missizzy

Agrippina at the Met was something of what you would expect for a modern-day staging of one of Handel's lesser but still stagable operas. To the modern viewer, it very much comes across as satire, and Met behaves as if there's no question that it was meant as one. It's very possible Handel might have put some satire in on purpose, though probably the audience of 1709 didn't really think about it too hard. The production had a modern setting, with a couple of blatant allusions to Trump, and a good deal of sexing up, including obvious incest in the opening scene. Joyce DiDonato centered the opera as the title character, but Kate Lindsey stole the show as Nero.
Also watched the final hour of the live episode of Critical Role yesterday. It certainly was very trying to wait an hour and a half for the show to start, and I really hope they choose a different venue next time, especially for the sake of those poor fans who had to wait out in the cold for so long. But wow was that episode worth it. Going to bed at the halfway point, I thought it had been good enough, but then it just got better. Also, I am officially hopelessly in love with Caleb Widogast.