My Night At The Opera!
I don’t care what anyone else says, Opera is cool!!! On Saturday the 10th, I attended Bizet’s Carmen in Tacoma. It was sooooo much fun. My mom and I left our house at 5pm for the 8 o’clock showing. Thus started the long driving through the rain to our evening of fun!
Actually, the fun started before we left, trying to decide what to wear. It was an Opera, everyone dresses up! Some of the older women wear furs and evening gowns. I wore black slacks and a pale blue sweater with my leather jacket. A lot of the men there were in Suits or even Tuxedos! A few in jeans and t-shirt, but the majority in semi formal wear.
We stopped at McDonalds to grab some dinner on the way up. Yes, I love fast food! The fries were perfect!!!!! While we were there I saw the oddest thing. A truck with a canopy filled with cats!! I’m not kidding there were tons of cats running around in it!
So anyway, the drive up was uneventful. I navigated my way through the construction, found the exit, made one wrong turn then found the theater. Then we circled the block a couple of times trying to find the parking garage. Stupid one way streets….
We got inside as quickly as possible because we forgot to bring an umbrella. It seems to get wetter the farther north we go. Found our seats. I found that they have great prices for the upper seats, and it’s a small theater so you can still see really well. There was a lady sitting close by that was completely oblivious to everyone! She was talking in her loud street voice all night long, and didn’t seem to notice everyone shhh’ing her. I died laughing!
The opera was about to start. The lights went down, and out came an announcer to tell us that 3 members of their cast had been hit with flu! All still performed, but 2 had lost their voices, and had voice-over singers in the orchestra pit. Silence filled the auditorium, then the orchestra started the overture. The curtain started to go up….Hooray!!!!!!
The sets were beautiful, depicting early 19th century Spain. If you don’t know the story of Carmen is a gypsy, she is a total flirt. Has a new guy for every day of the week. All of the men love her. One soldier falls in love with her and helps her escape after being arrested for starting a fight. He is totally obsessed with her. She is also a part time smuggler, and she convinces him to join their rowdy crowd. In the end, when she is going to leave with another guy, he kills her. But over all, the opera is a crack up! My mom said she recognized a lot of the songs from Tom & Jerry cartoons. My favorite character was a Toreador (bull fighter) named Escamillo. The baritone that sang his part was hilarious!
The opera was sung in French with English super titles projected on the wall. I kind of learned to recognize repeating phrases. Very cool! The opera ended at 11pm. It was still raining out side, but we had the magical 3 hour escape to 19th century Spain.
We left for home, and stopped to get a milkshake at 1:30. Got home at about 2am, just in time to set the clocks forward, so in actuality we got home at 3am!!! So ended my Night at the Opera!!! I can’t wait to find my next one!!! *wanders off humming ‘Tra la la la lalalalala!!! Tra la la la lalalalala! Tra la la la lalalalala, Tra lalalalalalaLAAAA!!!!!’*
Actually, the fun started before we left, trying to decide what to wear. It was an Opera, everyone dresses up! Some of the older women wear furs and evening gowns. I wore black slacks and a pale blue sweater with my leather jacket. A lot of the men there were in Suits or even Tuxedos! A few in jeans and t-shirt, but the majority in semi formal wear.
We stopped at McDonalds to grab some dinner on the way up. Yes, I love fast food! The fries were perfect!!!!! While we were there I saw the oddest thing. A truck with a canopy filled with cats!! I’m not kidding there were tons of cats running around in it!
So anyway, the drive up was uneventful. I navigated my way through the construction, found the exit, made one wrong turn then found the theater. Then we circled the block a couple of times trying to find the parking garage. Stupid one way streets….
We got inside as quickly as possible because we forgot to bring an umbrella. It seems to get wetter the farther north we go. Found our seats. I found that they have great prices for the upper seats, and it’s a small theater so you can still see really well. There was a lady sitting close by that was completely oblivious to everyone! She was talking in her loud street voice all night long, and didn’t seem to notice everyone shhh’ing her. I died laughing!
The opera was about to start. The lights went down, and out came an announcer to tell us that 3 members of their cast had been hit with flu! All still performed, but 2 had lost their voices, and had voice-over singers in the orchestra pit. Silence filled the auditorium, then the orchestra started the overture. The curtain started to go up….Hooray!!!!!!
The sets were beautiful, depicting early 19th century Spain. If you don’t know the story of Carmen is a gypsy, she is a total flirt. Has a new guy for every day of the week. All of the men love her. One soldier falls in love with her and helps her escape after being arrested for starting a fight. He is totally obsessed with her. She is also a part time smuggler, and she convinces him to join their rowdy crowd. In the end, when she is going to leave with another guy, he kills her. But over all, the opera is a crack up! My mom said she recognized a lot of the songs from Tom & Jerry cartoons. My favorite character was a Toreador (bull fighter) named Escamillo. The baritone that sang his part was hilarious!
The opera was sung in French with English super titles projected on the wall. I kind of learned to recognize repeating phrases. Very cool! The opera ended at 11pm. It was still raining out side, but we had the magical 3 hour escape to 19th century Spain.
We left for home, and stopped to get a milkshake at 1:30. Got home at about 2am, just in time to set the clocks forward, so in actuality we got home at 3am!!! So ended my Night at the Opera!!! I can’t wait to find my next one!!! *wanders off humming ‘Tra la la la lalalalala!!! Tra la la la lalalalala! Tra la la la lalalalala, Tra lalalalalalaLAAAA!!!!!’*
posted by Seizemusic at 1:09 PM
5 Comments:
Hey, great post, Christa; I really enjoyed it a lot! I love how you blurb. ;)
Oh Christa!!!!!!! That's sooo much fun!!! Reading your entry as if I went to see it too!!!
Sab
So would you be interested in seeing a Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta in Seattle in July? They are going to perform Princess Ida. Their website is www.pattersong.org if you want to look at the dates.
Haha my friends told me about seeing a truck full of cats in the woodland/longview area.
said that the guy was crazy cause he had cats cats and more cats.
Rachel could you send me the info for the Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta. If I am not busy I would like to go.
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