I've just returned home from a wonderful Salome.  Opera Lyra Ottawa
is presenting one of the best Salomes I've ever seen.  Central to the
production's success, though by no means the only reason for it, is soprano
Eilana Lappalainen, who has the title character down cold in a way that
I've never seen quite matched.

Yet I was a little disappointed in one sense.  When I saw her do Salome
two years ago in Montreal, she did much of the dance naked (actually in a
transparent body suit) and her sexual frustrations were portrayed in ways
that were scarcely less than pornographic.  The Montreal critics, in fact,
called it pornographic, but not disapprovingly.  In Ottawa, she was only
naked for a fraction of a second, and her demeanor above the cistern was
relatively chaste.  For me this weekened the total effect of her portrayal
which remained, however, very strong indeed.

I'd be interested to hear from other listers what you've seen in terms of
nudity and sexual explicitness in this opera, and to what extent you think
such things are desirable or even essential.

And if you happen to be in or near Ottawa, read my review in the Citizen
tomorrow morning, especially the last three words:  Don't miss it.

Richard, who invites you to visit his classical music site at
http://opuspocus.ca