fra tempeste funeste quest' alma...

i was initially a bit apprehensive at seeing mary bevan cast as almirena, but she fits into the role very well, lends a whole lot of character to someone who is honestly quite lacking in it. fantastic acting from her as always. i'd also been looking forward to hearing aryeh nussbaum cohen in the title role ( which i'd also initially raised an eyebrow at, though that was entirely at the irony of a jewish person in the role of a christian crusader ) and he absolutely delivered! i found that he and mary's voices went together very well- similar warmth and smoothness, shown off in their duet around the end of act 1.

i'd also like to say that i'm quite fond of the height difference between rinaldo and goffredo...

...and how they gave armida a wand!

sort of inspired by some things rodelinde says in pertharite- grimoaldo, rather than stealing the throne, becoming a mentor to flavio. flavio would still probably be traumatised- i'd imagine grimoaldo is still quite intimidating to him and the pressure of being a young king, even with support, is definitely not easy to deal with. but flavio and grimmy are on significantly better terms than they are ( or are implied to be, in the event that flavio is a silent role and his persoective is wholly up to interpretation ) in the operas. also ( joke nobody will get ) any chance of flavio knowing calculus goes out the window.

i see lo as quite naïve, in spite of his sexual appetite. sure, he's under a love-spell for a significant portion of the story, but even then, there's a sort of shallowness to his character ( and not just on a meta level- in fact, if anything, i feel like there is more substance to the character of phra lo when you examine the story from that point of view ). pretty face without much behind it. led on by enchantments, by fate ( not unlike a certain tolomeo, re d'egitto ).

thinking of her...

chui chai ( a sort of solo dance ) of akashtalai, guardian of longka's airspace in the ramakien. she wasn't present in the ramayana, but i have a feeling she may have been an offshoot of the sea guardian ( ผีเสื้อสมุทร, who i also have quite a bit to say about, but i'll save that for another time ). the lyrics are a blazon, not really anything of note in them. may translate them later.

unfortunately, it is Weird As Hell. not in a good way. the plot literally hinges on colourism. i'll link it here anyways- il colore fa la regina, composed by c. f. pollarolo ( of flavio bertarido fame ), libretto by mateo noris ( of flavio cuniberto and il flavio/il re infante fame ) ( i say this as if anybody other than me cares about these operas )