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.
NYTimes Arts
