...continued, because I apparently exceeded the character limit for a comment:
Liù is another really interesting one -- for a while my automatic reaction was "Agh, another beatific supporting character who duly sacrifices herself to the plot so that the main characters can fulfill their ambitions; why couldn't Puccini have written someone more interesting?" Then I listened more carefully and realized she's plenty interesting -- what she's saying to Turandot is really essentially, "Yes, you're the future Empress of China, and the man I love loves you, and I'm going to die for his sake and you're going to live and be happy with him. But right now I'm delivering you to him as a gift-wrapped birthday present, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it." Whew. There are few characters so obliging and helpful that you so sincerely would NOT want to mess with.
I would be very interested to see a production where Liù and Turandot are portrayed as being essentially the same age -- as you said, somewhere between sixteen and eighteen. In the recordings I've heard, Turandot has come across to me as older, though who knows what the associated productions intended.
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Liù is another really interesting one -- for a while my automatic reaction was "Agh, another beatific supporting character who duly sacrifices herself to the plot so that the main characters can fulfill their ambitions; why couldn't Puccini have written someone more interesting?" Then I listened more carefully and realized she's plenty interesting -- what she's saying to Turandot is really essentially, "Yes, you're the future Empress of China, and the man I love loves you, and I'm going to die for his sake and you're going to live and be happy with him. But right now I'm delivering you to him as a gift-wrapped birthday present, and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it." Whew. There are few characters so obliging and helpful that you so sincerely would NOT want to mess with.
I would be very interested to see a production where Liù and Turandot are portrayed as being essentially the same age -- as you said, somewhere between sixteen and eighteen. In the recordings I've heard, Turandot has come across to me as older, though who knows what the associated productions intended.