Bill and Kelly go to the Opera

Bill's parents were season ticket holders for shows at the Orpheum.  We were poor newlyweds.  They gave us tickets to an opera that they wouldn't be able to attend.   We'd never been to the opera.   And so off we went.  Even though I was certain they wouldn't let us in without a tophat and cape.  And maybe one of those fancy fans.  And a dress with crinolines.  Bill said the tickets were enough.  Whatever.



everyone is out getting their sippy cup refilled



I can't even remember the name of the opera.  What I do remember is that it was in Italian.  And to our surprise they had subtitles that ran across the top of the stage on a screen.   Woohoo.  Which was great and very enlightening as to how much information was being exchanged at a decibel of one million in a foreign language.  Which turned out to be very little. In one act the subtitles read :

"We're going to war. There's a war. Let's go fight. Going to war.  Going to war.  yada, yada, yada. "  for the next ten minutes.  I swear.  It was ridiculous.

We laughed a lot.  Well snickered under our breathe as we were surrounded  by more serious opera going types. Who were wearing crinolines and top hats.  Well, just the one guy but still.

I'm dying here!

And just when we thought we'd lost all interest in being culturized ( it's a word now)  the most amazing thing happened.  In one act an actress had a dying soliloquy.  She stood alone on stage and belted out her song.  As she sung about dying like this:

"I will die . I will die.  I am dying.  I'm dying.  I will die. I"m still dying .........."

Someone in the audience a couple of rows in front of us , another woman, starting singing back to her.   And we thought cool, an interactive opera!  Like Rocky Horror Picture show!  

And then we noticed security.  Who drug this woman out of the audience AS she continued to scream/sing  back to the actress :

" No, No, don't die. Please don't die.  You mustn't die."  

So NOT an interactive opera.  Just too much lobby bar interaction.   

Best opera ever.    I think Pat Halloran should seriously consider a format change.