I’m splitting my post up in two. The things I didn’t like (or hated) about the opera and the things I liked (or loved).

Dislike/Hate

  • In the opera, we where higher up while in the ballet we where closer down. The distance, to me, has a lot to do with experience. The lower down, the better the experience.
  • There was a lot going on in the opera I had to pay attention to. First, I had to pay attention to the translation, then the movement of the people on stage, then the music, and then the singing. I paid attention to the singing last, which is odd because thats kind of the point of the opera but it seemed to be my innate response to ignore it for the most part.
  • Act I and III were pretty boring to me, nothing of interest happened. Even in the boring parts of the ballet something was happening to pay attention to.
  • My expectations where higher. I expected Tosca to be this dramatic over the top piece. I expected Tosca to fling chairs and all that jazz but none of it happened. I thought it was pretty tame.
  • That death scene. I understand its not supposed to be super realistic and fantastic but come on, it was so blatantly bad and fake. And then later when they were supposed to be torturing the guy and he comes out looking like nothing happened I just sighed. I expected some make-up on him to make him look beaten up. I just expected more realism than I got (for such a grand venue).

Like/Love

  • The singers are definitely incredibly talented about what they do and I have a lot of respect for them. I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have to their voices but when I did they were really good. I preferred the male voices to the female ones (Tosca). It was more pleasant to my ear.
  • There was an actual story I could follow! Sure it may have been a bit boring and more tame than I expected but it was something!
  • The orchestra was amazing. The music was amazing!  I thought the music was brilliant and enjoyed it far more than the ballet music (which I thought was dull).
  • I would rather see the opera again than the ballet even though I liked the ballet better. I feel as though the story for the opera was boring and that took away from the experience. But, with a exciting story the opera would be better. I would love to see one of those grand ballets Ms. Hick talked about. I think I would really enjoy those (and I hope Tosca wasn’t actually a grand ballet because that would be awkward).

The lesson learned: The class should go see something on Broadway because music, dancing, and singing! Yay! Best of both worlds!