Bird update: at least one baby learned to fly today! One of them spent a very long time sitting on my railing, completely undisturbed by my watering the roses and changing the cat litter. Probably it was just so thrilled to not be jammed in with its bulky siblings anymore, for which I don't blame it a bit. As you can see, they get bigger by the hour.


Tuesday night I was back at the SF Opera for the first time in a while to see Das Rheingold, the first of Wagner's Ring cycle. This is Francesca Zambello's modernized production, which I didn't particularly like. The scenery and costumes look cheap and awkward--the giants especially--and the projections that punctuated scenes didn't quite work, reminding me of old science films from junior high. The music however was excellent, and most of the singing was good. Richard Paul Fink as Alberich was especially fine. Moving down to the dress circle from the cheap seats made a difference since Das Rheingold runs 2.5 hours with no breaks. I was extremely lucky to get an aisle seat.

I just got my packet on subscribing for the 2008-9 season so I have to make a decision about that. They're doing Porgy and Bess next June, though it has not been cast yet.