I’ll be completely honest with you. I did not enjoy the opera. At all. I know that may seem like a pretty terrible thing to say. There are probably tons of people out there dying to watch an opera but don’t have the opportunity to. But throughout the entire show (does it really have to be so long?), I was unable to connect with the plot. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that we were sitting miles away from the stage. It was difficult for me to distinguish the characters from one another, especially the males, since their costumes seemed pretty similar.

This was my first time attending an opera. I was under the impression that operas consisted of an incredibly talented singer in a shimmering golden evening gown standing there for three hours straight, singing in a foreign language. I had no idea it was going to be in a form of a play! Although I wasn’t able to completely understand what was going on, I’m glad this opera played out in an actual story. It was definitely more interesting than watching just one person sing.

From reading the subtitles, I was able to somewhat understand the plot of the opera. A few aspects of the storyline frustrated me. Don Giovanni somehow always manages to be able to escape from his pursuers! And why are the women in the opera so naïve? I admit, after the first act, I was dozing off a little bit. But I’ve learned that nothing wakes you up like several billowing towers of blazing fire rising from the stage. I think I can still feel its heat on my face.

Other than the extremely awesome fire scene, I also really liked the setting of the stage. There was a particular scene where the characters were dancing. The background had a gorgeous red and gold theme, which really captured my attention. Although I wasn’t really able to see the costumes they were wearing, I specifically thought the black dress was incredibly beautiful.

The music was of course, phenomenal. It may not be something I would put into my iPod, but the orchestra really did a tremendous job accompanying the singers. The range of the singers’ voices is unbelievable. I remember hearing people around me gasp when one of the female characters hit an insanely high note. I was in awe as well.

I don’t think the opera was successful in appealing to a younger audience. It takes a lot of patience and maturity to sit through such a long show and actually appreciate the form of art. Most teenagers like us would have a difficult time trying to connect with the meaning of the story and the type of music. Opera is a very classy and sophisticated form of art, but it is definitely not intended for a younger audience.

I think the opera adds to the fantasy of New York City. At a few hundred dollars a ticket (the ones close to the stage), the opera was designed for the extremely wealthy people. Attending an opera is an extreme luxury and not something everyone can experience. Upon arriving, I thought the theater was absolutely breathtaking. The chandeliers and red carpets on the grand staircases really added to the extravagance of it all. Overall, I did not really enjoy the opera, but I am very grateful I was given the opportunity to experience something as grand as this. And of course, it was very fun to spend time with my classmates again. We all looked pretty spiffy that night, didn’t we!

What do I know about opera? “The Phaaaaaaaaaaaaatom of the Opera is inside my mind….” That is all I know about opera. I have absolutely no idea where I heard this from nor do I know what it is talking about but I do know that it has the word “Opera” in it. As you can see, I have no knowledge of opera whatsoever but that’s ok… now let’s get to Don Giovanni

Every time I go into a performance, I am always excited and ready to experience something new, something that I’ve never seen before, especially this time because I have never been to an opera before and I’ve heard so much about this specific opera. I would be able to dress nice and finally immerse myself into the wonderful world of opera! With all this excitement about viewing my first ever opera, came utter disappointment.

Don Giovanni simply was not appealing at all to me. First, let me start off by talking about the set, one of the few parts of the opera that I did appreciate. I thought that the idea of the set being accommodated to be transformed into multiple different settings was clever and that it added another dimension to the play. In the opening scene, where we saw Leporello sitting down on the front steps next to Donna Anna’s house, I thought, “Wow, this set is really small,” but later on, the set opened up into a party scene with everybody dancing which showed its versatility.

The only other part of the play that I appreciated of the opera was the music. There was a constant flow of music playing throughout the whole opera which did make it more enjoyable and did add to the overall experience. It was actually soothing to hear the music and did really help me almost go to sleep during the second act until the fire ignited out of nowhere. The singing of the people were also fantastic even though I didn’t really understand a word they were saying. I actually thought that the singing was actually pre-recorded and that the actors were just acting to the music. It wasn’t until intermission was I told that the actors are really singing as they are acting which made me appreciate their efforts a lot more.

Next up on the list, the costumes. Since we were sitting sooo far away, I couldn’t really tell who was talking at any given time, what the actors looked like, and who wearing what, but it seemed to me that some of them were wearing ragged old clothing which befuddled me.

