- Gramercy Tavern
I was getting stirrings, hints and portents first at Boulud Sud and at Blue Ribbon Sushi, but it is now official: I am completely reacquainted with my inner foody, with a vengeance at that. It is a long-forgotten feeling, stifled by those long, gustatively distraught years in Ottawa: I want to go eat damn good food and drink damn good wine. Welcome back, old friend, and any hint of a budget be damned...
It is with that resurrected approach that I sought out Gramercy Tavern, on East 20th, for lunner. (Coined by Pam, in 'Archer', 'lunner' is the perfect word for that 4 PM meal that is required when one has a 5-hour opera to attend at 6:30.) Gramercy Tavern has been around for at least 15 years, and is generally and consistently regarded as one of the better restaurants in NYC. It is a beautiful establishment, with a dark wood bar and wall fixtures.
I sat at the bar, and ordered two appetizers: merguez sausage with beets and a fish croquette with green salad and oyster sauce, I think on a bed marinated carrots. While the merguez and beets (I ate beets, probably good karma) were nice (the spiciness of the sausage was counter-balanced with the, well, beetiness of the beets), the fish croquette was amazing. It was perfectly cooked: crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, with nary a hint of oil/fat. It was perfectly matched with what the marinated (I think) carrots it was sitting on. (They tasted somewhat like the carrots sitting in fish sauce that one gets at a Vietnamese restaurant.). All of this was washed down with a lovely German Riesling (Zilliken).
Yup, this is the life.
- Die Walkurie (Part II of The Ring Cycle)
I am going to revise my estimate of the size of the set. Each of the 24 slabs which consist the back set measure 2 feet wide by 30 feet high (rather than 40 which I had previously guessed).
The technical brilliance of the production continues to amaze me. Two examples from tonight's performance:
- Other than the two centre slabs, the other 20 were hanging down at a reverse 20-degree angle, each somewhat offset from its neighbours. A representation of wooden planks, with grain and knots, were projected on the slabs, each one unique. The two middle slabs remained vertical and a stone-grey image was projected on them. The overall effect was to depict the ceiling and chimney of the cabin in which the First is set.
- At the beginning of the Third Act, the valkyries ride in, each one 'riding' one of the slabs, on their shorter side (which were now at a 30 degree angle to the floor). Each of the slabs were randomly bucking up. A stylised picture of a horse's head was projected on the eight 'ridden' slabs, with the riders holding reins attached to the muzzle of the hose/front of the slab.
Random observations:
- No matter that intellectually, I knew that the opera was five hours long (including two intermissions), it is still surprising and somewhat tiring to have sit through it. That being said, I was far from bored and could have kept going.
- Ladies and gentlemen: Deborah Voigt! Ms. Voigt, one of the foremost current-day Wagnerian singers plays Brunnhilde. Great crowd reaction when she came out, and after each Act.
- I had not really realised (or stopped to think about it), that the Ring Cycle (so far anyway) mostly consists of scenes between two or three characters. There are very few choruses, or scenes with large casts, other than the Valkyries in Act III tonight, and some of the scenes in Das Rheingold that involve several gods and giants. Otherwise, it is basically these long (sometimes close to an hour), sung conversations between two or three characters, which involves tremendous stamina from the performers.
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Envoyé sans fil par mon terminal mobile BlackBerry sur le réseau de Bell.
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