# Improbability II



## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

So, imagine you're a famous librettist, and you've been asked to work with Verdi on an updated version of Ballo in Maschera. He's not happy with the old version and he wants one that's really realistic. So you thank him for his interest and promptly re-jigger the text so the fortune-teller is an old faker, nobody's disguise has to work, and Amelia and Gustav do it like bunnies for a day and a half before he decides she's not really his type after all and cuts the orders to ship Renato back home. Do you think it would still be worth going to? I do. I'd love to see the experiment, honestly.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

Now, I'm not suggesting they have sex on stage or anything - a quick selection of woodcuts from the Kama Sutra ought to convey the intention ...


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## Hesoos (Jun 9, 2012)

guythegreg said:


> So, imagine you're a famous librettist, and you've been asked to work with Verdi on an updated version of Ballo in Maschera. He's not happy with the old version and he wants one that's really realistic. So you thank him for his interest and promptly re-jigger the text so the fortune-teller is an old faker, nobody's disguise has to work, and Amelia and Gustav do it like bunnies for a day and a half before he decides she's not really his type after all and cuts the orders to ship Renato back home. Do you think it would still be worth going to? I do. I'd love to see the experiment, honestly.


If the story is like you are suggesting, it seems much more interesting... But for me the reality is ugly, is my personal taste. 
(I agree with you about La Traviata in another thread just because you are right, Violeta Valery is not real and for that I like that opera so much, you opened my eyes or ears...)


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

thanks for your kind thoughts. 

I've just been wondering so much lately why some operas seem so much more accessible to me than others. I tried Traviata three or four times before I finally "got" it. Now I love it. I still don't "get" Tosca or Trovatore. Or Wagner. I keep working at it, though!


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## AlanPalgut (Apr 11, 2012)

Whatever you do, do _not_ throw in the assassination of Lincoln.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

AlanPalgut said:


> Whatever you do, do _not_ throw in the assassination of Lincoln.


lol I have no idea where that came from but I like it.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

AlanPalgut said:


> Whatever you do, do _not_ throw in the assassination of Lincoln.


JFK might be a better choice. One could imagine him being involved with a married woman, but not poor old Honest Abe. (Though Mary Lincoln -- who would probably make a great subject for an opera herself -- was known for her jealousy.) But even Kennedy really wouldn't fit this scenario, as I cannot imagine him ever being romantically involved with Marina Oswald.


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

oh I see ... not a bad idea actually ... now if we could just work in the wrong-baby immolation ...


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