A Little Bit More about the Opera

By popular demand (yeah, right), I'm going to say a bit more about the opera.

If you read my family blog, you'll have seen my post and photos about going to the opera last Sunday, Valentine's Day. This outing was pay-back: After making Gary go to a U2 concert with me, he said I had to go to an opera with him. The tickets were actually a Christmas gift from Andrew and Laura--I guess Andrew was in cahoots with Gary to make me go.

I did my homework ahead of time to make sure I got the most out of the outing. I read the Wikipedia page about Cosi Fan Tutte, and we listened to an audio explanation about it from the Opera House's website.

So here are my observations:

• The building was impressive, worth seeing even if you don't go to an opera.
• Most of the patrons were older than me.
• Most of the patrons were dressed better than me, even though I actually bought a new dress for the occasion and wore heels. I had the wrong coat, dontcha know? I left my mink at home.
• The seats weren't that great. I didn't mind being up high, but we were on the leg of the U shaped seating, so we had to lean over the wall to see the stage, and couldn't see left stage at all. I'm very glad I brought my bird-watching binoculars!
  
• I was surprised that the costumes were not from the period like I was expecting. Instead, the costumes were maybe 1930s style. Nice costumes, but not what I was expecting.
• I really don't like high, high sopranos. These are obviously talented women, but those high notes make me shutter.
• I really do enjoy musical theater, which is really what opera is, but not having it in the language of the common people prevents easy understanding. Continuing with that thought, I guess we can thank John Wycliffe and his successors for the Bible in the vernacular. :-)
• I guess I was a bit surprised at how "ungodly" the actual message of the opera was. Its big idea was "reason and balance wins out in all things, including relationships. Don't expect too much goodness from your spouse/intended, because they won't have it, just like you won't. Be reasonable, and don't expect too much." Somehow, I thought that something written 250 years ago would have been less cynical. Silly me.

All in all, it was a very nice outing, but I'm not likely to go again. Unless Gary forces me to :-)