Pyotr Tchaikovsky "THE QUEEN OF SPADES"

The Opera I chose is Pyotr Tchaikovsky “The queen of Spades” which premiered in March of 1890 in St. Petersburg Russia. It was an adaption from Alexander Pushkin The Queen of Spades. The Art piece is a three act 7 scene Opera. At the start of the play what caught my eye was how still the people around the main character stood while the first few minutes played out. They stood absolutely still sort of like statues. This adds to the “Mise en Scene”. The Music told the story it guided you through what was going on. When the people finally did start to move it kind of felt like a distraction while they switched up the props and scene to go into what’s next. I’ve never sat down and watched a play in full let along an Opera.  The Opera singing is what is hard for me to understand and pick out what they are saying and the importance to it all. With all the moving pieces and people, it was hard to focus on one thing to really catch on to what is going. 

The music guides you and lets you know that maybe something of importance is about to happen but the pieces are all still going and coming. I’ve also noticed that the lighting is another way they use to guide you through out the story. The light flows back and forth focusing on the main while either they move around on stage or singing. They want you to focus on certain elements they get your ears attention by either playing the music high or low then using the lights to guide your eyes where they need to be. What I thought was amazing was the talent used in the background, they all played huge roles bigger than one may think. They gave you that sense of realness to the act even when all you saw was a shadow of them.

What I discovered watching the Opera, is I’ve always wondered what people thought when they first saw a play in general. Was that feeling the same as today’s people when we watch the greatest and latest marvel film. I would assume so since this is about as far as it goes for them in this time. Then I can’t help but imagine if the Marvel films was actually a live play but with the same technology and graphics as shown in films. So that exact wow that you would get actually seeing Thanos fly down and fight The Hulk is probably the same wow the audience back then got seeing their favorite performer perform in an Opera. This is somewhat confirmed when after the first male finishes singing you can hear the crowd clapping in excitement like LeBron James just dunked the ball for the game winning championship game. I think this piece of Opera is because of the time and period it was created it gave people a place to relax and enjoy art work and this piece stood out in its time. In a place that wasn’t getting looked at for its Opera. Some say this Opera was one of Tchaikovsky’s most forward-looking works. Those same people believe that his work is a representation of Russian in the late 1800’s. 

            There is a lot of technology being used in the more modern-day version of the Opera. From the mics, each performer is wearing to the lights that is being used to guide you throughout the play. For things that are in the play like chairs mirrors the clothing they used the candles that are lighting up certain areas of the stage. Or just the theater they are performing in. When you actually sit down and watch you can associate technology with just about everything going on in the film. As a 21^stcentury director I think it would be difficult to turn any Opera into a video game, but not impossible to do. I think I would start by thinking outside of the box. It would obviously be a video game set in the late 1800’s and I would change a little bit of the plot of the story to try and capture a newer generation and audience. I don’t believe today’s kids who actually play video games would but a game if I didn’t change up a few things starting with the plot. I would have it be a love story mixed with a mystery of someone’s death. Have the main character the male who sang throughout the whole play wife die and he has to figure out who killed her. Mystery is always something I think of when it comes to the late 1800’s going into the early 1900’s.  There is always a mistress or a man on the side who gets jealous and comes back for revenge. Which is all based on lies and hopes that they could one day be a couple. I think I would keep that idea going and have the main character controlled have to find clues and run around Russia trying to get answers. With at the end ending in a sword fight between two men who was just in love with the same women. 

This was an interesting piece of art to watch I was never a fan of Opera and still not a fan, but I did find myself wondering about what was actually going on and how difficult it must have been to pull this play off. I did research and it said that the main character had to have great skill to be able to sing in all the scenes. That is very impressive since there was little breaks and didn’t have audio equipment like today he had to sing loud enough for the whole theater to hear him and do that for hours. I didn’t gain an interest in Opera but I definitely gained a lot of respect for the art work. The music was also something I thought I wouldn’t enjoyed but turned out I didn’t mind and as the acts went on I found myself liking the way it flowed and helped me follow along to the story the best I can.