So what did I think of the actual Opera? This is where it all goes downhill… I thought that the opera was really, really, really boring. The plot lacked substance, as it was just about this one guy who goes around fiddling with many different women from many different counties–especially the ones from Spain. One major downfall of the opera, for me would be the fact that it was in Italian, a language which I have no proficiency in and is completely foreign to me. I was in a three-way battle, the battle between reading the words, having the time to look at the opera while reading the translations, and falling asleep. In the end, it was a draw between reading and watching while reading, as I did not completely fall asleep. I didn’t really come out with anything after viewing Don Giovanni, other than “The flames were cool.”

Do I think the performance was successful in appealing to a younger audience? Absolutely not. I mean, which teenager really wants to go to the opera to watch a bunch of people singing in a foreign language repeating their lines multiple times… definitely not me. That wasn’t the only turnoff, it was also the plot which made it boring because it simply wasn’t relevant to us. The opera took place in the 1700’s with people who have completely different problems to us.

Pertaining to the question of the experience of Don Giovanni, as a fantasy or nightmare, I’m a little ambivalent. I would say that it was a nightmare in a sense that I direly wanted to get out of the opera as soon as it ended and a fantasy in the sense that I got to see all these rich people in there natural habitats, the metropolitan opera house. During intermission, is when all these people came out and I saw the fantasy side of New York.

All in all, even though I despised the opera, I would say that it was a positive experience for me since I got to experience what opera is like. If there was a record for the most amount of performances, events, or exhibitions disliked, I probably would have broken that record but hopefully, the next event is better.

With all the sex, sadism, deceit, revenge, and messengers from Hell, it’s easy to forget that Don Giovanni was intended for a younger audience. Obviously, all the kids these days are committing sins and seem to forget if they continue their devious acts they will face dire consequences. In this particular situation, you will be taken to the depths of Hell where you live an eternity being tortured at the hands of the Devil. Despite the evil message, from what I heard from most of my fellow students, except for Ashley of course, the creator’s efforts to make Don Giovanni appealing to a younger audience were unsuccessful.

Having seen operas in the past, I have discovered that one either loves the opera or hates it. Unfortunately, I am not an opera lover. I’m not very fond of the fact that I usually need binoculars just to see the performance, need subtitles to understand the dialogue, and that all the refreshments are overpriced. The only positive note was that bathrooms had toilets that you could flush with a pedal–pure genius. But more importantly, these factors put in the position to perceive the show with a negative attitude that did not fair well in the overall criticism of the performance.

The plot of Don Giovanni was actually quite interesting, but the seemingly endless duration of the performance made it difficult enjoy. Surprisingly, I was one of the few students to not fall asleep or die of boredom during the show. The misadventures of Don Giovanni and his servant Leporello made a great story, but the necessity to repeat every line a hundred times due the structure of the opera made the performance much longer than it needed to be. Honestly, if Don Giovanni was done as a play instead of an opera and was cut down my about two hours, it would have been a much more enjoyable experience for everyone.

Despite my hatred for the opera, the singers and the orchestra blew my mind. Although the constant singing got on my nerves, I was highly impressed by the performers’ ability to sing at such volume as to make themselves audible throughout a theater the size of a baseball stadium without a microphone! Also the music, written by the famous Mozart, underscoring Don Giovanni was phenomenal. The orchestra was always able to capture the intensity of each scene placing the audience in the perfect mood at every moment. Yet this doesn’t make Don Giovanni distinct. Every opera I attended in the past had performers that could sing exceptionally loud and orchestras that could capture the mood at every moment so it isn’t all that special.

Although Don Giovanni was hard to watch, I found the set and costume design very interesting. Moving the same set in and out and arranging it in a different fashion as if it was a different part of the city in every scene was very clever. Also the transitions from scene to scene were smoothly done as the walls opened to a courtyard, house, or cemetery as if you were walking through an alley or doorway. Not to mention that the fire effects were probably the most memorable part of the performance as Don Giovanni was pulled into the depths of Hell. In addition to the amazing set, the costumes—or at least what I could see from the nose-bleeders—were very authentic. Even though I never lived in 18th Century Italy, the class of each character could have been easily figured out just by looking at their costumes. Instantly, I could tell the Leporello was a servant, Don Giovanni was very wealthy, etc. The Commendatore, Don Pedro, also had a very creative costume when he returned from dead as a ghost to warn Don Giovanni about the consequences of his actions. Personally, I thought the set and costumes were the highlight of the show, which isn’t saying much.

