Costume Review: Seattle Opera's Semele

On Saturday I went to opening night of Seattle Opera's new production of Handel's Semele. I had some thoughts about the costumes.

Just to set the stage, this is a new production so it is all modern and edgy and has cool projections.

(all photos from seattleopera.org or seattleoperablog.com)

Everyone in Act I (the humans) looked like they were maybe in some sort of space movie. Here are some members of the chorus:

[trailer voiceover] IN A WORLD...

...WITH GEOMETRIC NECK WARMERS

Everything was all pointy and angular and hard edges. Semele's sister Ino was pointiest of all:

The whole gang was on a galaxy quest except hapless Althamas who looked like an adorable hipster who got lost on his way to the artisanal whiskey tasting. 

Things picked up in Act II when the curtain went up and the audience burst into applause at the sight of Stephanie Blythe seated on her throne as Juno, Queen of the Gods. 

YAAAAAS

Points also for Iris who looked fantastic in her leather running suit.

From there we moved to Semele's heavenly "pleasure palace" (I kid you not, that is what it is called) which was all drapey and soft and sensual. So I guess that is why earth was so pointy? To make a contrast? I still wasn't totally on board.

In Act III we met Pasithea. I recognized her costume from promotional materials I received for the opera. Here is how it looked on paper:

And here is how it turned out:

Generally, the dancers in blue body suits and blue face paint made it hard not to think about...

The opera concluded with more of the pointy space chorus and not, as the program promised, the uniting of Ino and hot hipster Althamas. But obviously that part was cut because Stephanie Blythe (who played dual roles) wanted to take her curtain call as Juno rather than as Ino and WHO CAN BLAME HER.

 

As soon as she saw those costumes she made the plan

So overall, it was a bit bizarre.  But the fact is that strange and interesting is always preferable to expected and boring. Because we just had the Oscars, I will use this red carpet analogy: Semele was sort of like the fashion choices of Tlilda Swinton. Sometimes weird, often awesome, but never bland. And that kind of risk-taking is always worthy of applause.

As for me, I wore a new dress that that made me feel like a powerful warrior goddess.

TO THE OPERA HOUSE

I can't show you an actual picture, because much like Semele seeing Jupiter's true form, the fabulousness would probably make you burst into flames. 

Opera Nerd Time

You know how last week I wrote about how successfully installed mannequins can induce feelings of euphoria? Well this week I got a huge dose of that.

What you are looking at is three costumes from Seattle Opera's famed production of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle. It is hard to take a picture without all kinds of reflection on that case, so in case you can't tell, the costumes all look devastatingly stunning. It is a good thing that after the install I had to head back to the MOHAI Resource Center, because if I had been allowed to stay the museum, I probably would have just sat in front of this case and stared at it for the rest of the day. 

The costumes are on loan from the opera and will be up for about nine months, but we installed them this week to coincide with a big Seattle Opera at MOHAI day. I'm not quite an opera scholar (there are some huge gaps in my knowledge) but I could perhaps be described as a Seattle Opera fangirl. 

This is me in my vintage 1995 Götterdämmerung T-shirt, holding Greer Grimsley's Woton spear. 

He is basically the Tom HIddleston of opera

As a kids craft, the opera brought supplies to make winged Valkyrie helmets. 

I think I might keep this hat and put it on whenever I need a dose of powerful warrior goddess confidence. Situations like:

-Trying on swimsuits

-Going to an unfamiliar location on public transportation

-Making an online dating profile

-Searching for my lost copy of Bossypants