Macaulay Seminar One at Brooklyn College

For the in-class discussion, our group had to think of three truths about poetry. The group consisted of Elizabeth, Tatiana, Danielle, Renee and Siena. Our truths were:

1. “The pen is mightier than the sword.”

2. Expresses pure, honest emotion.

3. Poetry is entirely of your imagination and your emotion. It exists entirely inside of you, in your head.

4. Poetry is eternal.

5. Poetry is deep. Over time, as you read and re-read a poem, it only attains a deeper meaning.

I never thought I would enjoy going to a four hour opera. When i received professor Ugoretz’s email about the opera I was anything but excited. How could someone sit though a four hour play- nonetheless an opera.

When we got there, I realized that A Midsummer’s Night Dream would actually be done in English. Most people who have previously been to operas were upset about that, but I was very happy that at least I’d somewhat understand what was going on.

I really enjoyed A Midsummer’s Night Dream. The scenery, the costumes, the people’s voices- were all amazing. I was very amazed at the scenery and kept wondering how it worked. I was surprised to see that the fairies were so young, I thought most people in the opera were older, but I was clearly mistaken. It shocked me when those little boys entered the stage, especially when I heard their voices and how amazing they were.

While I wouldn’t go to the opera on my own, this was a great experience for me. It may not be a “real’ opera, because it wasn’t in Latin, but for me this was better. I wasn’t really a fan of the very long breaks which made it seem longer than it should have been. But all in all, I did enjoy my first opera experience, and maybe I will even convince my family, who have never been to the opera, to go to an opera. I’m sure they would like it just as much as I did!

I’ve never seen a real opera, so I’m not sure what I was going to expect since I had seen different varieties of what it’s like on t.v, but it seemed that the word opera is usually preceded by Italian, but this was not the case. To be honest, an Italian opera would have been difficult for me to understand and in that scenario I would only be hearing their singing rather than following a story line. I never expected for an opera to be a comedy. It just didn’t seem like it would ever go together until I saw it for myself. It was difficult for me to really follow the story, but the moniters helped tremendously. I really enjoyed the scenery but I was confused at some times as to how they fit with the story, like the floating house. Other than that, it was definitely a new experience for me, one of many to come.

Attending the Metropolitan Opera was one of the events I was most looking forward to this semester. I had heard about this event from upper classmen and how much fun they had when they went. I am very into musical theatre and always wanted to go to the opera so I was really looking forward to experiencing this very popular and different type of musical performance. I was also interested in seeing how different and similar it would be to a Broadway performance. Needless to say, I was not disappointed on Tuesday night! The opera was an absolutely incredible experience. Not only was the performance spectacularly done, but I also learned more about the culture that surrounds the opera. Unlike Broadway, the opera is much “fancier,” but can also be a casual event. People’s dress ranged from long gowns and suits to jeans and t-shirts. This was surprising to me because I had always thought the opera was supposed to very high class and fancy. During intermission, the food was very “upper-class” and included expensive chocolates and champagne.
The show itself entertained and intrigued me at the same time. Since it was a Shakespearean opera, I expected the costumes and sets to be very old-fashioned and geared towards the time period. In fact, the costumes and sets were extremely modern and quite abstract. The sets attempted to depict a forest scene in a very peculiar way. People entered and exited the forest through doors and trees were represented by a single branch going through the different sections of the set. Although I do not think the scenery was depicted very accurately, I do find it interesting to see this type of creativity in the opera. I expected the opera to be a very formal and rigid atmosphere, but instead was presented with an atmosphere that was quite avant-garde in some respects. The story itself was also very silly and included a lot of “slapstick” humor, which is usually not the typical reputation that the opera has. I also found it interesting that although the opera was in English, there were subtitles on the backs of the seats. This is never seen at a Broadway theatre and helped me to appreciate the use of Shakespearean language. I definitely would like to go back and see a more traditional opera to further my experience of this wonderful culture.

I was a little apprehensive about seeing an opera in English, though I had already seen a few others. I wasn’t apprehensive for my own experience, but for the experience of my classmates. I wasn’t sure if I liked the idea of an English opera being my classmates’ only exposure to opera, if they hadn’t seen any others. I was pleasantly surprised, however. Despite the opera’s lack of hummable arias, it was still  good. The humor was refreshing and the show was engaging. I love going to the Met because of their elaborate sets and costumes, and this production was no different. The set made you feel as if you were in a dream, constantly reminding you of the opera’s unreality. This dreamy quality gave the show dimension. I really liked the adaptation, it did the original play justice. The hijinks of the fairies were as funny as intended, and the love triangles just as bewildering. While I don’t think my grandpa would be as fond of the opera as I am, I still think this show was a good introduction to opera in general. I do hope maybe we can go to one more, though. Maybe one in Italian or French, to show the musical differences between an English opera and an Italian opera. Overall, it was a really nice night. Puck reminded me of Luke, so that was cool too.