Placido Domingo at Ravinia

Placido Domingo. 1/3 of the Three Tenors (and one of the recognizeable ones, at that). I've never seen him live before, and almost didn't have the chance last night. By the time I decided to suck it up and try to purchase an $150 ticket to Ravinia's Gala Extravaganza, they were all sold out. Boo. But serves me right, I guess, for waiting too long. But then, as I said, an ex co-worker of mine called me up Saturday morning and told me to get out my party dress. I didn't need to be told twice, and spent the rest of the day frantically making preparations. Dress? Check. Shoes? Check. Manicure? Check. Hair? Was in serious need of professional assistance, even though I'm blessed with good color, I hadn't washed it in the morning, and it was hanging around like limp spaghetti. Cathy made me look totally gorgeous, bless her.

I brought my mom (because she threatened to disown me if I didn't take her to see Domingo... haha, only joking) to fetch the tickets. We were in for the whole ball of wax - cocktails before the concert, post-performance dinner, and the concert itself. Plus, we got free parking in the main lot.

I love the fact that we're about 15 minutes away from Ravinia. Once you cross the railroad tracks and go through the main gate, you're in a whole other world with its green lush sprawling lawn (covered, even last night, with picnickers in rain gear), food (pizza! dove bars! sno-cones! what more could you want??) drinks, ample restroom space, and automatic soap dispensers (I can't tell you why I love these so much, but they make me smile every time. Sad. Very sad. But true. It takes very little to amuse me.)

The concert started at 7:00 pm. We sat early and watched the parade of be-tuxedoed Beautiful People of the North Shore stream in to claim their seats. Our row was apparently the designated Row of Drama - right as the lights went down, 4 people came in to sit in the spots to my left - or tried to. It transpired that some people were sitting there by mistake, so we all had to get up a few more times to rearrange accordingly. One "gentleman" (I use the term loosely) wouldn't shut up during the performance and was on the receiving end of a few nasty looks and SHHHs! from me. There was no intermission and each and eachof those 4 people to my left got up, walked by me, and left at various times in the program, and came back again. And they didn't even say 'sorry' or 'excuse me' or bring me a sno-cone. I mean, really.

The program kicked off with Maestro James Conlon leading the CSO and the audience in a rousing rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. The board chairman and some corporate sponsor came out and thanked everyone under the sun and their mothers for putting the gala evening together. They made tantalizing references to the star attraction, but yacked for like 20 more minutes before allowing the performance to begin.

Here's the program:

Overture to Oberon (Weber)
"O souverain" (Massenet - Le Cid - Domingo)
"The Jewel Song" (Gounod - Faust) * No, he hasn't started exploring new repertoire - Mr. Domingo shared the stage with soprano Ana Maria Martinez)
"Frederico's Lament" (Cilea - L'arlesiana - Domingo)
"Ebben? Ne andro lontana" (Catalani - La Wally - Martinez)
Sigfried's Spring Song (Wagner - Die Walkure - Domingo)
Prelude to Act III of Lohengrin (CSO)
"Gia nella notte densa" (Verdi - Otello - duet)
Prelude, Serenade, Intermezzo, Die Schneeman, Korngold (CSO)
"Amor vida de me vida" (Torroba - Maravilla - Domingo)
"El nino Judio" (Luna - De Espana Vengo - Martinez)
"En mi tierra" (Torroba - Luisa Fernanda - duet)
"Tonight" (Bernstein - West Side Story - duet)
"I Could Have Danced All Night" (My Fair Lady - Loewe - Martinez)
"No Puede Ser" (Sorozabal - La Tabernera del Puerto - Domingo)

Encores included
Grenada, O Mio Babbino Caro (the first phrase of which elicited a collective "Oooohhhh" of delight from the audience) another Spanish duet, and Lippenschweigen (or however you'd care to spell it).

Placido was greeted by rapturous applause (which he acknowledged with a dicatator-esque wave and semi-salute). Dressed all in black, he was regal, charismatic and in fine voice. As my mom said "He's still got it!" and indeed, he has. At over 60 years of age, the man can still work a crowd and hit those beautiful, soaring high notes. I wish we had seen more of him, and I wish he had sung some other operatic chestnuts. As I said, he shared the stage with Ms. Martinez - a young soprano with a pretty voice. She was fine, she sounded good and was wearing a gorgeous irridescent teal gown. She wasn't terribly exciting, but Placido was exciting and entertaining and charming enough for the both of them.

Dinner afterwards was in the Freehling Room with food served from Carlos' Restaurant. Our selections included a "roasted summer vegetable terrine" (with a 2006 Sauvignon Blanc), Chilean sea bass, and for dessert a symphony of mini tartlets (lemon, raspberry and chocolate cappuccino mousse) and champagne, of course. The perfect ending to another stellar evening at Ravinia.