or castle (more likely in Spain?) – with a husband who’s developed serious (hallucinatory) PTSD that won’t be improved by a vice-regal investigation of his kidnapping. Sounds like fun.
She is going to need a sympathetic, vivacious, level-headed, Susanna-ready maidfriend of proven capability. Satisfying as it would be for her to decide instead on life as the Eidam, that prison isn’t going to be a going concern for some time, and her views on penology are too advanced for success in the career.
So the sequel is Marzellina Makes Madrid, escorted by a certain beanpole caballero with gravedigger’s triceps. Don’t mess with them, worse men have tried that and come to grief.
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*gets out the popcorn*
Also yes on the „gravedigger triceps“
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Speaking of Susanna and the Countess and Wallace Giunta, this memory from Toronto. Not white shirts. But perhaps for that moment when Sophie comes to the Marschallin for advice, after she has been introduced to Mariandl.
squonkhunter.tumblr.com/post/153230570243/peggy-kriha-dye-and-wallis-giunta-in-le-nozze-di
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ah ah ah ❤
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