Classical Music

Entertainment Weekly

For Tracy, mostly.

Highbrow

A few weeks ago, you may remember, I went to the opera. I've wanted to see an opera for a very long time, probably after Julia Roberts did, but maybe not before Glenn Close made Madame Butterfly the opera every jaded uptown girl used to inspire bunny boiling. However, besides owning Turandot, The Magic Flute and ... uh, that's it, I know almost nothing about this particular form of entertainment.

The maitre d' at the pre-show restaurant told us that he'd heard that the opera we were seeing, The Barber of Seville, was action packed. First, the fact that we called it something other than Il Barbiere di Siviglia indicates we are the exact opposite of aficionados. Secondly, my guess is that operatic singing is so very technical, operas will never be action packed in the way that, say, a Bruce Willis movie about dying harder may be. Not that I was expecting spectacular helicopter stunts or anything. There was some action, but it was incredibly static, is all I'm saying.

I enjoyed the experience very much. I highly recommend it to everyone. I am grateful to my husband for surprising me with tickets and for the opportunity I had to spend time with my favorite person in all the world. Let me get that out first. Besides, the Civic Opera house in Chicago is such a beautiful building, attending an opera is worth it just for the architectural benefits. And, the theater is so full of so many different kinds of people (like the guy next to me who I feared might vomit at any moment--not that I could guess why he seemed so physically distressed; perhaps it was because he was very tall and the seats, being old, are very close together; or perhaps he is allergic to opera), you don't really have to worry about wearing the wrong thing or unwrapping your candies at inopportune moments.

The liner notes for the show call...

Read more...