A Night at the Opera

...No, not the movie.  On Thursday night I went to the opera for the first time in ages (this century, if that gives you an idea); the first time to an Opera Queensland production; the first time to an opera in the Lyric Theatre at QPAC.  More exciting, though - the first time to see Carmen.  I love the music of Carmen, but had never heard the whole opera, or even some of the well-known parts in their original format.  It was so good to hear music I know well from the violin repertoire, performed operatically.  It is so easy to learn a piece of music violinistically but neglect the original setting. 

There were 4 of us going.  Inga picked me up just after 5:15, and then we sat on Coronation Drive for about 50 minutes.  Dinner ended up being a chocolate chip cookie from the bar, and we had a light meal after the show.  We had good seats (2nd row in the balcony), and could read the sur titles easily as well as take a peek into the pit.  Even better, though, was knowing a number of people in the pit, and some of the singers on stage.  I didn't have a thorough read of the programme, so I missed that there were even more people on stage that I know than I thought.  I'd seen some photos (thank you, Facebook) of some of these friends in costume - think corsets and spray tans - so I knew a bit of what to expect, but it was still really hard to spot friends.

The music was well-performed, although occasionally I felt the singers were out of time.  Not knowing the score though, I will reserve judgement.  The interpretation as a whole was ... not subtle...  M rated, definitely.  So I hope my kids don't see it!  (Oh, the dilemmas of music teachers).  As for the singers (coming at it from an ordinary person perspective), the only one I didn't really warm to was Micaela, who had a very thin sort of voice.  After all this, the actual ending was a bit of a fizzer - I think the choreography of the stab could have been more dramatic or realistic (it was a very quick stab, when it would have had to go through a whole lot of dress and corset and abdominal muscle, and would likely not have been instantly fatal - do I watch too much crime tv?).  But for everything else, I'm a fan.  Now I just want a bit of spare time so I can dig out my Sarasate and play these tunes again.