Celebrity, Silhouette, November 1, 2014 - Transatlantic

[torjen]

Jens will be very happy to chat with fellow opera followers. We have three opera houses in Berlin so are quite fortunate. Maybe they will show something on board but I doubt they will...

Sunny ( well it was sunny before the sun set around 430 this afternoon ) greetings from Berlin --- off to Portugal for an eleven night short trip to the Algarve.

 

Torsten

[stjohn1]

We've been to the Met several times. Best was Natalie Dessay singing Lucia. She even sang upside down on the staircase during the mad scene. Unbelievable.

 

We have been enjoying the live in HD series but time constraints keep us from going regularly. But since we discovered the streaming website we're able to see everything when time permits. Royal Opera House is also now doing a live in HD series.

[torjen]

Too bad we don't seem to get that in Germany.

[stjohn1]

Check the FB group. I sent you a link for the Met.

 

Too bad we don't seem to get that in Germany.

[stjohn1]

Further to my post, I think ROH productions may also be available in Berlin.

[torjen]

I will see if my cable provider has

Something to offer ... ;-)

[TorontoSailor]

Well, can't say we are exactly opera experts, although we do subscribe to the Canadian Opera Company here in Toronto and do go.

 

Last time we were at the Met…last year, in fact….Placido Domingo was in La Traviata. (I am a HUGE Verdi fan!) They came out before the performance to make an announcement. We were worried he was going to be understudied out, but the announcer apologized on the maestro's behalf and said he was suffering from allergies and was having trouble with his voice.

 

We were expecting him to be really straining, as he's no spring chicken. To make a long story, short, Domingo came out and HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK. It was UNBELIEVABLE. Even at his age, with allergies, and with his voice bothering him, he totally blew the audience away…and got a very long standing ovation.

 

He's still got it!

 

Scott

[TorontoSailor]

Enjoy your trip to Algarve, Torsten. Must be nice to get away for a few days! Relax, put your feet up and have a good time!

[torjen]

Scott, thanks a lot --- I will enjoy the break for sure fingers crossed for nice weather that opera experience sounds wonderful!!!

Good night from Berlin.

Torsten

[Turtles06]

Hello all you opera guys. What about Broadway show tunes, any fans out there? :)

 

My very dear aunt, who passed away last year at the age of 90, was a huge opera lover and went to the Met whenever she could (and listened live on the radio when she couldn't), and even in retirement in Florida in her late 80s stood on long lines with all the other retirees from NY to buy tickets for the "Live from the Met" series shown in movie theatres. She was also a lover of Broadway musicals. She passed along the latter joy to me but regrettably not the former (my fault I'm sure).

 

Judith

 

PS: Torsten, have a great trip!

Edited January 14, 2014 by Turtles06

[stjohn1]

Not to worry, we like broadway just as much as the opera. Are you a fan of John Barrowman? He does a lot of Cole Porter. He has a house here in Palm Springs but I have yet to meet him.

 

 

Hello all you opera guys. What about Broadway show tunes, any fans out there? :)

 

My very dear aunt, who passed away last year at the age of 90, was a huge opera lover and went to the Met whenever she could (and listened live on the radio when she couldn't), and even in retirement in Florida in her late 80s stood on long lines with all the other retirees from NY to buy tickets for the "Live from the Met" series shown in movie theatres. She was also a lover of Broadway musicals. She passed along the latter joy to me but regrettably not the former (my fault I'm sure).

 

Judith

 

PS: Torsten, have a great trip!

[stjohn1]

He is amazing. I saw him years ago in LA, also in Traviata. I always thought he was way better than Pavaorotti.

 

If you have a chance, see the Met's Live in HD production of Trovatore. It's what I call heroic singing.

 

Well, can't say we are exactly opera experts, although we do subscribe to the Canadian Opera Company here in Toronto and do go.

 

Last time we were at the Met…last year, in fact….Placido Domingo was in La Traviata. (I am a HUGE Verdi fan!) They came out before the performance to make an announcement. We were worried he was going to be understudied out, but the announcer apologized on the maestro's behalf and said he was suffering from allergies and was having trouble with his voice.

 

We were expecting him to be really straining, as he's no spring chicken. To make a long story, short, Domingo came out and HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK. It was UNBELIEVABLE. Even at his age, with allergies, and with his voice bothering him, he totally blew the audience away…and got a very long standing ovation.

 

He's still got it!

 

Scott

[TorontoSailor]

I LOVE Broadway show tunes!

 

One of my faves: Pippin.

 

The revival on Broadway right now is AMAZING, btw. Masterpiece.

