Upon looking over the page, I noticed that a post I thought I had made had not posted and so now, weeks after the performance here I am discussing my take on the performance.

Going into the opera I did not believe my experience would be any better than my first with this kind of performance.  During my first experience, I was incredibly bored.  The subtitles were displayed above the stage which made it very hard to watch what was going on on the set while reading the translations.  It made it very hard to keep up with the plot of the play and there were not many jokes and one-liners thrown into the opera to make it even remotely funny.

This first experience put a cloud over me, and prevented me from really appreciating this art.  My new experience at the Metropolitan Opera House broke me free of that cloud and fog.  Even in the opening scenes of the performance I was baffled by the ingenuity of the set.  The way it was able to rotate to provide a dynamic set was a true incredible feat of engineering.  This was the first thing that had captivated me, of course the music playing was quite lively and performed with no signs of mistakes, but as a prospective engineer I must put the technology of the art above the art itself.  Another piece of tech that I found that made the experience more enjoyable was the personal subtitles playing before me.  They allowed me to quickly jump between the words and the action on the stage in a way much better than at my previous excursion to the opera.

Besides the tech used, I had also thoroughly enjoyed the plot of the play.  Although at first it was a little confusing, the characters’ lives were all carefully interwoven in a way that would cause massive confusion and misunderstandings.  As an audience, we can only laugh at all the misunderstandings and confusion on stage but understanding the play as a whole and seeing where it originates and the inspiration of the play you can appreciate it in a more fulfilling way.  In class I was surprised learning that the play was essentially an insult to the estate lords of Spain.  It just goes to show that even a work of culture, a form an entertainment, can have large political and socially driven motives.

-Kevin Call

To be completely honest, I enjoyed our evening at the opera much more than I had initially expected to. I had definitely been excited for the chance of a new experience, but I wasn’t necessarily sure whether or not this one was really going to be for me. I have never really been one for classical music, and I didn’t realize how entertaining the actual storyline would be. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I ended up enjoying myself by the end of the night.

As the show went on, I kept thinking about what Professor Drabik said in regard to taking a chance to admire what these people are able to do just with their voices. I think there is something to be said here for the determination and passion instilled in humanity, for there are people out there who have conditioned their voices to be able to be heard from “almost-Siberia”, all the way in the back of the theater, without a microphone. Sometimes during the show I had to consciously remember “Wow, they are doing this without any technological help. This is just them, singing to us”. Every time I remembered that, I thoroughly appreciated the music much more.  I had a similar thought every time I realized that the music wasn’t prerecorded, that there were real people playing real instruments right in front of my own eyes. After the performance, I had a much deeper appreciation for this kind of live music.

The reason that I say that there are indicative of humanity’s passion and determination is that we are not necessarily born knowing how to do these amazing things. It’s something that we have to train ourselves to do, and put in lots of practice before we can consider ourselves good at it. The fact that these people have conditioned themselves to create this music is astounding to me, particularly as someone who has never been musically inclined, and I am incredibly impressed by how beautifully it was all presented.

I arrived at the Met Opera a whole hour early and just admired the buildings. The Met Opera House has such an extravagant look to it, even though it was boxy, the interior design was really incredible. You could see the inside of the building through its large windows. The chandeliers, the red carpets, and even the way the windows were shaped gave off a luxurious impression, as any renowned opera house should.

As for the opera itself, I would not have chosen a better opera to watch for my first experience. The plot of the play really kept me from sleeping through the whole thing because it was truly entertaining. I have tried watching a few operas (not soap operas) on PBS when I stumble upon them, but what makes me change the channel is how little movement the opera has. However Le Nozze Di Figaro broke this image I had about operas. Figaro had so many physical slapstick comedy, which really surprised me because I always thought operas were suppose to be reserved for more solemn stories, with long boring musical exchanges between characters. What also deterred me from watching the operas on PBS was the language. Even if the opera had a really captivating plot, I wouldn’t understand a word of it. But since The Met Opera provided subtitles, the audience was able to catch all the jokes and plot twisters.

Although the seating was quite far from the stage and a bit too high, it didn’t take away from enjoying the opera. Now I really understand why Operas are nicknamed The Queen of the Arts.

–Chloe