Barber of Seville and The Princess and the Frog

[aimeekitty]

NOTE: I found some more of my 09 sketchbooks while cleaning, so I have a few more! See this post for details



We like going to the opera, but had been trying to save money this season... we could not, however, resist seeing the LA Opera's production of Barber of Seville. (We loved the Marriage of Figaro and really,... any animation fan worth their salt is familiar with the Barber of Seville music...)

I didn't realize it until we were there, but Nathan Gunn, who was such a great Papageno in The Magic Flute was Figaro! So cool! Actually all the main cast was really excellent, I greatly enjoyed it. (Though I still think I like the Marriage of Figaro was a lil better, just because I liked the music better.)

I really liked the costume and set design, too. The mostly black and white design (until the end) was actually really cleverly handled and was never boring. A lot of the coats and pants had wonderful flow to them, and considering the cast was always twirling around, that made it extra awesome.

Loved that Rosina was a little slightly bratty firecracker.

Course almost any play where the main character comes out in a full hot pink suit at the end, is all right with me.

You can see some video clips of it here.
Opera scene photos from Dailynews






My Photos:


Here's me and Mitch outside the opera.
I'm wearing my BABY sweet check JSK and a faux fur coat from Target.


I like Mitch's zatzy tie.




the sky yesterday:


Don't you love how China Town's gas stations are even pagoda-y?



After the Opera, we went to see Disney's The Princess Frog with Crisso and Derek. I'd heard it was charming,... but you know,... I'm a bit cynical with animation at this point, so I guess I wasn't expecting much. I was expecting things to be watered down. I was really pleasantly surprised. It was CHARMING with some amazing animation! GO SEE IT.




It was WAY better than what I had anticipated. A few thoughts... (NO SPOILERS. Please don't SPOIL in the comments either, for those who haven't seen it yet.)

--- If you are a fan of traditional animation AT ALL, you need to go out and see this movie -now-, and if you can, more than once. This is a GOOD 2d animated film and deserves patronage. If it does well, the powers that be will make more. And the more that happens, the more chance we'll have to see some really interesting innovation in 2d animation. I'm serious, people.

--- I say innovation because there already was some really interesting and daring stuff going on in The Princess Frog that filled me with glee and hope for the future of the artform... Like Tiana has a dream sequence about what she wants... it was awesome (think about the Mulan brushwork sequence... but Tiana's is a totally different style.) There were also a lot of segments of animation in it that were just really fabulous.

--- Though the main characters spend a decent amount of the film as FROGS (... and I have to say I'm not a huge fan of the frog designs...) even so,... the story is so good and the acting so good, that you totally fall in love with these little green folks. There's even a toothless firefly, that when I saw him in the preview, I was like "REALLY? REALLY? *___*".... but in the context of the movie, he's adorable and endearing.

--- To further that, you really feel the romance between Tiana and Prince Naveen. That's really saying something... because a lot movies, you just don't get that. It was there, even though they were frogs half the time. You ship them.

--- Tiana is a GREAT role-model character. Man, I love that they have a hardworking serious business girl as a lead. She's working for her dream, man, and she grows and changes by the end of the movie, too. I thought she was going to be bland, she's not, she's interesting. Prince Naveen is pretty awesome, too, and both of them have some pretty fabulous animation attached to their human forms.

--- I was worried about a witch Doctor villain character... but he was actually really cool (and voiced by KEITH DAVID! WOOOO!)... but his animation was SO GREAT that I was staring at that the whole time. Great facial animation, and awesome deformations and swoopy movement on the bodies.

--- Eric Goldberg's Louis the Gator is AWESOME. Seeing the previews, I figured he was just going to be a sidekick for a while, but he's actually a pretty big character. Animation-wise, really cool to see a solid, heavy looking character... with all of those folds and teeth... but still moving with sheer exuberance like the Genie. (Not saying he -is- the Genie, just that Eric is so good getting that energy there.) Loved the darting eye movements, too.

--- I thought it was kinda brave to put some of the scary stuff they put in there with the witch Doctor guy. (and some really interesting animation ala Night on Bald Mountain resulted...!(only click if you want some visual spoilers for Princess Frog by reference of Fantasia))

--- lastly,... it was charming to see a film set in the South. Filled me with nostalgia because New Orleans has a very similar cultural heritage to where I grew up, Charleston, South Carolina. All that food and spanish moss and the old houses... and the swamps..., it's charming you guys.

you can see more stills from The Princess and the Frog here

Comments

[quentin-watson.livejournal.com]

I really liked the Princess and the Frog, too! Although I have to say, the little rich blonde girl was my favorite character by far - her acting and attitude was just hilarious.