West Edge: A Better Summer Season than San Francisco Opera

Well, that's what I said to Mark Streshinsky after this afternoon's final performance of Ulysses, better known as Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria. Look at it this way: Lulu and Ulysses were smashing successes and As One, for all the libretto's weaknesses, had good music, excellent performances, and touched many deeply.

SFO had the smashing (and well-deserved) success of Les Troyens, a sad mess with the unfortunate La Ciociara, and, somewhere in between, what sounded like a decent Figaro.

More tomorrow about Ulysses; I have some beefs with the direction of two scenes, but overall it was a wow, with some great performances, great music (and playing and conducting), and some great direction.

And, you know, it was a damn good summer for operas about the Trojan War. As I keep saying, an enterprising opera company could make a fantastic season of Trojan War operas. Think of the tie-ins: classes on the Odyssey and Illiad and the Aeneid; classes on Greek history and archeology; a Greek islands cruise; a set of t-shirts, one per opera: Collect them all!