The Marriage of Figaro

The first opera of the season has come and gone. A few years ago I got Mom a great book (if I do say so myself) of summaries of various operas. It is called A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers, The Composers, The Recordings (Paperback). The book summarizes The Marriage of Figaro as "The one where the Count and the page hide behind the same chair, where the Countess's maid makes a surprise exit from a closet and where Figaro discovers the woman who wants to marry him is his mother." Yup. Pretty accurate. Although there is a lot of coming and going on the stage, that should be mentioned. It was a long one, 4 freaking hours, but at least it was really good. I realized as I was walking in that I had no money. Dang my mother, she had no money, and I was in terrible need of a Coke. I texted my friend KT and she came to the rescue. She brought a Diet Coke with her to the show. Saved. My. Life. I would not have survived without the caffeine.

A friend of my mom's joined us. She was a bit of a magpie, but a very nice lady. Bless her heart, she got the seat next to the couple that were soooooo oversized for their seats. They left halfway through (still two hours of fun for her.) I imagine they were terribly uncomfortable in those seats. We actually have a different spot this year, closer to the center and closer to the front. Other than the fact I sat behind a man that was VERY tall. It required a wee bit of neck craning to see some of the performance, but all in all, pretty dang good seats.

There was a group of girl scouts at the show. They were so cute. I met up with them while in line for the restroom. The adults were a little stressed about keeping them all together and pushing those girls through the potty line. I hope they had a good time. I do love the opera, and it will be fun to have a new generation of opera lovers.

Ok, I totally had to add this photo that came in an email today from the Dallas Opera. I include specifically because of the woman standing on the left. In the Opera Notes before the Opera (presentation by someone connected with the opera with background info, tidbits, things to notice etc.) At any rate, the guy points out that in two of the acts this woman is wearing a dress made from curtains, a bit a la Scarlett O'Hara. Apparently the director or someone wasn't happy with her outfit, so they ordered another. Still unhappy, he was standing in some room when he pointed to the curtains and said her dress should look like the curtains. The curtains, it seems, had been donated by some local Dallas woman. So, they took 'em down, and then they made a dress. She is wear said curtains/dress in this image.