The day had commenced in sunshine but was cold and wet when left the cinema about 17.30 and I made the instant decision to see if there was a train to Wimbledon from the nearby station. A sign said platform 3 Wimbledon and Waterloo so I went to the ticket office where two assistants were explaining routes to someone before me. When I heard an announcement that a train was on its way I explained my interest and another window was opened, the ticket issued and the train reached the platform the same time as me, I have no sense of directions at times and was surprised when the train went to Norbiton and back to New Malden before reaching Wimbledon railway station which is close to the separate Underground station.
I have been to the Odeon Cinema before, by car, but I had no recollection of where the cinema is located in terms of the two stations and in fact I went in the opposite direction, After asking directions I passed a fast food restaurant and considered having some food there but thought it was better to reach the cinema first. I went into the small foyer entrance, inserted the credit card and obtained the ticket and then went to the Coal Grill next door and was allocated a seat opposite Morrison’s supermarket above which was the David LLoyd Gym which could be reached from the upper floor of cinema with customers working hard overlooking the small street market and me. I enjoyed a Whitebait starter followed by a quarter of a small chicken, some coleslaw and chips for £7.50 plus a very expensive diet coke.
I arrived in the theatre for the opera with less than 15 minutes to spare and at first it looked as if the audience would be sparse and in fact by the time performance got underway everyone was crowded into the area allocated as premium seats, which was larger than that at the Odeon’s attended in London, Mansfield and Kingston this year. I spent the first half uncomfortable sandwiched between a Canadian who knew of the Met Relay and who had been to the Royal Opera House when it was possible to pay only a few pounds to sit high up in the side seats. During the 20 minute interval I had a walkabout and then sat in a less expensive aisle seat towards the front and had an improved quality of experience. Hopefully there will be not such a crowd for the Met Hamlet relay on Saturday in Newcastle. The cinema also appears not to have adjusted to the opportunity to sell wine, chocolates crisps and nuts and one had to leave the main area of auditorium to go into the entrance concourse for ice creams and the usual cinema fare.
The main disappointment was that it was not a live relay but a film with interval. There was also a delayed start and one person was heard to complain during the interval that she had been told the start was delayed until 7.45 and had missed the greater part of the first act and which includes the well known Your tiny hand is frozen.
The opera is one of the most performed of all but overall is more lighted hearted with comic moments than Puccini’s other great work Madam Butterfly and the other grand works in general. It is the story of a group of four bohemians in Paris in 1870’s- a poet, a painter, a musician and a philosopher. It was the first live relay from the Met in 1977 with Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo the poet. In the Covent Garden production the part was played by Teodor Ilincai who just before Christmas 2009 was called upon to take over from the performing tenor at the interval who was overcome with a cold. The Romanian Tenor has a soft and gentle voice, appropriate for a starving poet in a cold Parisian Garrett whereas Pavarotti brings the tingles to the spine but is always the master performer and never a struggling bohemian. There is a similar contrast between the performances of Hibla Gerzmava at the Royal Opera House in 2010 and the already aging Renata Scotto in 1977. Hibla is Russian and her voice has been described as clear and focussed with power and she made an important contribution the production without dominating it so that the lasting impressions were made by Musetta (Inna Dukach) and Gabriele Viviani as Marcello the Painter.
By the time of the 1977 performance the Italian Renata was in her prime and she went on to Direct a number of operas including the Met which had become her established Opera House when she married and settled in the area with her family. She once had the experience of performing with Maria Callas in the audience and a few in the audience calling for Calls while Renata was singing. Intolerable behaviour even for the emotional and expressive Italians. This is difficult to understand for she had one on the finest of voices and was a good match for Pavarotti.
The plot is well known. Two of the bohemians debate whether to burn the current painting or writing for warmth. Their friends arrive celebrating that Schaunard, the musician, has earned money playing for an eccentric Englishman’s dying parrot. After he had played for three days he poisoned the parrot and celebrated with the purchase of fuel, food, wine and cigars.
The owner of the property calls for the rent and tricks him into going away without any money after they feign being shocked by his boasted exploits with a woman. They decide to go out and celebrate the good fortune at restaurant because it is Christmas Eve. Rodolfo stays behind to finish his writing but there is a knock at the door and it is Mimi whose candle has gone out and who has lost the key to her room. They immediately fall in love and both have great solos which at Convent garden attracted some applause but where Pavarotti and Scotto received justified prolonged cheering and applause ovations.
