L'elisir d'amore: Troy's 1st visit to the Met

Exactly one year ago I published a blog post called A Day of Gifts to describe the day when my mom and I went to the Met to see Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau and Joyce DiDonato in Rossini's Le Comte Ory. Today, a year later, I realize that as much as a day of gifts it was for us then, no day or gift could even come close to March 31st, 2012, when for the first time in his life my son Troy journeyed with us to NYC  to see his favorite Juan Diego Florez, Diana Damrau and Alessandro Corbelli in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore.



Juan Diego Florez as Nemorino and Diana Damrau as Adina

 In New York ,where the edge between dream and reality is oftentimes quite blurry, this was a true day of gifts. And magic beyond all words!

Needless to say, knowing that Troy was right there to witness that magic makes me the happiest and most grateful mom in the world.

After a year of waiting, crossing days off on the wall calendar and discussing the power of believing in oneself, the big day finally arrived.
On a drizzly Baltimore Friday, March 30th, the train took us right to the heart of Manhattan, which in its turn, greeted us (oh joy!) with loads of sunshine.

It is common knowledge that hotel location is important when you travel. It is also common knowledge that when you travel to New York, hotel location is everything.

The magic started happening upon our arrival at the hotel, which was small, but very cozy and, most importantly, just 3 minutes away from the train station and 4 minutes away from the Met!!!!

Naturally, we had a chance to go there Friday afternoon for some memorable pics on Lincoln Plaza and a visit to the Met shop, which resulted in us getting "a real" baton (aka a souvenir pen) for Troy, a Rossini carricature card and this breathtaking and jaw dropping DVD, which was on at the time we were in the shop and was so stunning  that everyone just forgot about what they came for and stood there watching.

Back in our hotel, we enjoyed a fabulous stromboli dinner (single-handedly delivered by yours truly from a small pizzeria on the corner of Broadway and Doesn't-get-better-any-than-that).

Saturday morning flew fast, and before we knew it, there we were again, in the middle of Lincoln Plaza, in front of the Wagner’s Ring Cycle banner-bearing Met and the famous fountain which Troy could not pass by without a traditional penny toss and a scream: "Metropolitaaaan - hooray!"

I have to say that even though Troy was very impressed with the Met exterior/interior and especially with the famous crystal chandeliers, to my joy, he was prepared enough not to get instantly overwhelmed with all this beauty before the performance started. Each of his two experiences in Kennedy Center and Baltimore Lyric, though brief, certainly paid off. I have to say that at his young age, this guy is a toughy.

The Met staff was very accommodating having immediately offered Troy a booster seat!  What can I say - Bravi, signiori! With the number of kids attending their performances, they certainly know how to be prepared.

Having thoroughly inspected the pit and every cello, violin and horn in it, Troy was finally ready to go to his seat which was in Row G ( aka Row 7) in the orchestra.
How did we get to those seats?
Maybe one day I will devote an entry to getting the best for less and share some of my major money saving tricks, including how to get a hotel 4 minutes away from the Met and pay nothing for it. Meanwhile, let me just say that our seats were twice cheaper than the seats right next to us.

And so, minutes away from the beginning of the performance, except for the mothball smell from someone’s suit in the row behind us, and a dosing but fortunately, non-snoring fellow in front of us – it was mere perfection.

And then … up went the crystal chandeliers (which Troy followed with his eyes all the way to the ceiling)... Up went the golden Met curtain....

 and there he was, Troy's favorite artist, Count Almaviva, Prince Ramiro and Tonio in one, Juan Diego Florez, right in front of him! Except that this time it was Juan Diego Florez and his funny, naïve, touching, amorous and oh, such an adorable Nemorino.
Troy was so excited! He kept turning his head from the stage to us and from us back to the stage, smiling from ear to ear and whispering times and times again: "He is here! He is here!"

Has anyone noticed that every time Juan Diego is in an opera he performs a dance? That's because besides having one the most incredible voices in the opera universe, the guy 's got the moves!

Nemorino's very merry dance ( the inevitable result of abundant ‘caro elisir’consumption ) ranged all the way from line dance to Italian folk to pirouettes of L’Indiffirent to gypsy shoulder shake (the latter was a literal show stopper greeted with a long ovation) – and all that combined with the steadiest singing!!!

