"Look up here, I'm in heaven!" All these weeks after David Bowie's death, it's still startling to hear that lyric from "Lazarus" on his last album "Blackstar" (Columbia/ISO). The end of the mortal Bowie has only reinforced how important he was to people worldwide, who will remember the immortal Bowie forever. As Laurie Anderson says, "The purpose of death is the release of love."
When you're as old as Out There, you've been through many different Bowie periods: "Space Oddity," of course, but also "Low," "Heroes," "Station to Station," even (embarrassingly) "Let's Dance" and "Tin Machine" days. Our all-time favorite Bowie album, "Scary Monsters," still resonates today. "Scary monsters and super creeps": is there a better descriptor of 2016 Republicans, Log Cabin or otherwise? When that album springs open, like a jack-in-the-box, with "It's No Game," the world of tomorrow comes sharply into focus. "To be insulted by these fascists, it's so degrading!" Indeed.
We were also captivated by Bowie's penultimate album "The Next Day," with its own intimations of mortality. "Here I am/Not quite dying,/My body left to rot in a hollow tree,/Its branches throwing shadows/On the gallows for me." At just seven songs, "Blackstar" is more like a Bowie song cycle. The mood varies from the dirgelike "Lazarus" to the buoyant "Tis a Pity She Was a Whore," but it's dark overall. OT likes dark, but we're not fond of a lyrics booklet that's all black lettering on black paper. It's hard to be a stickler for legibility.
Opera on TV
We're always happy to pass on the schedule of San Francisco Opera broadcasts on KQED 9, the sixth season of opera and musical-theater works recorded live in high-definition from the War Memorial Opera House. The season airs in primetime over four consecutive Thursday evenings at 8 p.m.
Hosted by opera superstar and Bay Area resident Frederica von Stade, the series begins March 31 with Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's landmark musical-theater work "Show Boat," followed by Vincenzo Bellini's early-19th-century bel canto masterpiece Norma on April 7, Carlisle Floyd's lyrical drama Susannah on April 14, and Gioachino Rossini 's sparkling "Cinderella" (La Cenerentola) on April 21. Each opera is sung in its original language with English subtitles, and features the acclaimed San Francisco Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Ian Robertson, Chorus Director).
"Show Boat" (Thurs., 3/31, 8 p.m. on KQED 9; Wed., 4/6, 8 p.m. on KQED LIFE Channel) Based on the novel by Edna Ferber and adapted for the stage, directed by Francesca Zambello, and featuring an ensemble cast spanning the worlds of opera and Broadway. The cast features Heidi Stober (Magnolia Hawks), Michael Todd Simpson (Gaylord Ravenal), Bill Irwin (Cap'n Andy Hawks), Patricia Racette (Julie La Verne), Morris Robinson (Joe), Angela Renee Simpson (Queenie), Kirsten Wyatt (Ellie Mae Chipley), John Bolton (Frank Schultz) and Harriet Harris (Parthy Ann Hawks). John DeMain conducts the SFO Orchestra and Chorus, recorded in June 2014.
"Norma" (Thurs., 4/7, 8 p.m. on KQED 9; Wed., 4/13, 8 p.m. on KQED LIFE Channel) American soprano Sondra Radvanovsky leads a first-rate cast including Jamie Barton (Adalgisa), tenor Russell Thomas (Pollione) and bass-baritone Christian Van Horn (Oroveso). SFO Music Director Nicola Luisotti conducts the SFO Orchestra and Chorus in a production directed by Kevin Newbury , recorded in September 2014.
"Susannah" (Thurs., 4/14, 8 p.m. on KQED 9; Wed., 4/20, 8 p.m. on KQED LIFE Channel) Soprano Patricia Racette performs the title role of the innocent and falsely accused young woman Susannah Polk. The all-American cast includes bass Raymond Aceto as Reverend Olin Blitch, and tenor Brandon Jovanovich as her hotheaded brother Sam Polk. The production, set in mid-1930s rural Appalachia, was a collaboration between director Michael Cavanagh and set designer Erhard Rom. Conductor Karen Kamensek made her Company debut in this SFO production recorded in October 2014.
"Cinderella" (La Cenerentola) (Thurs., 4/21, 8 p.m. on KQED 9; Wed., 4/27, 8 p.m. on KQED LIFE Channel) Based on the fairy tale, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's whimsical SFO production was directed by Gregory Fortner and features Spanish conductor Jesus Lopez-Cobos . French mezzo-soprano Karine Deshayes stars in the title role of Angelina, the servant girl who catches the eye of a handsome prince. Tenor Rene Barbera is the dashing prince Don Ramiro, and baritone Efrain Solis is the prince's valet Dandini. Spanish baritone Carlos Chausson delights as Cinderella's evil stepfather Don Magnifico. Recorded in November 2014.