Looking back on my opera experience, I feel that the opera represents New York City in the sense that you either love it or hate it. New York City it could either be unbearable, or the city of your dreams. Contrary to the opera, I love New York City—especially after spending the weekend in Philadelphia. Also, the life of Don Giovanni reveals, similar to New York City, that living the dream life is fragile and can transform instantly into your worst nightmare. New York City is a tough city to live in and if one isn’t careful, it could be your worst nightmare.

Don Giovanni took away my opera virginity with promises of a grand time and a spectacular night, but alas, when it was over, I, like many others, had been betrayed. Having never seen opera before Don Giovanni, I always thought I’d enjoy it because I enjoy singing and listening to orchestral music. Man, was I wrong. I love music and embrace all types, but this opera performance was so hard to endure. The whole thing was around two hours of the actors singing in Italian, repeating every other sentence for about three or four times, or more. I was not totally enthralled as I expected myself to be, however the whole experience wasn’t completely negative.

The plot of the performance was one of three aspects that kept me interested. Although it was hard to tell what was going on because of our location in the furthest back row, I was able to determine the situation through the subtitles provided to us. You had your protagonist Don Giovanni who was basically the anti-hero of the whole story, pissing everyone off until the heavens decided his life was over. The entire hunt for Don Giovanni was really hilarious. He always found a way to escape. As much as it was a funny thing, I found it to be disappointing. I was convinced that each scene where they had Don Giovanni cornered, would be the ending where he ultimately dies. Anyone who enjoyed the opera would have been happy to find out that the performance continued, but to be honest, I wanted to get out of there.

The second of the three aspects is the music. I love music. Music is everywhere, and it is awesome. The orchestra that accompanied the performance was just fantastic. Their musicians were obviously skilled, and they played their cues on point. Each scene was accompanied with music (It’s hard to imagine the opposite), and the loudness of it all was enough to keep me awake and reading the subtitles. Actually, at many points throughout the opera, I found myself ignoring the subtitles, closing my eyes, and imagining myself conducting the orchestra (As anyone around me would have noticed!). This was perhaps what I enjoyed the most about the opera. One would think I would have much to say about the opera style singing itself, but I actually didn’t find the singing to be striking. Don’t get me wrong here, the singers were phenomenal; their harmonization was superb, their sustain was impressive, and the fact that they could do this while moving around was astounding. I just really wasn’t too fond of the substance. I couldn’t connect emotionally with the singing perhaps because of certain reasons having to do with myself or perhaps because of the singers themselves. Either way, the connection just wasn’t there and I really just found myself paying more attention to the music.

The final aspect of the performance that kept me interested was the set. It’s apparent that much work had been put into designing the set. The brick house complex, reminiscent of the buildings back in Don Giovanni’s time, was really well made in terms of appearance and functionality. The set was able to morph with ease into different sets, and with the aid of the lighting and other factors I may be unaware of, it really brought out the atmosphere for the scene. Good examples of this are when the house split into two, and when the set transformed into a party scene, utilizing the use of warm colors. Along with the set, I think the costume design was pretty great. The clothes really set the characters apart and helped me identify who was who from such a far distance. It would be hard however, for me to mention specific details of certain costumes due to my bad vision and inaccessibility to binoculars.

Personally, although I can find a good amount of positives within this opera, I don’t believe that the opera showed a great appeal to a younger audience. Much of my claim comes from the feedback of my fellow peers who complained about how bored they were, and how incredibly long the performance was. Many of them, including me at one point, were either asleep, or falling asleep. This is not to say the young audience overall didn’t enjoy it. I’m sure there are a handful of my peers who would disagree with me. Still, I heard more complaints than praise that night.

With regard to New York being a fantasy or nightmare, I feel that the opera definitely fits in more with the fantasy side of New York. Up until Don Giovanni, I had always pictured viewing opera as something I’d never do unless I had a lot of money to spend. A LOT of money. I always wondered about how an actual opera was, piecing together my exposure of opera through movies and other indirect outlets. Yet, it was never quite like my experience with Don Giovanni. I always held opera in high regard as an elite art form, and it was perhaps that standard I set that had made me disappointed that night.

Don Giovanni is a well developed opera, with its interesting plot, extremely talented singers/actors, great set, and amazing orchestra. Such factors when put together create an amazingly crafted piece, however such a piece isn’t fit for my taste as well as a good amount of the younger audience. Today’s teens just aren’t entertained by the slow paced action of opera among other things. Such a claim stated, will opera be able to survive in the future when its main audience is gone? Such is an important question to be answered in time. Until then, those who enjoy opera, keep on keeping on. You have my utmost respect.

