Muscles at The Met

[+ g56whiz]

Well, I am doing to display the shallow side of this opera lover. A very shallow side!

 

Even if the singing and conducting are substandard at the March 10 HD Theatre Simulcast, just getting a look at bass Ildar Abdrazakov will somewhat make up for it.

 

 

Plus, in the 1990 MET DVD the bare chested bodybuilder supers who were hired to accompany Assur and Arsace were hot as hell! Especially smoking were the two guys who were associated with Arsace who were bigger and more muscular than those of Assur thus foreshadowing which of the two would gain the throne at the conclusion of the piece. Let's hope that the person in charge of casting those supernumeraries this season had a "Queer eye for a hot guy" to paraphrase the title of a thread in the TV section of this forum!

 

A scene from 1990, if you look closely there are two hot guys kneeling on either side Marilyn Horne. They hand Arsace the sword that will be used to implement the revenge of the murdered King Nino in the final scene.

 

 

I defer to my hero @whipped guy on all things operatic except shallowness. Case in point would be the opening of the spectacular Zeffirelli production of Turandot in 1987. If anything it’s more lavish and gaudy than his La Boheme but for the imperial court of Peking it works splendidly. Marton was the icy princess and Domingo was the Calif. Building to the climax of act 1 a parade of suitors who’ve failed the contest appears led by their soon to be executioner naked to the waist and brandishing overhead a gigantic ax. The Met chose a suitably imposing bodybuilder for the role. When he turned to face the audience I nearly collapsed in laughter. The program listed him as Roger Koch but we who lusted after his ample porn presence knew him as Frank Vickers.

 

That production ran for several seasons as I remember and Frank died of AIDS soon after. When the production was revived several years later, the next executioner was an Asian American Bodybuilder who had recently graduated from Columbia University. He was working at doctor’s a block away from my apartment. About a week before the opening I ran into him on the street and wished him luck in his new endeavor. He thanked me but seemed noticeably taken aback when I asked him how it would feel with 4,000 folks staring at his naked back. He did fine as I remember.

Edited February 24, 2018 by g56whiz

[whipped guy]

We'll my good opera buddy @g56whiz is not to be outdone in the opera pervert category! The Anvil Chorus from Verdi's Il Trovatore can be a treasure trove of male hotness! Yum! Not to mention all that tasty sweat dripping off all that male muscularaity! DAMN!!!!

 

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/kstx/files/styles/medium/public/201301/anvil-chorus-e28093-from-il-trovatore-photo-ken-howard1.jpg

 

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FS0OBLoIoSE/TbBUrJ9c1iI/AAAAAAAABsQ/YEJpzHgX4J0/s1600/MET%2Btrovatore.png

 

http://www.trbimg.com/img-545008ea/turbine/ct-ent-1029-lyric-trovatore-review-20141028

 

 

http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/rrr/files/styles/x_large/public/201505/06_Anvil_Chorus_TROVATORE_MSB_4605_cMichael_Brosilow-1024x607_0.jpg

Edited February 24, 2018 by whipped guy

[whipped guy]

PS: to @g56whiz while a hot guy usually never escapes my attention I must admit that I don't recall the executioner in the Zeffirelli production of Turandot. So in that regard you do get the prize! And I defer to you! Well at least for Puccini!