Saturday Night at the Opera

Yesterday I attended the Minnesota Opera at The Ordway with a very nice man. We saw Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata", and it was, in my humble opinion, awfully well done.

I wore my new black dress with the lace top and swishy skirt. Luckily, it is still kind of cold, so I got away with making the dress more modest with a black sweater. Unfortunately, the best part of the dress is the top, and the sweater covered up the back. Quite the conundrum - choosing between being warm and more modest or showing off the dress. Of course, my practical, self-conscious self chose the sweater.

The evening began with coffee and chatting, which was fun. It is always nice to go out before or after any sort of opera, symphony, orchestra, play, or any other imaginable sort of live performance. We also managed to make it to the venue in time to catch the very end of the opera talk. I had no idea who the woman was, but she seemed to know what she was talking about, and it was interesting. There was even a brief snippet of singing from a woman.

Then there was more time for chatting near the windows overlooking the little plaza in front of the Landmark Center. Some of the trees had the white lights in them, which made for a pretty view. Much like the coffee or meal before or after a show, in my experience, it really enhances the whole experience to arrive early and have time to enjoy the atmosphere.

The show was performed in three acts with two intermissions and one pause (or mini-intermission, if you will) for scene changes. While the show ran an estimated 3 hours 1 minute, it did not feel like it. I was completely drawn in, engrossed in the music and characters. The intermissions seemed to come so soon!

Naturally, being a tragedy, there is a death at the end. In my experience from watching live operas and operas on DVDs, whenever a lead character dies, it takes approximately an eternity - give or take a decade. The death scene in "La Traviata" is the entire third act, so I expected to get a bit antsy towards the end. However, I was almost disappointed how quickly Violetta died and the show was ended.

And so - Well done, Verdi, for writing such a splendid Opera! Well done, Piave, for the libretto! And Bravo, Minnesota Opera, for your enthralling performance!

Now, you will probably not be as interested as I was when I learned that the movie "Moulin Rouge" is based on the same story. I would really like to get a hold of a copy of that movie and watch it again and do a compare and contrast. I would also like to read the book ("La Dame aux Camelias") that the opera was based on. Then I can see the full scope of the story and see how it has changed from 1848 to 2001.