this past sunday, after much anticipation, the marcia (mom) and i finally went to see the sf opera production of la boheme. now, i adore this opera--always have. not an opera snob by any means, but it's a great story (albeit a wee bit tragic) and the music is fan-tan. the sf opera house isn't too shabby either.
this is the second opera the marcia and i had seen in as many weeks and i have to say that i've already been able to make some pretty good opera observations.
therefore, behold a list:
1. some people still wear black tie attire. these some people really shouldn't. especially to a matinee. makes us sub-black tire attire wearers feel inferior and edgy. i'm just saying.
2. at operas they have "supertitles", not "subtitles". as far as i can deduct, it's the same thing. opera--always making something out of not so much.
3. a 3-hour opera can be summed up in less than 30 seconds. for instance, la boheme: boy meets girl. boy and girl fall in love. boy and girl break up. girl gets a sniffle. boy and girl get back together. girl dies. (oh, sorry. spoiler alert there. my bad.)
4. every time the conductor comes out (at the beginning of the opera and after each intermission), he/she goes up to the podium, bows a bit, does some crazy motioning and then shakes the hand or two of a designated orchestra member (almost always a violinist). my question is this: doesn't that make the other members feel just a wee bit left out? and shouldn't we be weary of pissing off a grown man who has chosen to play a tuba for the rest of his life? or the oboe? snare? watch your back string players. i sniff revolt.
5. there are never enough restrooms at these sort of things. here is the advantage of the opera. there are a lot of olds. i mean ALOT. this means that unlike other kinds of audience events you don't even need to get aggressive--you can easily pass one or two up on the way to the restroom at an intermission with barely a slow walk, hell, a crawl even. this mild physical activity is all for not however when the floor restroom literally only has two stalls. really. two. it's 2008 people. let's add some plumbing.
all in all, i can't wait to go again. be it la boheme or another classic, i think i'm hooked. bring me arias! bring me tragic love stories! bring me more restroom availability!
p.s. stopped by citizen cake before the event to grab some sugary delightfulness. and oh my god did it deliver. get there, and get there soon peeps.
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