I like to begin my reviews on performances by letting readers in on the opinions and preconceived notions that I take in with me. These notions obviously are not self-constructed epiphanies that I simply make up and believe. In fact, they’re opinions and reviews of my fellow peers, professors and even professionals, who have seen the show. To prevent the evils of bias, I consider the views of a group of people, and then let myself be the deciding figure. In this way, I compare my views from before and after a performance, and show how my opinion was either refuted or strengthened with the delivery of the performance as well.

Hence, let me start with letting everyone in on the impression I had of The Metropolitan Opera and Don Giovanni, before my actual experience. Taking my Professor’s experience into consideration, I expected the audience to be filled with wealthy, old snobs who carry the most belittling attitude possible. I really looked forward to the people “dripping in jewels” with glamorous outfits, however. It would be an interesting experience and sight since not only would I be a watching the opera, I’d get a glimpse of the privileged wealthy ones as well. The opera Don Giovanni itself, would be strong a sleeping pill. Students stressed how hard it was to keep their eyes open, let alone the fact that their eyes had to work extra hard by reading the subtitles and watching the opera. It would be a torture to sit through hours of a boring performance, I thought. However, there must be something to the performance that kept it ongoing and popular at the theatre, I thought. In the end, I had to go watch the opera. There was no argument on that.

To my surprise and pleasure, I really enjoyed the opera. Granted that reading the subtitles and having to watch the performance was a little difficult at times, but it was completely manageable. I knew exactly what the characters were singing about, and I looked forward to the unfolding events of the story. At times, the unnecessarily long songs and expression of emotions worked to my benefit because it gave me time to understand exactly how the character was feeling. Of course, a closer seat and look at the character’s expressions would’ve have enhanced my experience. I would’ve been able to see the pain in Donna Anna eyes, the anger in Elvira’s eyes, and the mischief in Don Giovanni’s eyes. Despite the fact, the dialogue and lyrics captured a decent amount of sentiments of the play. It was enough for the audience to understand how each character was feeling. Perhaps watching the opera from afar allowed us to focus more on the auditory aspect rather than the visual aspect of the play. It is an opera, after all. Professor Healey mentioned how operas would have fat old women singing the parts of beautiful young maidens, back in the day. At least this opera didn’t distort the image of the story. In our case, it only helped us focus on the dialogue and singing more.

The weak points of the opera were definitely the stage sets and the costume design. Although the moving buildings were cool, they didn’t fit in to the story all the time. For scenes that included a street view or the cemetery, the dark and old-fashioned architecture worked well. However, I just couldn’t process that same set being used for a village celebration or Don Giovanni’s house. Most importantly, I do not think the outside of a Commentadore’s house would look the way that it was shown. He is indeed, a wealthy high ranked official. The costumes of the characters misplaced societal statuses as well. Elvira and other girls looked equally wealthy as Donna Anna. Leporello’s costume wasn’t too different from Don Giovanni’s costume either. Maybe my distance from the stage blurred the distinction in the costume of the master and the servant, or perhaps, the costumes weren’t designed well enough to truly represent the status of each character.

At times, I found myself weird for even thinking the performance was a great experience. During the intermission, students were either complaining about how lost they were or how sleepy the performance made them. Part of these complains were rooted in the fact that we were sitting so far away from the stage. The distance took away the life of the opera, and the stage seemed more unrealistic (and even boring) than television itself.  All young opera viewers will probably be presented with such a situation because The Metropolitan Opera does not make the upfront seats affordable.  How will the young generation appreciate the art form, if its brought to them in the most diluted and uncomfortable way? The storyline, singing, and acting might be marvelous on its own, but if the audience can’t see the performance well, there is only so much that they can take from it.  Another aspect that might be unappealing to young viewers is the language barrier. Sure, the story takes place in Italy and the Italian language would be a more realistic depiction. However, this turns off young viewers. The jokes become annoying and the laughs come late, because the dialogue is read on a little screen, rather than heard with a tone. The performance can no longer be watched with relaxation, for the viewers must now read along with the performance to actually figure out what’s going on. It’s entertainment that requires effort. Young viewers are not willing to put in the effort, or won’t invest in watching the opera again because it requires effort. The best contrasting example that comes to my mind is that of Asuncion. Not only was everyone seated up close, jokes and dialogues conveyed in English made sense to youngster brains and this allowed for the story to flow as well. Hence, a young viewer will most likely be put off by different elements of the opera. I might actually be weird then, because I liked the opera regardless.

