Last night, Chris and I went to the opera. We didn't know if we were opera lovers or not . . . and what better way to find out than to go, right! We bought tickets to "Carmen" a while ago (Chris had found a pretty good deal) and the day had finally come.
I was really excited to have a special occasion to dress up for. San Francisco tends to be pretty causal but the opera is definitely a place you can go in formal attire.
We had been warned that "Carmen" is fairly long, but I don't think either one of us were ready to sit through 3 hours and 40 minutes of anything! I know after the second hour I was getting pretty tired and stiff.
As far as the performance it self, I liked it a lot. I love musicals and the symphony so the opera seems like something I would enjoy. "Carmen" has quite a few well-known songs so it wasn't completely foreign. It was actually really neat to hear the songs we so easily recognize in their original context. And the War Memorial Opera House is a stunning building.
One downside is that it is a foreign language, in this case French, so it's a little harder to follow. Thankfully, they had subtitles! The other downside was that we were in the balcony and couldn't see the facial expressions. I think if I could have seen faces I would have been more engaged in the story. I suppose I could have purchased opera glasses, but who knows if that investment would have paid off -- I mean what if we never go again!?
Overall, I had a wonderful new experience. I'm glad we went. But in all honesty, I don't know if we'll go again. I guess we'll have to wait and see!
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