A Night at the Opera

Last night my husband and I went to the opera. We saw Der Rosenkavaleir at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. It was an interesting evening for us. For me, it was like seeing an old friend, one I haven't seen for years. I was a season ticket holder for many years in the 1970's. Things have changed for the better at Lyric. The season is longer, there is more variety in the repretory, but best of all, the quality of the production was so much better. In the 70's , some of the productions were spectacular, but too many missed the mark. The opera we saw last night was spectacular. The artists were all excellent. The quality of their singing was wonderful, and their acting was very good. I didn't hear any intonation problems, which happened too often in the 1970's. In those days, I saw a lot of wooden acting by very big stars then, names that you all know. The big star of the show was Susan Graham, playing a young man, who masquerades as a woman. The plot was quite spicy--the young man is having an affair with an older woman. That leads me to my next topic, my husband's reaction to the whole thing.
He did come to the show with an open mind. I told him that the music would be spectacular, which it was, but he expected a lot more action. He found the first act boring, plotwise and musically. After he figured out what was going on, he said that he thought that the Three Stooges used a similar plot in one of their movies. Actually, many opera plots do have a lot in common with The Stooges' movies. The Rosenkavalier certainly does. He just expected more slapsticky stuff. The third act, especially the end, did win him over, though grdugingly. The last trio, featuring Octavian, The Marschalin and Sophie was just spectacular.
The other part of the opera are the intermissions. It certainly a seen and be seen venue. Looking at the outfits was almost as entertaining as the opera itself. It is certainly a dressier crowd that you see at Symphony Center.
I don't know if he will ever go to see an opera again. He did like the fact that the restaurant across the street had valet parking, so we got out fairly quickly. You have to remember that he is a person who had no knowledge of classical music when we married in 1981. He had kept an open mind, and enjoys it now, especially since our son is a classical musician.