I turn away from writing to watch and listen to Pavarotti noting he difference in that at Wimbledon I did not give myself wholeheartedly to the performance which lacked any moment of being special or unique whereas with Pavarotti and indeed all the other members of the cast I am constantly stopping reading and writing because of the sounds even without watching or paying attention to the subtitles. The singing tells you all.
Later in the afternoon I watched a second Met relay production five years later in which Scotto plays the role Musetta and Rodolfo is played by Joseph Carreras and Mimi by Teresa Stratas who was a co winner of the Met’s auditions programme back in 1959 at the age of 21. Retiring in 1998 after a 36 year career based at the Met she appeared in 385 productions and 41 different roles. The two looked more like young lovers in 1982 and although Canadian born Teresa was 43 but retained slim features and a youthful figure. After retirement she has made only one public appearance, has undertaken voluntary work in Calcutta meeting Mother Teresa and to Rumania to work in an orphanage
The second act takes place within the cafe and features a large street scene with children, soldiers and lots of people thronging about and being entertained by Perpignol, a toy seller. Rodolfo introduces Mimi to his friends who include Colline, the philosopher but the main event is the arrival of
Musetta, presently the mistress of a wealthy but old man. She is the one time lover of Marcello who she does her best to attract his intention but he ignores her. Eventually she sends off the old man on a fool’s errand and decides to go off with Marcello and friends, leaving the old man to pay for both bills. The main interval is usually taken at this point.
It is after the interval that the Puccini’s story takes a twist. The location is outside as an Inn where Marcello is working on a commission accompanied by Musetta. They are happy in their own way but already Musetta is regretting the loss of freedom and hankers for the attentions of new men. To add perspective to the opera, it is dawn with the arrival of street sellers of milk and eggs, street sweepers and others into the town guarded by gate keepers and customs men. It is in the depth of Winter and continues to snow hard. Mimi arrives calling for Marcello as she and Rodolfo have quarrelled and she suspects he has gone to Marcello which is correct, She explains that Rodolfo has become very jealous and saying he wants to end their relationship. Mimi hides rather than leaves when Rodolfo comes out to join Marcello and hears him explain that he is still very much in love with her, but he is aware she is ill and he is so poor he cannot fund the doctors and medicine she requires. Mimi and Rodolfo are reunited and agree to stay together until the Spring which is the other way round from what would have been best for her. Musetta comes out and Marcello quarrels over her flirting behaviour.
There is a substantial jump in time to the fourth act where the bohemians are back together but Rodolfo and Marcello are finding it difficult to work having both parted from their true loves. The two others arrive share a little food but the meal is interrupted by the arrival of Musetta who has found Mimi in the street ill. She has been living with someone able to provide for her but her health has been damaged beyond medical help. She knows she is dying and wants to see Rodolfo before her end, he is delighted to see her as is Marcello, to see Musetta, but no one realises just how ill she is until she dies. There is some fine singing before Rodolfo learns she is dead and has not just fallen asleep. He calls out Mimi as the curtain falls.
I had an excellent and memorable day but the highlights were my visit to my former home in Erdington, to the atrium at the Bentalls’ shopping centre Kingston and the Film Shutter Island. The opera was something of a disappointment reinforced by then hearing the performances of Pavarotti and Scotto, of Stratas and Carreras
It was comparative early after the show but although it was not raining the atmosphere was wet on ground as I made the short way across the main road passed a still open supermarket until 11pm and into the railway station for Tram purchasing the require £2 ticket. I have used this Tram once before after attending a day at Wimbledon Tennis Courts and finding that there was a problem with the train to Sutton. I had then taken the tram to Beddington Lane for the train to Sutton and from there to Wallington. I had not paid attention to the route which continues to Croydon and New Addington. The route is an interesting one in that there are 15 stops, with between one and two minutes in between making the whole journey just over half an hour. The tram passes through Merton to Mitcham Junction and stops at the far end of the Purley Way Shopping centre close to the Ikea Store. There are several stops in Croydon with Reeves Corner where we would get off the 654 trolley bus as a family when I was a child and walk up Church Street, to the Market at Surrey Street and the wonderful Kennard’s departmental store. Reeves remains as a furniture store although the number of buildings has reduced. The tram then goes around the outskirts of the Centrale shopping complex where there is a stop before one by West Croydon Train station close to the bus station and then stops a few yards from the Travel Lodge before turning into George Street and the Tram Interchange outside of East Croydon Station, I was tempted to go over to the new Sainsbury’s Local which stays open until 11pm seven night a week and where the prices are even higher than the Waitrose. I made do with what I had in the room but which I cannot now remember.
