Groucho Marx gave me high expectations for what goes on at operas.. My night was much less. . . interesting than the night in the movie "A Night at the Opera" but it was still an amazing experience:)Haha!
Im sure you've probably guessed,but I went to see an opera last night! It's called "La Traviata", I am sure you've heard of it- if not I know you have heard some of the songs that are in it. When I signed up to go to this I had no idea I would recognize any of the music that they would play-but I did! They are actually the songs I think of when I think of opera! (Like I knew of the one song, Sempre Libera, because it is preformed in the movie The Princess Diaries 2!)
I guess the theater is pretty new, it was huge!
What was really amazing to me was how surrounding the sound was, the orchestra played beautifully and it filled the room and then the singers sang over it without any microphones- it is SO impressive. I can't even count how many times I got goosebumps because of the sound in that room, I can't explain it!
So, we had a meeting the night before and someone came in and talked to us about the show and the background and told us what we should expect.. I mean, the opera was in Italian- so how were we to know what was going on without this preview! So they told us the whole story and what happened at the end and even watched some clips of it- and it turn out that they had screens set up above to stage that showed english subtitles! So I was able to really follow along, I was really happy about that.
The show began and there were these huge mirrors that were lifted up from the stage and used as the backdrop so it was set at an angle where we could see the floor- and instead of having backdrops, the scenes were on the floor on these big sheets and as the scenes would change, they would just drag the sheet off of the stage and the new one would be under! This was great because it let us see everything that was going on besides what was just going on at the front of the stage.
I wish I had a better picture- but you can kinda see here how the mirrors are and that you can see everyone in the background because of it:)
SPOILER ALERT- I am going to give away
the ending.. Skip down past the picture of me and my friend if you don't want to know what happens:)
Ill give a quick summary of the 3 act play- In the first Act, they are at a party in Paris that is put on by this woman named Violetta who is has a fatal disease that nobody knows about except her. Alfredo comes in to the party and confesses his love for Violetta but she tells herself that there is no such thing as true love and she could never really love anyone and that no one would ever truly love her. Alfredo ends up convincing her of his love and that moves to act 2 where Violetta and Alfredo are living in the country and very are happy. One day while Alfredo is away, his father comes unexpectedly and pressures Violetta to leave his son because his daughter can not get married to the one she loves if Alfredo is together with Violetta. So, she ends up leaving him but does not tell Alfred the reason. Alfredo gets pretty angry about it and goes to find her at another party that is in the city. She arrived with another man and Alfredo goes crazy and said some awful things to Violetta and immediately feels bad about it. That leads to act 3 where Violetta is very very sick and weak and can tell that the end is soon. She gets a letter from Alfredo's father saying he has told Alfredo the truth and about the sacrifice she made for his family and that they are coming to see her and to hang on. Eventually, they arrive there and all is forgiven- shortly after she sings about feeling no pain and that she has all the strength back that she had once before but it was actually that she is finally at peace and happy again and falls to the ground and dies.. :(
I guess this play is based on a true story about a woman that lived in Paris and died very young. It was great, the costumes, the set, and the sounds were all so beautiful! I am so happy to have had this opportunity- and an excuse to dress up:)
P.S.- This has nothing to do with the opera but when I was looking for a good quote from Groucho about the opera and from the movie I found myself looking at so many others that I just have to share because they are so funny! Divertiti!
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read"
"I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member"
"One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas I'll never know."
"Well, art is art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know."
"He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don't let that fool you. He really is an idiot."
"Ive had a perfectly wonderfully evening.. But this wasn't it"
Haha okay, Im done:)
Ciao!
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