Tangled Up In Blog

A Night at the Opera

Last night Andy and I attended our first ever opera. We saw "The Magic Flute" or Die Zauberflote for those who speak German. We saw it at Lincoln Center which was really nice. The interior was covered in red velvet with huge, star shaped chandeliers. Exactly what I would picture an opera house to look like. We sat in the "Family Circle" also known as the cheap seats, but the view was still really nice and I didn't feel like we were overly far away. We went with Chuck, Christina, Cassie and Martin and our tickets were divided into groups of 3, 2, and 1. It was Martin's idea that we draw tickets randomly so Cassie and I ended up in the 2 seats together. Right after the lights went down the two women in front of us were still whispering a little so the woman at the end of our row said very loudly "Why don't you shut up!" Not exactly what I expected from the opera crowd. For the record one of the whispering ladies later pulled about a gigantic fruit pastry from her purse and ate it at intermission. The issue of the cheap seats also reared its head later when Christina's hat was stolen...you really have to be careful at the opera these days.

The opera itself was entertaining. There were some funny parts which I didn't really expect. Apparently "The Magic Flute" is a good opera to see for first time opera goers. The storyline is very fantastical, which lent itself to a lot of really cool costumes and an interesting set. I didn't really care for the storyline which seemed very disjointed. I don't know if this applies to operas in general as a result of the constraints of the medium but it made it hard to follow at times. Even with the subtitles, if I had not read the synopsis in advance I think I would have been lost.

Andy and I both agreed that we definitely want to go back, but to see a tragedy instead. I think something more dramatic would come across better. Maybe that's just my stereotypes about the opera, but I think I would enjoy that more.

Back to the sledding...here's a slideshow Martin put together with all of the pictures and some cool music. I think you have to download the file titled Sled4. Enjoy!

Labels: concert

posted by carolyn @ 3:17 PM 0 comments

My Morning....

JACKET!!! Andy and I went to see them in concert last night and they were FREAKING AWESOME!

I never really think about how short I am until I'm in a crowd like that. There were no seats, just standing room and we were pretty close, probably about the equivalent of being 10 rows back...I was by far the shortest person around me. I felt like I was standing in a hole. I would see someone that I thought was about the same height as me and then realize that it was because they were standing 15 feet away. This is with an extra two or three inches since I was wearing boots. Also, MMJ rocked out for over two hours so my feet were killing me by the end of the night. I made Andy pull my boots off in the cab on the way home they hurt so bad.

Anyway, if you ever have a chance to see them live...DO IT! They had such great energy and the crowd was really into it. When I go to a really good concert I always try to explain why it was so good but I don't think I ever do a very good job of getting the point across. Just trust me. It kicked ass.

The only drawback of the night was the drunk man standing next to me for the first half of the show. He was trashed and apparently thought it he was at a Nirvana concert because he was doing some serious headbanging, then he slipped into air guitar...and not just gentle strumming, he was doing doing the full arm swing, windmill, everything. Also, he needed constant affirmation from Andy and me about how good the show was. Every couple of minutes he would tap one of us and say "This is the best show ever, right?" or "this show kicks serious ass, right" I was starting to think he was one of the band member's Dads.

Labels: concert

posted by carolyn @ 12:35 PM 0 comments