If anything, my opera experience added on to the fantasy of New York City. The Metropolitan Opera itself gave a taste of opulence, exemplified by the chandeliers and red velvet walls and floors. To add on to the atmosphere, the audience was heavily made up of wealthy people who wore their wealth on themselves (clothing and jewelry). An outsider would only take this image and mistakenly constitute it to represent all of New York City. The nightmares of the city are nowhere to be seen.

All right, let me just put this out there. I am a musician, I played in an orchestra for years and have been singing even longer. That being said, I was super-duper-duper-duper psyched to go to the opera. And at the MET? Come on, I was in my glory.

I will also admit that, as I have stated in previous blogs, I hate pretentious, snobby, phony people, so it may seem a bit of a paradox that I enjoyed the opera as much as I did, but hey, our seats were so far away, I didn’t really have to associate with any of those hoity-patois. I could actually enjoy the opera for what it was.

And boy, was it amazing. The set was fantastic. I would absolutely adore to be able to enter the stage on a riding set, it seemed like a lot of fun! I also believe that the bleak brick colors added a nice tone to the whole show. And lets not forget those pyrotechnics at the end! That was like a scene from Drag Me to Hell, so cool! I really want to know how they managed to open it up like that. Sadly, I could not appreciate the intricacy of the costumes because, well, we were practically sitting on the roof watching, but from what I could see they were extremely authentic.

But those singers, it makes me want to give up singing forever knowing that I will never be able to stretch my range to the point that Zerlina did. They truly were the cream of the crop. Having never been to a live opera, I was completely fascinated by the whole thing. By the middle of the first act, (thanks to the subtitles) I had pretty much forgotten they were speaking a different language, and by the second act (weird as this may sound) I kind of forgot they were singing. I had become so immersed in the story that I, the fidget-queen if there ever was one, felt the three-some-odd hours go by like that! *snap*

That being said, yes, I immensely enjoyed the opera, as a matter of fact, it was my favorite performance of the semester (imagine that, it didn’t even have Jesse Eisenberg!) However, I do not think the opera successfully related itself to a younger audience. I mean, come on, Aamir was dozing off next to me the entire second act. Perhaps if we had been closer to the stage, it would have been different, but I really doubt it. I think that the opera, if it truly wants to attract the young-uns, has to invoke a little more pizzazz. We should have some more modern, contemporary operas. Who says they all have to take place a billion years ago? To relate to an audience today, maybe an opera should take place today, just saying.

Walking down the velvet stairs during intermission, (and wondering where exactly they got all of this velvet) watching the old farts chowing down on overpriced meals and swilling champagne, I realized that the MET encompasses that idea that Manhattan is a dream, where all the rich come out at night to play. It really is sad that so many people came to the opera just to eat and look worldly when in fact they came to eat a million dollar piece of cake while wearing their nicest furs; I feel it is a bit of an injustice to the performers. Regardless, with everyone dressed to the nines for a ritzy night out in a beautiful part of Manhattan, it certainly was a dream to anyone and everyone.

A month and a half ago I chose the subject of the opera to write about for what epitomizes as “Uptown New York”. The opera, I said was made “to gather people of high society. Intermission [is] the preferred part of the spectacle. Because it is then, during the break, that they are able to converse and compare and compete.”

Was I right? Well according to the opera handout, apparently.

But besides a couple of elderly women squeezing their way in front of me for the restroom line, I found that the members of the nosebleeds section were not as haughty as I had anticipated.

But what did I think of the performance? Well, most of the songs were not very memorable, the set list was not aimed towards a younger generation- not one pop song was included! There was a particular ballad though, that I really enjoyed. It was the one in which Don Giovanni’s servant, Leporello, divulges the number of women his master had been with. I thought the song that particular performance was very comical.

The story itself was altogether enjoyable, and easy to follow even for a younger audience (the message of the performance: live the lifestyle of a philanderer and you’ll basically end up in hell). I found that many of the characters were self-absorbed, aggravating, or stupid. And that Don Giovanni irked me the most. It’s bad enough to constantly seduce women, but to kill someone’s father because he wouldn’t allow you to run off mysteriously into the dark? During this part of the performance I was literally shaking my head and wagging my finger at Don Giovanni’s careless behavior.

And then here were the idiotic women! They were so loose with their bodies, and such horrible judges of character! Especially that Donna Elvira, trying to act as though she was looking out for the engaged Zerlina’s well being. Really, Elvira? What did impress me were the actors, the fact that I couldn’t see their faces did not bother me at all; their emotions and states of minds were expressively portrayed through their body language and they way they were positioned on the stage. However others around my age might not have found the stage flashy or high-tech enough.