On the Tuesday it was family visiting day and an enjoyable Roast beef lunch at £5.20 where it is possible load the plate with as much vegetables as you like. There is also a new development of unlimited diet, ordinary or max Pepsi or lemonade with ice for £2.05. I had three refills and did not need a coffee.
Having had such an excellent day on the Monday I did not anticipate Wednesday would prove an even better one. The original plan had been to visit central London for the Victoria and Albert Museum to view the new permanent exhibition of work from the Renaissance and or the Henry Moore retrospective at the Tate but the idea had developed that if the weather was good to take the bus back to Kingston and from there continue along the other side of the river to Ham, Petersham and Richmond one of the most beautiful areas of London and in the whole of the UK in terms of fine Houses, Greens, parkland and the river Thames.
I also decided to get an Oyster Card. This is the prepayment or pay as you go travel card or pass which covers all forms transport in greater London with extensions to other stations with barrier pass in and out systems. There are some financial advantages using the card against the usual cash price with the minimum single fare on the underground halves from £4 to £2, that on the Tram which can cover the journey from end to end reduced from £2 to £1.20 and with a reduction of about 10% on above ground Train Travel within. The cards can also be used as one day, week, monthly or quarterly Travel cards although there are no discounts a special card is required for the longer travel pass which has to be registered whereas the ordinary Oyster does not have to be registered and therefore can be used by more than one adult. There are 3200 special or other outlets where Oyster cards can be purchased or stopped up and there five special shops throughout central Croydon. It is possible to also purchase or add to registered cards online. Apart from the financial advantages there is the convenience of being able to travel without need to buy individual tickets or day passes. However there are potential problems as I was soon to find if one does not correctly log the pass at the correct in and out facilities at each travel outlet. That was for the day to come.
I have been to the Odeon Cinema before, by car, but I had no recollection of where the cinema is located in terms of the two stations and in fact I went in the opposite direction, After asking directions I passed a fast food restaurant and considered having some food there but thought it was better to reach the cinema first. I went into the small foyer entrance, inserted the credit card and obtained the ticket and then went to the Coal Grill next door and was allocated a seat opposite Morrison’s supermarket above which was the David LLoyd Gym which could be reached from the upper floor of cinema with customers working hard overlooking the small street market and me. I enjoyed a Whitebait starter followed by a quarter of a small chicken, some coleslaw and chips for £7.50 plus a very expensive diet coke.
I arrived in the theatre for the opera with less than 15 minutes to spare and at first it looked as if the audience would be sparse and in fact by the time performance got underway everyone was crowded into the area allocated as premium seats, which was larger than that at the Odeon’s attended in London, Mansfield and Kingston this year. I spent the first half uncomfortable sandwiched between a Canadian who knew of the Met Relay and who had been to the Royal Opera House when it was possible to pay only a few pounds to sit high up in the side seats. During the 20 minute interval I had a walkabout and then sat in a less expensive aisle seat towards the front and had an improved quality of experience. Hopefully there will be not such a crowd for the Met Hamlet relay on Saturday in Newcastle. The cinema also appears not to have adjusted to the opportunity to sell wine, chocolates crisps and nuts and one had to leave the main area of auditorium to go into the entrance concourse for ice creams and the usual cinema fare.
The main disappointment was that it was not a live relay but a film with interval. There was also a delayed start and one person was heard to complain during the interval that she had been told the start was delayed until 7.45 and had missed the greater part of the first act and which includes the well known Your tiny hand is frozen.
