Opera Atelier

Last night I attended the Opera Atelier’s production of Armide. A story about a Muslim princess who is tormented by the love for her kingdom, and the love of a Christian knight, Renaud. This was an opera written by Jean-​Baptiste Lully, who was the Louis XIV’s Maitre de la musique de la famille royale. This is a Baroque-​style opera which incorporates ballet into its repertoire as Louis XIV loved to dance.
While most opera’s I’ve seen have been from the Romantic period and are what I would describe as: passionate, dramatic, and intense — this one was the polar opposite.
National Post and the Toronto Star gave it rave reviews, but I must disagree. The music that was played was pretty monotonous and had very little inflections. If you closed your eyes all you’d imagine is probably fairies fluttering about, which was not a far stretch from the dancing that appeared on stage, in particular the scene where «love» appears. (Both Love and Hate actually appear as characters in the opera).
While reviews have described Armide as «passionate» I think its as dull as ditchwater. Even when the moments were supposed to be serious (e.g. when Semele finally gets the chance to kill Renaud but is torn between her love for country and love for him) I found myself laughing (on the inside of course so as not to disrupt others).
The only thing that was remotely interesting were the colourful costumes, with rich hues and the staging.
What I learned about myself from attending this production of Armide is that 1) I don’t like Baroque and 2) that I probably would’ve died of boredom if I were part of Louis XIV’s court. *snore*