Last Wednesday, we attended the Italian opera, La Boheme, at the Lincoln Center. Even though I dod not speak Italian, our in class preparation and the English subtitles helped make the opera much more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Honestly, I thought I would hate the opera a lot, because I really do not like musicals or shows in general.
In class the day before the opera, we watched a movie called Rent, that is based off of the opera La Boheme. The movie, however, was totally in English and used names that are much easier to remember than the Italian names in the actual opera. I did not really enjoy the movie, because I think there was too much unnatural singing throughout the movie and not enough actual dialogue. However, the movie did have a good story line, and good actors that helped outline the general plot of La Boheme. The movie made the Opera understandable and I was actually able to follow the plot. It also made the opera much more enjoyable, because how can you enjoy a show if you cant understand the general plot or summary of what is going on on stage. We also read the program and summary of the actual opera in class, which also helped a lot when trying to watch the opera while trying to read the subtitles or captions at the exact same time.
When we got to the Metropolitan Opera at the Lincoln Center, it was amazing how nice the buildings were, and the huge fountain in the middle. It was also very cool how everyone going to the opera gathered outside beforehand and took pictures and talked around the circular fountain. It surprised me how many people were there more than 40 minutes before the show actually started, and how more people there made the event feel more important and more exciting. When we walked into the building, the staircases were the fist thing that I noticed, and ow massive they were. The tall ceiling and these staircases made the room look massive and gave it a great open feel. It was clear from the beginning that people take going to the opera very seriously, and see it as a huge, important event. Everyone there was dressed very nice, and seemed like they were very sophisticated. We then went to our seats, which were in the family circle at the very top level of the building. At first, I was not too happy that we had to sit all the way at the top, however, it turned out to be kind of cool to be able to see the show from that angle. We were able to see the entire set at once and we were also able to see the orchestra in front of the stage. We were able to see the amazing sets that were used in this opera. These sets were my favorite part of the entire opera, because of how detailed they were. Each one made it seem like an actual place, and I think they made the opera that much more enjoyable and interesting to watch.