The opera is one of the most performed of all but overall is more lighted hearted with comic moments than Puccini’s other great work Madam Butterfly and the other grand works in general. It is the story of a group of four bohemians in Paris in 1870’s- a poet, a painter, a musician and a philosopher. It was the first live relay from the Met in 1977 with Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo the poet. In the Covent Garden production the part was played by Teodor Ilincai who just before Christmas 2009 was called upon to take over from the performing tenor at the interval who was overcome with a cold. The Romanian Tenor has a soft and gentle voice, appropriate for a starving poet in a cold Parisian Garrett whereas Pavarotti brings the tingles to the spine but is always the master performer and never a struggling bohemian. There is a similar contrast between the performances of Hibla Gerzmava at the Royal Opera House in 2010 and the already aging Renata Scotto in 1977. Hibla is Russian and her voice has been described as clear and focussed with power and she made an important contribution the production without dominating it so that the lasting impressions were made by Musetta (Inna Dukach) and Gabriele Viviani as Marcello the Painter.
By the time of the 1977 performance the Italian Renata was in her prime and she went on to Direct a number of operas including the Met which had become her established Opera House when she married and settled in the area with her family. She once had the experience of performing with Maria Callas in the audience and a few in the audience calling for Calls while Renata was singing. Intolerable behaviour even for the emotional and expressive Italians. This is difficult to understand for she had one on the finest of voices and was a good match for Pavarotti.
The plot is well known. Two of the bohemians debate whether to burn the current painting or writing for warmth. Their friends arrive celebrating that Schaunard, the musician, has earned money playing for an eccentric Englishman’s dying parrot. After he had played for three days he poisoned the parrot and celebrated with the purchase of fuel, food, wine and cigars.
The owner of the property calls for the rent and tricks him into going away without any money after they feign being shocked by his boasted exploits with a woman. They decide to go out and celebrate the good fortune at restaurant because it is Christmas Eve. Rodolfo stays behind to finish his writing but there is a knock at the door and it is Mimi whose candle has gone out and who has lost the key to her room. They immediately fall in love and both have great solos which at Convent garden attracted some applause but where Pavarotti and Scotto received justified prolonged cheering and applause ovations.
I turn away from writing to watch and listen to Pavarotti noting he difference in that at Wimbledon I did not give myself wholeheartedly to the performance which lacked any moment of being special or unique whereas with Pavarotti and indeed all the other members of the cast I am constantly stopping reading and writing because of the sounds even without watching or paying attention to the subtitles. The singing tells you all.
Later in the afternoon I watched a second Met relay production five years later in which Scotto plays the role Musetta and Rodolfo is played by Joseph Carreras and Mimi by Teresa Stratas who was a co winner of the Met’s auditions programme back in 1959 at the age of 21. Retiring in 1998 after a 36 year career based at the Met she appeared in 385 productions and 41 different roles. The two looked more like young lovers in 1982 and although Canadian born Teresa was 43 but retained slim features and a youthful figure. After retirement she has made only one public appearance, has undertaken voluntary work in Calcutta meeting Mother Teresa and to Rumania to work in an orphanage
The second act takes place within the cafe and features a large street scene with children, soldiers and lots of people thronging about and being entertained by Perpignol, a toy seller. Rodolfo introduces Mimi to his friends who include Colline, the philosopher but the main event is the arrival of
Musetta, presently the mistress of a wealthy but old man. She is the one time lover of Marcello who she does her best to attract his intention but he ignores her. Eventually she sends off the old man on a fool’s errand and decides to go off with Marcello and friends, leaving the old man to pay for both bills. The main interval is usually taken at this point.
It is after the interval that the Puccini’s story takes a twist. The location is outside as an Inn where Marcello is working on a commission accompanied by Musetta. They are happy in their own way but already Musetta is regretting the loss of freedom and hankers for the attentions of new men. To add perspective to the opera, it is dawn with the arrival of street sellers of milk and eggs, street sweepers and others into the town guarded by gate keepers and customs men. It is in the depth of Winter and continues to snow hard. Mimi arrives calling for Marcello as she and Rodolfo have quarrelled and she suspects he has gone to Marcello which is correct, She explains that Rodolfo has become very jealous and saying he wants to end their relationship. Mimi hides rather than leaves when Rodolfo comes out to join Marcello and hears him explain that he is still very much in love with her, but he is aware she is ill and he is so poor he cannot fund the doctors and medicine she requires. Mimi and Rodolfo are reunited and agree to stay together until the Spring which is the other way round from what would have been best for her. Musetta comes out and Marcello quarrels over her flirting behaviour.
