As the show began I tried to focus on the stage. I turned on my subtitles and looking around I saw no one else’s subtitles turned on. They’ll turn them on later. A short while later I noticed that everyone’s subtitles were still off. I must be doing this wrong. Should I turn my subtitles off? I must be a noob at watching opera…No no no its not that their subtitles are off, their subtitles aren’t working! Wow I am the only one in this whole row with subtitles; I must have gotten a really special seat. I wonder if the others are all reading from my subtitles. It wasn’t until the break when I leaned over to my neighbors seat and realized that everyone had subtitles.
I did not enjoy sitting through those three hours. An hour into the show, I was confused and bored. I started to notice irrelevant things like the exit signs on both sides of the stage, the chipped paint on the ceiling and how uncomfortable and stiff I felt.
Most of the time I didn’t know what exactly was going on. I couldn’t tell who was singing most of the time because we were so far away. I found it annoying to look back and forth from the stage to the subtitles. I would of rather watched the opera in a movie format. Also, I don’t see the point of including the acrobats who performed before and in the middle of the show. I think the opera was longer than it had to be. I found it boring and on top of that the plot wasn’t interesting or realistic. Everything was overly romanticized and exaggerated. I think the opera had no real message or purpose other than entertainment. Moreover, I personally don’t find the sound of opera singing appealing although I am sure the performers hit all the right notes and had great voices. But I will say that stage design was interesting. I thought the rotating walls and change in scenery was pretty cool. Also I was impressed at how fast they changed the scenery.
Because of the typical cost of the tickets, operas cater to the higher class since they make up most of the audience and they are the ones who fund the operas. I think most of the viewers were older, educated adults. I don’t think that the uneducated and low classes wouldn’t be particularly drawn to operas; rather they would find something like “A Sucker Emcee” more appealing. But I don’t think it’s solely a matter of class it is also one of personal preference, as I am sure there are rich people who abhor operas and poor people who adore them.
Overall, I would not recommend the opera to anyone nor would I consider revisiting it.
