My First Opera Ever!

It was a Wednesday night and I was all dressed up in my red dress and black shoes. My friends and I walked towards The Metropolitan Opera House. When we finally arrived at the opera house, we saw a mass of people. I took in my surroundings and I found myself surrounded by beautiful lights and a nice dark blue night sky. I took in the view of a lovely fountain with water gushing out from it. It surely was a sight to see and an amazing one at that. I was finally here, here at the opera L’Elisir d’Amore, my first opera ever.

Upon walking in, I noticed the nice light fixtures, the beautifully decorated halls and what I would soon find out, the ubiquitous red velvet. I mean it was everywhere- the stairs, the walls, handles and doors. Pretty much anywhere you could put it, it was there.

Making our way to our seats took quite a while and several flights of stairs. I remember joking about how our seats were so high we could probably touch the ceiling. Turns out I wasn’t wrong. Our seats were dead last all the way at the top, just a few feet, in some cases a few inches, above our heads. Despite this, our seats did offer us a nice view of the whole theater. From our seats, I could see the immensity of the place. Seats lined the sides and the areas down below. It was almost tempting to dive down to the depths below – almost.

The chandeliers and the stage were beautiful. When I first looked at the stage, it was quite deceiving. I didn’t realize how much depth it had until they lifted a screen uncovering a farm village in the background. The scenery was beautiful – the village, the intricately decorated trees and town, the barn with its two floors. The scenes as well as the costumes were vibrant and colorful. I really liked all the different colors of the main characters’ costumes, especially Adina’s red dress and top hat, because I really thought it made them stand out.

I really enjoyed the singing as well. Even from our really high seats, it was really surprising that there was still great acoustics and that I could hear everything they were singing. I may not have understood the exact words that the actors were saying but I could definitely hear what they were singing and the clarity of their words. Their crescendos and decrescendos were impressive. Even when Nemorino, played by Mathew Polenzani, sang really low, I could still hear him singing.

I found the titles on the back of the chair really helpful. They helped me understand what was being said and what was going on in the opera. I liked how we couldn’t see each other’s titles because I think that would have been a little distracting seeing everyone’s words changing. I also found it easy to follow the words. I could read and observe what was going on stage quite easily without missing the action.

I think one of my favorite parts of being at the opera was seeing and watching the orchestra in the pit. I could see each of them playing each note – the string players’ bows moving up and down, and the flute players’ fingers moving. It was all very interesting to watch them. Sometimes I could even single out who was playing the main melody line.

The opera, which has been stereotyped as boring and sleepy, was actually quite refreshing in its liveliness and its comic nature. I especially enjoyed when Doctor Dulcamara was singing about how foolish Nemorino was for taking his elixir. I wasn’t expecting that and I was really surprised with the opera overall because I enjoyed it so much.

Going to the opera for the first time was a truly great and enjoyable experience. I’m glad I had the opportunity, especially the opportunity to go to the opera with my friends. I’ll always remember this experience. Hopefully I’ll get to see another in the future.