There is a substantial jump in time to the fourth act where the bohemians are back together but Rodolfo and Marcello are finding it difficult to work having both parted from their true loves. The two others arrive share a little food but the meal is interrupted by the arrival of Musetta who has found Mimi in the street ill. She has been living with someone able to provide for her but her health has been damaged beyond medical help. She knows she is dying and wants to see Rodolfo before her end, he is delighted to see her as is Marcello, to see Musetta, but no one realises just how ill she is until she dies. There is some fine singing before Rodolfo learns she is dead and has not just fallen asleep. He calls out Mimi as the curtain falls.
I had an excellent and memorable day but the highlights were my visit to my former home in Erdington, to the atrium at the Bentalls’ shopping centre Kingston and the Film Shutter Island. The opera was something of a disappointment reinforced by then hearing the performances of Pavarotti and Scotto, of Stratas and Carreras
It was comparative early after the show but although it was not raining the atmosphere was wet on ground as I made the short way across the main road passed a still open supermarket until 11pm and into the railway station for Tram purchasing the require £2 ticket. I have used this Tram once before after attending a day at Wimbledon Tennis Courts and finding that there was a problem with the train to Sutton. I had then taken the tram to Beddington Lane for the train to Sutton and from there to Wallington. I had not paid attention to the route which continues to Croydon and New Addington. The route is an interesting one in that there are 15 stops, with between one and two minutes in between making the whole journey just over half an hour. The tram passes through Merton to Mitcham Junction and stops at the far end of the Purley Way Shopping centre close to the Ikea Store. There are several stops in Croydon with Reeves Corner where we would get off the 654 trolley bus as a family when I was a child and walk up Church Street, to the Market at Surrey Street and the wonderful Kennard’s departmental store. Reeves remains as a furniture store although the number of buildings has reduced. The tram then goes around the outskirts of the Centrale shopping complex where there is a stop before one by West Croydon Train station close to the bus station and then stops a few yards from the Travel Lodge before turning into George Street and the Tram Interchange outside of East Croydon Station, I was tempted to go over to the new Sainsbury’s Local which stays open until 11pm seven night a week and where the prices are even higher than the Waitrose. I made do with what I had in the room but which I cannot now remember.
On the Tuesday it was family visiting day and an enjoyable Roast beef lunch at £5.20 where it is possible load the plate with as much vegetables as you like. There is also a new development of unlimited diet, ordinary or max Pepsi or lemonade with ice for £2.05. I had three refills and did not need a coffee.
Having had such an excellent day on the Monday I did not anticipate Wednesday would prove an even better one. The original plan had been to visit central London for the Victoria and Albert Museum to view the new permanent exhibition of work from the Renaissance and or the Henry Moore retrospective at the Tate but the idea had developed that if the weather was good to take the bus back to Kingston and from there continue along the other side of the river to Ham, Petersham and Richmond one of the most beautiful areas of London and in the whole of the UK in terms of fine Houses, Greens, parkland and the river Thames.
I also decided to get an Oyster Card. This is the prepayment or pay as you go travel card or pass which covers all forms transport in greater London with extensions to other stations with barrier pass in and out systems. There are some financial advantages using the card against the usual cash price with the minimum single fare on the underground halves from £4 to £2, that on the Tram which can cover the journey from end to end reduced from £2 to £1.20 and with a reduction of about 10% on above ground Train Travel within. The cards can also be used as one day, week, monthly or quarterly Travel cards although there are no discounts a special card is required for the longer travel pass which has to be registered whereas the ordinary Oyster does not have to be registered and therefore can be used by more than one adult. There are 3200 special or other outlets where Oyster cards can be purchased or stopped up and there five special shops throughout central Croydon. It is possible to also purchase or add to registered cards online. Apart from the financial advantages there is the convenience of being able to travel without need to buy individual tickets or day passes. However there are potential problems as I was soon to find if one does not correctly log the pass at the correct in and out facilities at each travel outlet. That was for the day to come.
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