I thought the costumes were put together all right. Though the only particularly memorable one was the initial outfit f Elvira. I liked and appreciated how mobile the set was, I thought it was very innovative how they were able to portray different settings by simply moving the set around.

Altogether, I had a great experience at the opera. I was able to follow the story pretty much completely, as I was awake for most of it. I fell asleep about forty-five minutes into the second act, but I woke up just in time for the fiery conclusion! I can’t say the length of the opera appealed very to a young audience as many of my classmates fell asleep for much longer than I did. Some had to even resort to creating their own back-stories in order to stay awake. “I imagined the whole thing as RuPaul’s Drag Race,” Eric said after the performance. “It turned out very interestingly actually.”

So yes, to sum it all up I must say the opera as a whole does not reach out a younger audience, from the songs, the set, and the story-line, it was clearly seen that we were not the generation the production was aim towards. But that doesn’t mean I didn’t like what I got to see.

Now… Well-dressed men and women congregating to watch a performance in a language most of them don’t understand? Check. Adults purchasing expensive champagnes and baked goods? Check.  Gorgeous, sparkling high chandeliers and velvet everything? Check. As for the experience being a New York nightmare or fantasy… the opera portrays the glamorous side of New York, the unattainable part, the relevant part. People move to New York with high hopes of congregating with this social group. New York is often seen as this, New York is often idealized as this. The opera is definitely part of the New York fantasy.

Lights! Stairs! Glamorous people! Champagneee…oh the opera experience.  I don’t know about you, but this wasn’t something I experience every day.  And frankly, I was kind of torn between thoughts of excited “Oh how beautiful!” and cynical “Oh, look at me! *holds up one pinky*, I’m posh.” Being surrounded by the beautiful aesthetics of the Met Opera was a big part of the experience to me, besides Don Giovanni itself (which I’ll get to), and it set some of my thoughts on opera even before the performance.  Come on, you really can’t ignore walking up an enormous staircase carpeted by red velvet.  It makes you feel important.  And all dressed up like we were that night, you feel like a somebody.  Still though, the cynical me was thinking:  “Look at me, I’m rich, I go to the opera” while realistic me was screaming “You’re a college student who wears sweatshirts and denim, calm down.”

But in all seriousness, isn’t that what the opera is supposed to be doing–appealing to the youth who wear sweatshirts and denim?  How can the opera continue to exist if it doesn’t appeal to a future generation?  I’d like to say that the opera does a so-so job in the attempted appeal.  While the music isn’t quite what’s on the Billboard’s Top 100 Hits, and most young people are not listening to this type of music, I believe that those who are willing to be open to it recognize its incredibility.  Yes, it is somewhat tiresome to listen (and in our case, also, read) to a person sing about one topic for 10 minutes, but on the other hand, it’s amazing that one person can sing for so long.  And we’re not talking poor-quality, auto-tuned singing.  This is 100% pure vocals, with a 100% pure musical accompaniment.  If you mess up, well then it sucks to be you in front of that crowd of 1000 or so people (no big deal, whatever).  I think recognizing this puts you in awe of the talent the singers possess, and makes the opera experience a more enjoyable one, one that appealed to me as a young viewer.

I also have something to say about the set and costume design in regards to a young audience appeal.  While some may say that the style was old-fashioned, and therefore, not relatable, the style actually makes me feel a longing for the past.  I’ll admit the “apartment-window-like” set (I really can’t think of another way to describe it) was kind of cheesy and looked like it was trying too hard to be old-fashioned.  But I felt the costumes accurately reflected the clothing of the time period.  You could clearly (take the word clearly figuratively here, please) see the distinctions between the elite’s fancy clothing and that of the common people.  Call me weird, but I kind of wish I was around during the 18th century so I could wear clothes like that; I love the elegance.  And towards the end when the woman whose father was killed was wearing black–that was an accurate depiction of the cultural practice of mourning.  Excuse me for not remembering any of their names.  While being so high up I could barely see their faces, and so remembering who was who became kind of a difficult task.

