Giving Opera A Second Chance

When Mallorie was in elementary school, she and I attended a performance of Tosca, an Italian opera produced by our very own Piedmont Opera. Mallorie loved it. I hated it - the subtitles, the overacting, the extremely slow pace. I fell asleep after the second act.

Madama Butterfly came to Greensboro this week. Heather and Jeff were in the production, and because I happen to like all things Japanese, I decided to risk the potential for torture. Since misery loves company, I also roped Ken into accompanying me. We had front row balcony seats and Ken even purchased opera glasses. I was kind of excited and eagerly anticipating a much better opera experience. I should have paid closer attention to the "Life is short...opera is long" t-shirts being sold in the lobby.

The set was outstanding. The geisha costumes were absolutely gorgeous. And I was completely mesmerized with the beautiful lighting. But I've never in my life wished so hard for a Jamie Lawson dance number!

I realized tonight that I am just not an opera person. The aesthetics are beautiful, but I just can't get past the agonizingly slow pace and the overacting. I think I'll just stick to musical theatre.