May Misc. Reviews

Opera

Note: For those of you who adore the opera, you may dislike these thoughts. Read at your own risk.

Have you ever been surrounded by hundreds of people on social security or who are collecting their retirement funds and are looking for ways to spend their cash? That is what it is like to go to the Lyric Opera of Chicago on a Tuesday night, and quite possibly on most other nights of the week.

It is a great place to feel young if you are feeling a little old on a bad day. Then again, do you really want to face the risk of being seated right in front of the preacher as I was? It wasn't that he was a preacher that was the problem. In fact, it just reminded me of how much I enjoy Dusty Springfield singing, "The only boy who could ever reach me, was the son of a preacher man....................." It was that for two and a half hours he sounded like he was a calf suckling milk from his mother. Maybe he was having trouble keeping the saliva in his mouth. Maybe the fixadent wasn't holding his teeth n properly. Whatever it was, it was driving me nuts.

Some operas can go on for as long as six hours. I would recommend trying one of the short ones if you have never been to the opera before. One of the short ones will only be about two and a half hours long. Don't worry, there is an intermission to grab an espresso.

The sets are generally picturesque and of course, the singers are extremely talented. The stories are relatively basic. The subtitles clue you in as to what is being sung about.

Everyone should experience the opera at least once in their lives. It is a cultural event that can make anyone sound worldly for having attended. Take your mom and dad, or better still, your grandparents. They seem to appreciate these things. Go figure?

-Sheila

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