Last night, I finally got to go to an opera at the Met. I have been wanting to go to an opera there ever since I saw Moonstruck. And last night was very Moonstruck-y. Todd and I put on our finest duds and it was even snowing for a minute. I had seen La Boheme with my mother a few years ago and decided to go for a comedy this time, Il Barbiere di Siviglia. I think this was a good choice for Todd’s introduction to opera too. It was funny and a lot of the music was recognizable thanks to Looney Tunes (and for me, my dad).
When we first got to Lincoln Center, I was so excited to finally get to go inside the opera building (I had been in the ballet building already). The lobby was all plush red velvety carpet. It has these very organic staircases leading to the upper levels, where we sat. The inner stairwells were very Twin Peaks (if you couldn’t tell from picture number 6), I just had to get my picture taken. The tickets I had purchased were for the sections on the 3rd floor, left side of the stage in these small balconies. Despite that the view is slightly blocked and you have to lean over the edge to see certain things (which terrified me!), I really liked these seats. You had to go through this curtain to get to them and they were behind these doors, only 2-4 seats a door. Very secluded. Everything was covered in the red velvet, the hand rails, the seats, the frame around the subtitle screen….that’s right, everyone gets their own little subtitle screen, in case you want to understand the opera better.
We sat within a few minutes of the overture. There were a bunch of the starburst chandeliers (pic. 5) in the venue and as the overture played they were raised. If you are unfamilar with the opera, it is about a count who is in love with this girl, Rosina, who is in the car of this doctor (who wants to marry her). The count goes through various disguises and schemes, with the help of Figaro, the barber, to be close to Rosina. That’s it, that’s the whole story. It’s more about the performances and music.
The couple that sat next to us were from Argentina and the woman said she was an opera singer. She said the woman playing Rosina was one of the best sopranos in the world at the moment, which was totally evident. She was amazing. The sheer power of her voice (all the voices, really) gave me goosebumps. They are doing that with no amplification, people.
The sets were minimal, but who needs elaborate sets? There were pyrotechnics and a cool storm sequence and the costumes were fabulous. As an added bonus, there was a live donkey on stage!!! (SIX BUCKS!) It even came out to bow and was eating carrots. Adorable! I say, if you, even remotely, like classical music and acting, you should go see an opera, at least once.
