I thought I would like the opera a lot more than I actually did, which was disappointing. I really didn’t like it until the end of Act II when Tosca killed Scarpia. Even then, Tosca had an extremely long, dragging scene when she took forever to leave Scarpia’s apartment by contemplating about what to do or something. Although the opera had an interesting storyline, I found it really slow and the intermissions were way too long.

I didn’t really like Tosca during Act I because as we discussed in class, the whole jealousy thing over the woman Mario painted was so irrelevant. Tosca was just annoying during the whole first act because of her jealousy, although I did find it a bit funny when she said to Mario to make the woman in the painting’s eyes black. Her jealousy didn’t contribute to the plot at all except when Scarpia came to their house and lied to Tosca saying that Mario was with another woman in the cottage just so the lieutenants could follow Tosca to the cottage. Either way, Tosca ended up finding out what was really going on since Mario told her the truth about him hiding a fugitive (away from the scene), but the jealousy took up so much of Act I and it barely contributed to the plot.

I started to catch the hint that Mario was going to die when Scarpia was telling the lieutenant to do a fake execution just like -insert name here- since that was suspicious. Tosca’s death wasn’t necessarily obvious but I had a feeling she would die as well since there was so much time between when she killed Scarpia and Mario’s “fake” execution. I just thought there was no way she would be able to get away with that; there would be some way the lieutenants would find out about Scarpia’s death.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the whole art being singing either which is ironic since  that is what an opera’s supposed to be. There wasn’t that much going on onstage for me to get lost in the subtitles and miss the action on stage, so that was good. Maybe I would’ve liked it more if the words were simply spoken instead of sung though. I thought the singing made it a little too dramatic at times, which contributed to making the opera a lot slower. Oh well, maybe operas are just not my thing!

I never realized how many misconceptions I’ve had about Opera until we actually went to one. I used to think opera was some lady who had powerful vocals singing solo for a long period of time about God knows what.  I don’t remember where I got that impression in my head, but it stuck all the way up to the opera. Maybe a little before considering we were told about the opera by the Opera singer who visited us. I didn’t know that Opera really had much of a story/play aspect to it. I thought it was mainly focused on listening to the vocals and with little to no action other than a person standing and singing. Now I know it’s obviously way more intricate, complex, and developed than that. I know people preferred the ballet and disliked the long intermissions, but I personally didn’t find them that long. That’s because instead of just sitting I went and explored the actual building itself, and that adds the crucial that I believe comes as a package with the experience. You are supposed to take in the high class nature of the event and listen to the sometimes incredibly pretentious conversations because that’s what the opera has always been; a high class social event. It probably takes age and money to really enjoy it, but nonetheless, I did.

Last Thursday night, we went to the Lincoln Center and saw “Tosca.” I’ve never seen an opera before, and I have to say, the experience was very enjoyable, perhaps even more than the ballet. I’ve seen a few Broadway shows in my life, including “Phantom of the Opera” and “Wicked”, but seeing an opera is a totally different experience. Broadway shows and plays tell a story through words and actions, while operas add the element of music. The music is able to convey emotions that simply cannot be portrayed through words. In other words, operas are able to “make you feel something” that plays cannot. I definitely felt it at the opera, especially when Tosca reached her highest notes.

One thing that I didn’t like was the length of the intermissions. Throughout the play, I found myself immersed in the story, worrying about the fates of Tosca and Cavaradossi (even though I knew full well that it would be tragic). The intermissions disrupted this immersion, and following each intermission, I found it difficult to “re-immerse” myself in the plot. Just imagine taking a 30-minute break in the middle of watching an action-packed movie – it’s just not the same!

Oh man oh man. If I told you I’ve liked opera forever, I would be lying. Honestly, I don’t think I was ever fan until recently. Growing up, I always thought of opera as that art form nobody took seriously. My earliest associations with it included loud singing, melodramatic acting, and the whole “shatter-glass-with-your-voice” bit. It’s true, as a kid opera is a bore—the ultimate form of punishment. But when you get older and start to appreciate its many facets, opera becomes something beautiful you want to understand.

Which brings me to Thursday. Getting to see Tosca was absolutely awesome. I have such love for interesting stories and the plotline of Tosca was just that. Sure, I predicted Mario’s end from the beginning, but I did not predict that ultimate plot twist. I also really loved how there were bits of history included, as there were a few mentions to a Napoleonic invasion.

As for the voices, each opera singer was spectacular. I still can’t believe they weren’t wearing microphones! Looking down at them from our seats and still being able to hear the power in their voices was incredible. Although I could only comprehend a few words (I guess opera’s like that) even after my 6 years of Italian, I could feel the emotion, passion, and agony.

All in all, I’m really glad to have been give the opportunity to have this experience. I hope to go see another opera in the near future—maybe La Boheme this time!

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!