The cynical vs. elegant thoughts I mentioned in the beginning are how I relate the opera to our topic of New York City as a fantasy/nightmare.  Some of us hated the performance, and oh what a nightmare it would be to return to the Metropolitan Opera.  To return and be surrounded by all these elite people who spend $20 on a flute of champagne (or however much it was), who pay hundreds of dollars to sit in a private section and take in the performance.  The old Jews have a saying of “Oy gevalt!”–Oh no!  But on the other hand, such gorgeous snowflake-shaped lights, such an exquisite theater, such a view when you looked down from the lobby of the balcony. Specifically because I’m not part of the elite class did I look upon it as a fantasy.  And listening to opera music–again, either “oh the horror!” or “what allure!”  Me, I was feeling the allure that night.  Let’s just pretend I never took a few short snoozes when I knew the actor was going to sing about a topic for the next ten minutes (give me a break, nobody told me to make sure I got enough hours of sleep the previous night).

Alright, I’ll admit, that’s a bit extreme. However, for a short amount of time during the second act, I did happen to find myself in a bit of a comatose state. Perhaps it was a result of my slight insomnia in the nights prior to the performance, but it seemed as if the singers were lulling me to sleep. Their beautifully drawn out sentences, their phenomenal voices. If you close your eyes, you could easily mistake it for a lullaby.

Although I’ve discovered that the opera may not be for me, I must give credit where credit is due. When we entered the Opera we were greeted with a display case containing one of the female costumes from a previous performance. The dress was extravagant and seemed to have come out of a fairy tale. I could easily picture it being worn in Cinderella to the ball, it was just that beautiful. As for the costumes from our performance, I’m afraid I cannot comment on them in great detail because of the distance from our seats to the stage. However, if they were as elaborate as the one on display on the second floor, I credit the actresses for running around (and being able to breath!) in those dresses, especially while singing.

Singing. Wow, the voices of the performers were A-MAZING. I actually did not pay much attention to their voices as much in the first act because I was busy trying to keep up with the storyline, but once I heard Sylvia and Ashley raving about the vocals, I felt inclined to pay closer attention, and WOW! I’ll admit, opera isn’t exactly my preference of music, but these performers sang in a way that gave me reverence for something completely out of my element. The way the notes were held for such extended amounts of time was just phenomenal. However, later on in the play I did begin to get annoyed at the seemingly OVER drawn out and repetitive nature of the songs. I mean, honestly, the performance could have been cut down at least a half an hour if the characters didn’t feel the need to repeat their thoughts countless times, and repeat the SAME lines 379846837572094 times. But after all, all music does that doesn’t it?

As for the subtitles, it always takes me a while to get adjusted from looking between the actors and the stage, but I thoroughly enjoy performances in other languages. It seems to portray and extra level of authenticity to the performance. While I loved the subtitles availability, the part of the performance that stole the show for me was the set. I was amazed at how easily it converted to fit the scene and the minute details that it seemed to have (ex:windows, doors, BALCONIES). I still can’t imagine how it was moved between scenes, because it looked awfully heavy. But I thought it was absolutely beautiful. My only strife is that it was a very dull color, so it may have benefitted from a brighter paint job.

I can see where some may think that Don Giovanni appeals to a younger audience (a guy running around causing scandal by sleeping with numerous women), but I still do not believe that the opera effectively targets a younger audience. Not many teenagers today have the attention span to sit through a 3 hour performance PLUS save the money for a ticket. I’m not exactly sure how much our tickets would have been at full price, but I can imagine it being a tad out of my comfort zone for spending – even if it was for nosebleed seats. Besides the prices, I think the storyline was a little too far fetched to appeal to a younger audience. The younger generations are drifting further from the original religious context of the play, and are most likely going to be skeptical of an ending where the protagonist gets sucked into the fiery pits of hell. Why couldn’t Donna Elvira (I think that’s her name) get vengeance on Don Giovanni on her own? What happened to women’s liberation? Why does she keep going back to such a misogynistic pig?

I highly believe the opera portrays the fantasy of New York. If for no other reason, because of the prestige of the opera house. EVERYTHING was velvet, the stairs ,the walls, the railings. And it was the fancy kind of velvet that doesn’t get matted over time due to wearing. I was very awestruck and intimidated at the same time. The extravagance of the costumes is another factor that plays into the fantasy of the opera. The average New Yorker isn’t going to own anything remotely close to Don Elvira’s gown, which I assume was magnificent. AND THE CHANDELIERS! I was scared to even look at them for fear of them breaking. It was a very elite experience definitely NOT aimed for a young audience, and NOT for the lower class, even if at one time the lower class were the majority of opera-goers.

