Drama or Not

It had been a while since I had been to the opera, I think the last one I saw was Madama Butterfly directed by Anthony Minghella. Although I've always detested the story, I had to see it for the production value. The stage design was absolutely memorable, but I was too distracted by the costume design over all, which I felt was, well, distracting in many ways, for someone who loves subtlety of old school Japanese art and culture.

So that was a while ago and I hadn't been to the Opera since. I've always been huge on classical music, but never really a big opera fan. I stay away from all the drama in my life, so why would I voluntarily sit through long hours of over-the-top drama? At the same time, I keep my heart open to all things interesting, I'm up for it no matter what it is.

Even so, I never imagined that I would be at the Met twice in one week. Last Monday, one of my opera obsessed friends invited me to check out Iphigénie en Tauride with Susan Graham and Plácido Domingo. My friend's passion for opera takes her there at least half of the week every week. I don't know how she does it. I guess passion makes you do crazy stuff. Unfortunately, Graham canceled and was replaced by Elizabeth Bishop. Apparently this was a second time she canceled and this was also my friend's second time seeing Iphigénie en Tauride during the season. I felt bad. Regardless, the performance was wonderful. I particularly loved Paul Groves who played Pylade, Oreste's friend. It was also helpful to have a very knowledgeable friend next to me to explain things or two or three. I probably tend to focus more on the visual stuff, and along with the music, it was stunningly simple and intense. There was a beautiful use of rich red lit by flames along with different shades of warm colors of the costumes in the main room, contrasted by the use of cool blue in the prison. Once in a while, the colors cross and mix with costume worn by the characters. A green scarf, which was their mother's momento held dearly by Iphigénie in the red room. The bleeding scene or a red scarf worn by Orestes in the blue prison. The main character Iphigénie remained in the solemn black dress as a high priestess. Again, it was subtle, simple and stunning, exactly how I like it. The stage did not change once, but it kept me mesmerized for the whole play.

Then later in the week, another friend invited me to see La Boheme. Zeffirelli's production was so lavish it was a good contrast from Iphigénie en Tauride. We were so lucky to have sat in the orchestra section, it was such a blessing to be able to see it up close. Now as a fellow Asian, I was pleased to see an Asian performer Shenyang who played Colline. Yeah, I just had to say that. The whole play consisted of four acts, and each one had an amazing stage production. Heck, Act II even had a horse for like a minute when Musetta entered the stage! I wondered where they keep the poor horse in the backstage.

I went to an art high school in Massachusetts where kids around the country moved into dorms to attend. The curriculum was structured to focus on art, whether it's music, visual art, creative writing or dance along with academic courses. I was a free-spirited visual art major, but observed what my friends in music and performing arts went through. These stories themselves are a whole another entry, but it was no joke. So while sitting in the fancy orchestra section seat, I imagined what it must have taken each one of them to be a part of the Metropolitan Opera production, and I was touched to be in the presence of living their dreams. And I was also living my dream of living in NYC, enjoying what the city has to offer at its best. Drama or not.


The Metropolitan Opera
http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/