Running from my colloquium class to the subway station on my way to the Metropolitan Opera house, lets just say I had pretty low expectations. I had never seen an opera before, I expected my head to scrape the ceiling in our family circle seating, and even my own mother told me it would probably be a bore. But don’t get me wrong, I was in no way unappreciative of the whole thing, quite the contrary: it cost me virtually nothing, it was a new experience and it was a great way to spend time with friends. I just didn’t expect to be “blown away” as they say. But no expectations means no disappointment right? Well lets just say that I was not disappointed, for the most part.

First of all the Opera house is very beautiful, and seeing everyone dressed so nicely in dresses and suits made me feel like I was actually underdressed for once in my life! What a feeling. Needless to say, my head was far from the ceiling and a full view of the stage was visible, it was great. My only issue was that I could not tell apart the characters for the life of me. Even with my contacts very well fitted into my eyes, I could not distinguish many of the characters because of the distance, which made me a bit confused every so often as to what was going on. By the second act however, I was able to distinguish them by their silhouette shapes and other differences like hair, so it got a bit easier. Now, on to more important reactions.

I was immediately struck by the absolute beauty that came out of the orchestra. Being a musical person from a very musical family, hearing the live music being played by some of the most talented people in their field of work was indescribable. The flutes, a gentler instrument, were heard so well even though I was so many feet away from them. It felt like they were playing just for me right by my ears. They were even able to make the trumpets sound as if they were being played further away as if in a different room in a scene of the opera. They really thought through every detail. Really phenomenal work.

The actors of the play were quite astounding themselves. I’ve heard people sing opera before, and wasn’t really moved by what I heard. I thought it was even a bit on the annoying side. But listening to these actors live gave me a totally different impression. I loved how beautiful the songs sounded and then reading the subtitles would make me laugh because these “beautiful songs” were about stealing things and ladies smoking cigarettes. Funny how if I hadn’t read the subtitles I would probably never have guessed what some of the songs were about. The singer who blew me away the most was Anna Hartig, who played Micaela. Her voice actually gave me goosebumps during her soliloquy in the mountains. Brava!

Although I was entertained with the beautiful singing and the music, the plot of the story actually did disappoint me. I absolutely adore love stories and romance, both happy endings and even the sad ones that make you pull out the tissue box (especially those). But the ending of Carmen felt like no ending. Why would Don Jose kill her is he crazy? Now both him and Escimillo don’t end up with her. I don’t feel like it was even a love story. The only love I felt that was actually real was Micaelas’ (which is probably another reason why she was my favorite). Don Jose, Escimillo and all the other men that “fell in love” with Carmen were simply infatuated by her, which was evident in all of the scenes where they were lying on top of her. What kind of love story is that? Can none of them fight their urges and actually use their brains? Don Jose had an amazing and patient young and beautiful woman waiting for him and he forgets about her in 3 seconds. She fights for him and he doesn’t even care: he’s less flattered by her than he is angered that she even shows up. And then Carmen “falls in love” with the only guy that’s hard to get. Then the second he wants her she’s like “nope you don’t love me.” What is with these games? Very frustrating.

Photo from NYTimes

All in all, I was very pleased with the experience. I would probably go again, although I think I prefer Broadway musicals a bit more because I can actually understand what they’re saying! I definitely don’t see why the opera would ONLY be for the “older, rich, and the educated”. I really don’t see the correlation and why the “older, rich, and the educated” go so much more to the opera than others. Maybe because the tickets are very expensive especially as you reach closer, and the rich could afford such luxuries, but other than that I don’t see why anyone younger would not find the opera interesting. I personally found it to be, and I’m not older, rich, or even that educated!