 

Scott

[TorontoSailor]

Well, what can I say? Doesn't get much better than that!

[torjen]

I musicals and broadway shows. Of course New York is too far away for us... And in Germany all or most shows get translated into German so lose something in the translation. So we try London.

April will be our next time.

We have tickets for the Book of Mormon which should be amazing and we have tickets to see Blithe Spirit with my husbands all time favorite Dame Angela Landsbury. I wonder if she will remember all her lines.

Oh and John Barrowman? He is such a great actor and singer.

We saw him in La Cage aux folles / The birdcage in London and he was awesome. Met his sweet and brilliant and extremely proud parents who were visiting to see the show. We have enjoyed watching him on TV as captain Jake Harkeness in Dr. Who and Torchwood.

Thanks for the wishes Judith!

Ok. Out of bed now. Talk to you all later!

Torsten

[TorontoSailor]

Book of Mormon is a fun show. We saw it in NYC when it first opened. Hope you'll enjoy it. We did!

[Turtles06]

Okay guys, whew, happy to see some love for Broadway show tunes! :)

 

I LOVE Broadway show tunes!

 

One of my faves: Pippin.

 

The revival on Broadway right now is AMAZING, btw. Masterpiece.

 

Scott

 

I'll date myself by saying that I saw the original Broadway production of Pippin, with Ben Vereen and John Rubinstein. I loved it, and I love Stephen Schwartz's music. Seeing the current revival of Pippin on Broadway is high on my list!

 

We have tickets for the Book of Mormon which should be amazing and we have tickets to see Blithe Spirit with my husbands all time favorite Dame Angela Landsbury. I wonder if she will remember all her lines.

 

You should have a great time at both of those shows! (I too love Angela Lansbury. I had the great good fortune to see her -- four times -- as the original Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd [one of my all time favorite shows]. Simply amazing. Talk about a performance for the ages.)

 

Not to worry, we like broadway just as much as the opera. Are you a fan of John Barrowman? He does a lot of Cole Porter. He has a house here in Palm Springs but I have yet to meet him.

 

I have yet to see him in person but he certainly has a great voice! I really love him singing the duet "I Know Him So Well" from Chess, with Daniel Boys. It's a gorgeous song (from a show full of beautiful music) that was written for two women (about the man they both love), so there's that interesting twist of two men singing it (apart from the fact that they nail it). I stumbled on the video of this on You Tube a long time ago:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F_j3yHhYEo

 

Judith

[torjen]

you mean you saw the Orginial Broadway production of Pippin as a little baby... :-)

 

Oh I think we have all of Mr. Borrowman's CD's that have been released so far - he also looks very handsome in Drag ( The Bird Cage / La Cage Aux Folles )

 

I beliebe he and his partner recently got married in California - way to go!

 

But London ist still another three months away - a much quieter trip will start in 14 hours - our trip to Lagos, Portugal.

 

Talk to you all soon !!!

 

Torsten

[Turtles06]

you mean you saw the Orginial Broadway production of Pippin as a little baby... :-)

 

....

Torsten

 

Exactly what I meant. :)

 

Safe travels!

[stjohn1]

Judith,

 

Thanks for sharing that great video. I remember Daniel from the UK search for Joseph. He didn't win but it looks like he did ok for himself.

 

John

[TorontoSailor]

Judith:

 

That clip you posted is amazing. Wow. Thanks.

 

And I suspect you are not the only among us to have been of an age to see Fosse's Pippin as babies :)

 

I knew it well. Listened to the cast recording often. IMO, the new version is EVEN BETTER….if you can believe it. Be sure to catch the revival with the original cast. Andrea Martin brings down the house.

 

I have a serious crush on Matthew James Thomas. He is amazing! Jan keeps bugging me for being "in love with him." LOL.

 

Scott

[torjen]

As I haven't even heart of Pippin ever before let alone heard the music, I believe it's time to browse through amazon and see what I can find...

Off to the airport in there hours... Excited.

[TorontoSailor]

Since we have never done a TA before, I am not sure what Celebrity might offer in terms of shore excursions. What is up on their website now is a little bit on the scant side.

 

Do you think they will be offering more as we get close to departure date?

 

A bit disappointed with what is there so far…and am wondering whether it might not be preferable to strike out on our own and find some other tours.

 

One thing I REALLY want to do from Livorno is visit Cinque Terre. We have been all through Tuscany before and to Florence, so would really like to see these coastal villages.

 

How likely is it that Celebrity will have a tour there? Can anyone recommend another operation that would look after it for us that you may have used before?

