I wonder if Japanese people find Madama
Butterfly slightly embarrassing and annoying with its fake Japonaiserie. I wonder this because I found
it odd, while listening to La
Fanciulla del West, to hear the chorus singing, "Hello, ragazzi,"
"Whisky per tutti," and other cowboy-like phrases. (Not to mention, "doo
dah, doo dah day," which, as far as I know, is not actually from the old
west!)
 |
| Whisky Milk Punch at The Bite House. |
What exactly is milk punch? I just read a suggestion that there's a comma missing; apparently it was supposed to be,
"Milk, punch, or whisky?" On the other hand, there are recipes for milk punch. (Which came first: the drink or the opera?)
Or, maybe they meant “milk punch with
whisky.” (Yes, my mind does wander.)
I also noticed that Puccini has stolen some melodic bits from Phantom of the Opera for La Fanciulla. I wonder if Sir Andrew is aware of this...
Puccini's estate successfully sued over those, er, "borrowings," actually. I have no knowledge about the history of milk punch, but I can't imagine Pinkerton offering anyone just milk...
ReplyDeleteLawsuit: yay! and ALW could afford it, I'm sure
DeleteMilk: I think you're right.
My sources also say that Lucy is right - I'm pretty sure milk punch (i.e. spiked milk) goes back to the 1600s at least. And I am told that there is an irish version with a name I cannot spell that that is whiskey and milk.
DeleteAnd then you're just a crack and a whisk away from egg nog!!
DeleteThere's a reference in, I think, "Blackadder Back and Forth" to "Andrew Lloyd-Webber's latest rearrangement of Puccini's greatest hits"
ReplyDeleteHa! (what would we do without Blackadder?)
DeleteOK, this is my third attempt to reply to this comment.
DeleteThat sounds very funny. I need to catch up on Blackadder.
There is a Broadway spoof called "Musical of Musicals - The Musical." In the ALW part, almost everything the Phantom sings is a Puccini quote. Oddly (and awkwardly) I seemed to be the only one in the audience who was laughing at that.
I have nothing to add except that this (+ comments) is one of the funniest opera related things I've read. Maybe I should make a compilation ;-)
ReplyDeleteIf someone has smiled at my blog, I feel I have done my job :) And if the post generates fun,witty, intelligent, and/or smart-@ss comments, that's even better. Thanks for the nice feedback.
Delete