Turandot

In what might seem to have been a desperate attempt to take my mind off the forthcoming Iowa caucus (but was in fact merely the result of having season tickets to the Met Live in HD performances), we spent Saturday afternoon at a local movie theater watching the Met’s Turandot. It was of course a welcome distraction from Iowa–and more than a distraction, because it seemed to me an excellent production (soprano Anita Hartig’s performance as the slave Liu was particularly memorable). Indeed, though I’m more a fan of Rossini and Donizetti than of Puccini, the afternoon might cause me to reevaluate my anti-Puccini bias. In any case, there’s a rebroadcast of the performance in selected theaters this Wednesday evening. I recommend it if you have the time and the taste. And it will be a distraction from pondering the meaning of the Iowa results!