 

Thanks.

 

Scott

[Turtles06]

Since we have never done a TA before, I am not sure what Celebrity might offer in terms of shore excursions. What is up on their website now is a little bit on the scant side.

 

Do you think they will be offering more as we get close to departure date?

 

A bit disappointed with what is there so far…and am wondering whether it might not be preferable to strike out on our own and find some other tours.

 

One thing I REALLY want to do from Livorno is visit Cinque Terre. We have been all through Tuscany before and to Florence, so would really like to see these coastal villages.

 

How likely is it that Celebrity will have a tour there? Can anyone recommend another operation that would look after it for us that you may have used before?

 

Thanks.

 

Scott

 

Hi Scott,

 

It's still a ways out, so it's possible that Celebrity may post additional shore excursions. But if you want to find reputable private tour operators, the Port of Call board here on Cruise Critic is a great resource for that. I can tell you that we used Romeinlimo.com four years ago (for a tour in Rome from Civitavecchia) based on the great reviews here, and they were well deserved; I think you'll see from the Port of Call board that they continue to generate raves. They offer private tours around Italy (including from the Port of Livorno), so they may be a possibility for you and you might want to drop them an email.

 

http://www.romeinlimo.com/

 

Also, the folks on our Celebrity board Roll Call for our sailing are another good resource, and I'd encourage you to post over there and say hi in any event. There have been folks posting about Cinque Terre.

 

Shaun (Shill64) on the Roll Call is hosting a dedicated web site for our TA (link to home page below) on which, among other things, he has posted info for folks who are organizing private shore excursions, so interested people can contact them.

 

http://silhouette4us.webs.com/

 

I hope this is of some help.

 

Judith

[TorontoSailor]

Thanks, Judith for the great advice.

 

I just signed up on the main board, as well, so hopefully we can work out some plans between that one and this one.

 

If anyone here might share some of our interests, please let me know. Would be quite happy to see us put together a couple of outings.

 

Just, fyi, everyone, Jan and I are both wine lovers. I have a pretty healthy collection and have been doing courses toward my sommelier certification, just for fun. It's a hobby of sorts. So we definitely want to squeeze in a wine visit or two.

 

Below, I will share some of my ideas for excursions. If anyone is interested and would like to bat around a few group activities, please let me know!

 

Cheers…and thanks again, Judith!

 

Best,

 

Scott

 

________________

 

What I posted on the main board:

 

Hi everyone!

 

We are two fun guys from Toronto (54 and 40) who are planning to be on this cruise.

 

Have done several Celebrity cruises before, but never a TA!

 

Very much looking forward to it.

 

Great to see such an active board already!

 

Nice pre-crossing itinerary on this one. We are going to spend a couple of days in Venice pre-cruise and then fly to Rome from there to meet the ship.

 

We've been to Rome, Florence and Tuscany before, as well as to the south of France, but not to any other stops on this itinerary. Happy to help with what little advice we can offer, if anyone has any questions.

 

Some thoughts on what we might like to do:

 

If anyone shares these interests or has any other suggestions, please let us know.

 

We are REALLY into wine, btw; I am a collector and I am doing my sommelier designation, just for fun

 

1. Livorno: Since we have already been to Florence (a wonderful place…be sure to see David at L'Academia and the Uffezi), we were thinking we might like to visit Cinque Terre. Not too worried about the weather, although I know it can be hit and miss. When we were in Tuscany in November, 2012, we had BEAUTIFUL weather….a bit cool, but highly pleasant. There was some flooding between Rome and Florence that was quite bad, but we were not impacted. We certainly don't mind a bit of rain, either. But let's keep our fingers crossed for sunshine! Another weatherproofoption would be a wine tour of Bolgheri and the Super Tuscans. Not really into Chianti all that much, honestly.

 

2. Provence: Wine tour with stop in Aix (where I have been) or Cassis (where we have not). Have contacted a company about seeing what I might be able to set up.

 

3. Barcelona: May just go into the city and poke around. Have never been, so a walking tour hitting the major sites, all the Gaudi, and some tapas would be ideal.

 

4. Palma: Considering an island tour of Mallorca with some wine tasting sprinkled in.

 

5. Tenerife: Not really sure what to do….possibly an island tour. Suggestions most welcome.

 

I noticed that Celebrity does not have much in terms of Shore Excursions yet on the website. Does anyone know if this is expected to rise as we get nearer to sail date or will this be it?

 

Anyway, we look forward to this cruise and to meeting new friends.

 

Scott (and Jan)

Toronto, Canada