Carmen

Prior to Thursday night I had thought that opera was simply a maximum of five performers singing (or yelling) at each other and possibly having some form of physical interaction. Consequently, I was dreading this opera. My only reassurance was the fact that I knew something would be entertaining with the Macaulay crew. Once the opera started, however, I was excited about it, too.

I enjoyed the storyline and the beautiful performance. After about fifteen minutes, though, I started to get bored by all of the repetitive lines. Norma posted that she found it frustrating to keep looking back and forth, from the stage to the screen, but I do not share the annoyance; I was able to look at the screen, then look at the stage until I got bored, and then return to the screen once more with the same lines before me: repetitive lines, which, in my opinion, did not convey deep emotion or anything intense that should give reason for such long repetitions.

I entertained myself throughout by commenting on the opera to those who sat next to me, and laughing from their responses to the opera, too. But in the end, I realized that the things we were laughing about really played a huge role in the opera as a whole. For example, we laughed at Carmen’s long dresses, because she seemed to not like them to reach past her knees; her long dress contributed to the death scene, as well as simply heightening her flirtatious behavior.

I really enjoyed the third and fourth acts. I felt that these two contained true passion and emotion, as opposed to the first two. I enjoyed the action and the complex plot, and I felt that these acts were not as dragged out and excessively lengthy. Mostly, in contrast to those of the first two acts, the “repetitive” opera, as I referred to it before, was not repetitive unreasonably. The opera here beautifully conveyed the emotion, and truly contributed to the feelings we were intended to feel.

Overall, I really appreciate the opera. I love analyzing stories and symbolism, and Carmen truly had what to analyze. Did I appreciate the three hours while I was sitting at the theater? Not particularly. Nevertheless, my experience as a whole was great, and I would consider sitting through another opera.