How does he do it - I have no idea, but I guess this is what "the sky" of vocal art is all about.

And now, my friends, I am done talking. Thanks to some ardent fan of Juan Diego’s with a video camera at hand, you can see exactly what we saw and hear exactly what we heard, if you kindly click here.

This and the rest of You Tube videos that are to follow were apparently taken during the very performance we were at, thus are all the more precious to us.

During the Met HD broadcast intermissions, the public is normally entertained with brief interviews of the stars as they are trying to catch their breath and take a sip of water. Since I did not interview anyone in the intermission, allow me to present a lively discussion of the opera's plot that Troy and I had in the Met lobby that afternoon.
Troy was familiar with the story long before we went to the Met, but in the manner typical for his age, double and tripple checked things that were of particular interest to him. I bet you will find it quite entertaining, especially if you have or once had a three-year-old of your own.

"Mama, Mr. Juan Diego bought the magic juice?"

"Yes, sweetheart, he did."

"From whom - from whom?"

"From a street magician, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember! Not a real magician, right?"

"Right, not a real one."

"But he opened the bottle and drank all the juice, all of it - right?"

"Right."

"And he ate a banana too, like Troy?"

"Aha."

"And he started dancing like that?"(immitating Juan Diego's moves to the best of his 3-year-old ability)

"Yes, he did"

"You like how Mr. Juan Diego dances?"

"Yes, I do. Do you?"

"Yeah! But the juice was not magic, right? Right?"

"No, it was just very sour juice, remember?"

"Yeah, I remember. But he thinks it is magic?"

"He sure does."

"And he thinks he will be cute and strong if he drinks it?"

"Yes, he does!"

"And Rosina... no, not Rosina. Ehh..."

"Adina?"
"Yeah, Adina. Adina will love him, mama?"
"Of course, she will! Ready to see how it all turns out?"
"Yeah, come on, mama, let's go back, come on!"

Wonderful, as Act 1 was, click to the next link to see for yourselves that nothing in L'elisir d'amore can ever compare to the Act 2 Una furtiva lagrima, the beautiful aria of Nemorino, in which he realizes that his Adina finally loves him!

And even that was not the end of our day of magic, my friends. Not at all! After the aria, greeted with an endless standing ovation, Juan Diego had another gift for us.

An encore! Yes, an incredible encore of the whole Una furtiva lagrima!

In an encore an artist usually feels free to do whatever he or she wants. Unfortunately, some choose to sing with a lower quality, not letting the public forget that generosity has its limits and that we are getting a free treat, hence should be happy no matter what.

Some artists do that - but not Juan Diego!

His encore was even more powerful than the aria itself, except that now, free to improvise and treat the music the way he wanted to, he went into cadenzas that none of us will ever be able to forget. And neither will you, if you kindly click here.

How lucky was Troy to have heard Juan Diego Florez in the greatest of vocal shapes, to have heard this amazing artist do the most heartfelt and breathtaking encore of Una furtiva lagrima? What gift is better than that?
I have to say that my son felt really happy and very special, bursting into a passionate applause after every aria and duet, and screaming: Bravo, Mr. Juan Di-e-goooooo!

And to me, his mom, his excitement, his joy and his delight was the best gift of all.

A lot can (and should be) said about Diana Damrau and Alessandro Corbelli, the two incrediblle consummate artists with an equal amount of vocal and dramatic talent, who get to bring beauty and sunshine to every production they are in. Had Donizetti still been around, I doubt he would pick a better cast for his opera than the one we were so fortunate to see on the Met stage that afternoon.

It was a day of magic - the kind of magic that only comes from being in the same theater, under the same roof with utmost Artists, unconditionally and whole-heartedly devoted to Music.

Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to sneak any curtain call pics. Thanks to our close proximity to the stage, there were too many eyes watching. However, I got to lift Troy up and show him the most glorious curtain call with the whole Met up on their feet roaring with excitement and gratitude for this incredible performance. He still remembers that feeling and that glorious curtain call.

And the pictures... Aren't the ones you see above just great?!
Click here for more!

(All the production photos are courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera)