Friday, January 27, 2012

You Slay Me, Lucia

Last night Baby Boy and I went to see Lucia di Lammermoor.  OOOhhhhhhhhh Mmmmmyyyyyyy Gooddddnnneeessssss it was sooooooo good.  If you have read here for any length of time, you will know that I am a true blue lover of all the arts, but opera is my absolute favorite and a personal passion.  

The first act started out kind of slowly and I could actually see Baby Boy wilting in his seat beside me.  He got up and took a brisk walk in the crisp night air during the first intermission and came back somewhat refreshed.  Fortunately, the action really picked up in Act II and I was no longer in jeopardy of losing him.  We were both thoroughly engrossed by Act III. 

In Act III there was a scene where Lucia comes on stage in a blood soaked wedding dress after killing her moments-ago-married husband, hallucinates, and then commits suicide (it's a tragedy). The soprano who played Lucia had a voice so pure and clear and sweet, it just about brought tears to my eyes.  You could actually see her losing her grip on reality and going insane right before your eyes on stage.  She then proceeded to die the most beautiful, disturbing, and agonizingly slow death ever to be performed.  She actually sang blood curdling screams in time with the score.  She was simply marvelous!  Baby Boy and I enthusiastically participated in her standing ovation.



Last night was amazing and just happens to be in extremely stark contrast to what I'm doing today - - taking my Mom to have her colonoscopy.  *SIGH*  Such is the life of the first born child.   

Oh, well.  At least I'll have something lovely to hum to myself in the waiting room.  If I get too bored, I now know how to convincingly go crazy for an audience. ;-) You never know when that skill will come in handy.

Have a FAN-TAB-U-LOUS weekend!
 

Until next time . . .

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What gorgeous costumes! I *adore* opera. Just haven't had a chance to see one yet... *le sigh*

Jennifer, in Vancouver said...

The opera sounds amazing! Hope your mom is doing okay too. Hang in there.

Hula Hank said...

I am going to admit that opera gets on my nerves.

To put it more clearly, I love the music, but actually seeing an opera drives me crazy, especially when they put those giant translation screens right where you can't not see it... at any given time, even from the corner of your eye.

I don't really want to the know the English translation because the "dialog" for every opera is the same.

Big misunderstanding, which could have been avoided had someone just said, "Look out!" or "Hey, that is your husband dressed as your former lover that snuck into your bedroom window last night."

No, instead they spend 20 minutes singing about how they noticed the husband putting on the costume and debate if they should say anything. "No I shouldn't, yes I should, no I shouldn't, yes I should..."

Then another singer notices that person's internal should I/ shouldn't I dilemna and start to sing the next 20 minutes of he should go over and help that person out. "yes Ishould, no I shouldn't, yes I should, no I shouldn't.

And it winds up being a 3 hour long episode of Three's Company.

So now when I go to an opera, I do my best to choose ones with high productions values and a seat which is out of the line of veiw of the translator.

It has made the experience so much more wonderful.

Mel said...

Oh that sounds so lovely. I adore the opera. I really really really miss going. I used to go when we lived in southern Cal and lived near the performing arts center. I took an opera appreciation class in college and it was my favorite class EVER.

kitten said...

The starting up is always a little slow, I'm just glad it just turned out so powerful!
Thank you! We really do need to spend more with our selves.
The next time yaw head to vegas, I will see if I can't get away for a few days!
Have a blessed week!

Unknown said...

What a grand adventure. I love the things you do with your son : )

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