Hey guys and gals! Binocular guy is here to tell you about the opera experience from a magnified point of view. First off let me start by saying that I used the binoculars sparingly at the beginning of most scenes to see the acting and the costumes. We were so high up and far away from the stage that using the binoculars strained my eyes and gave me a headache. The binoculars did however help me to see the performance, the costumes, and the actors’ facial expressions and added to the total experience of the opera. I passed them down the row during the second act because sharing is caring. I felt awkward using the binoculars while everyone was just sitting and looking in their screens and at the ant-like figures below.

As a young opera viewer who has never been to an opera before I would have to say the overall experience was unique. If I would have to describe the opera to a friend I would say it’s a large play in a huge theater the size of one quarter of a baseball stadium. The actors wear extremely fancy costumes and do not look like normal people at all. The whole performance is through song and an orchestra in front of the stage performs the music. After telling my friend this generic description of the opera I would give him or her the real scoop on the opera we went to.

The opera Don Giovanni felt like the opera that is stereotypically portrayed in television and movies. Throughout the performance I began to understand why I have never seen an opera before. First we have the never-ending singing. The actors perform the story through singing that is so incomprehensible because the opera was in Italian and the words are dragged on for so long that it sounds like a bunch of OOOLAlAlalas after a while. Even if the performance were in English we wouldn’t be able to understand it. This forces the audience to ignore the speech and words the characters are saying and instead try to understand the story through the body language of the actor. Since no comprehensible words are registered in the audience’s brains it becomes very difficult to follow the story if you do not read the subtitles in front of you. This leads to a weak plot that is highly predictable.

And for the most part I found Don Giovanni’s plot to be very weak. From the very beginning when he is trying to have his way with Donna Anna it is so obvious that he is going to be the antihero of a tragedy. Don Giovanni runs around and pisses everyone off only to be stopped by the supernatural. The simplicity of the plot may have been on purpose for the opera because maybe we wouldn’t be able to understand it at all otherwise. I’m thinking of complex movie plots like The Matrix or Inception and imagining them in Italian opera form. It would be impossible to understand anything because a few subtitles here and there wouldn’t be able to immerse the audience in a massively different alternate world. I thought the plot of Don Giovanni was very simple and even though it was an opera does the plot have to be any weaker than that of entertainment in other media?

Even though I thought the plot was weak I thought the actors’ performances in singing and acting were superb. While watching Don Giovanni I felt that these actors might be the most professional actors we have seen in terms of talent and difficulty of their performance. With the naked eye I could only make out the action and movement of the performers. This was very important for me in order to feel engaged as an audience member. I was thinking that the actors wouldn’t be as pressured to act with full facial expressions as though we were viewing them up close in a televised way, but that is exactly what they did. Looking through the binoculars I saw this other view where I could actually see the acting and I did not have to imagine what they must look like down there. I enjoyed the acting of the actors who portrayed Donna Elvira and Leoporello the most because up close I could really see the amount of hard work and talent as they performed these roles. It was as if they performed their parts in a mirror and had exacted the way in which they should perform even though most audience members could barely see their faces.

The costumes, stage direction, and music of the production were on a much grander scale than what I have been exposed to before. The costumes were believable for over exaggerated fancy opera costumes like the many costumes of Don Giovanni. The costumes of the women were very fancy except for Zerlina’s which looked simple and it helped to differentiate economic status of the characters. Leoporello’s costume was shaggy and loose fitting and I thought it fit his character. With the stage direction of the performance I liked how the stage would alternate between outside and inside with the large brick façade that would be pushed together for outside and pulled apart for more open scene. The best part of the entire opera experience though had to be the orchestrated music. For the entire length of the opera they were performing and its easy to take their performance for granted. The music itself set the mood for the entire opera and without it there wouldn’t be an opera.

For the opera adding to the concept of New York fantasy/nightmare situation I think it really has to do with economic class. The seats of the opera are so expensive that the cheap seats that normal people like us would pay for are twenty-five dollars. The only people dreaming about coming to New York to see an opera are people who can afford a vacation to New York and then have enough money to be willing to pay for better seats in the theater. In Woody Allen’s movie “Manhattan” the characters in the movie are able to afford the luxuries of appreciating art in many different forms which could include opera performance. In contrast we saw the movie “In America” where the father dreamed of being the performer and making it big as an actor in New York. For me these two movies illustrate a large difference between people who observe art and the actual artists. The first group are like art consumers and they spend their extra money and time on these performances because they enjoy them. The artists on the other hand appreciate art but must also produce art in order to make a living for themselves. If one does not fall into one of these two groups then New York as a city of dreams with respect to the opera would not be very relevant.