We weren't sure what to expect really. We saw it lasted nearly four hours with the interval. (We took snacks!) Our previous experience with serious rather than comic bel canto was confined to a very poor production of Lucia di Lammermoor by Opera North decades ago. It had all the cliches (bar servants folding up laundered sheets which directors seem to confine to comic opera, but which I have still been forced to watch more times than I would like) and was very very dark. (Literally. I mean it's a dark story but that doesn't mean you have to force your singers to perform in dangerously low light levels) I don't know if we would even have bothered to go to be honest but a friend from University days who I am in contact with on Facebook had actually been to see the Met performance live and was very enthusiastic so we thought we would give it a go.
I'm so glad we did. In a way it was like seeing opera for the first time because it was just so different to anything I had ever seen before. Which is quite something considering I've been going to the opera for - oh dear - I just worked it out and at Easter it will be fifty years! The not quite four hours flew. I loved the music from bar one, and the playing and the singing were all exceptional. I know people say harsh things about the Met sometimes, and point out that great opera is not guaranteed just because you chuck bucketfuls of money at a production, but this really showed that if you throw bucketfuls of money at the right people then what emerges is truly outstanding. I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed an opera this much.
And it was great to be doing something again, I feel life put itself on hold after New Year; well let's be honest the weather hasn't been conducive to going out and I've felt a bit hemmed in and restless. However we are supposed to be going up to Edinburgh tomorrow for an exhibition so what with that and the opera things are starting to perk up a bit.Which is a Good Thing.
Sounds wonderful!
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