>From: Ingo Duckerschein <ingo_d@y...>
> >Face it: it's a lot more fun to see an opera when you can stretch
> >out, go to the bathroom when the urge hits, talk out loud, laugh at
> >the stupid parts, leave if you get bored, wear bluejeans, eat a
> >picnic, etc. When you enter the opera house for a regular-season
> >production, there is so much expected of you and frankly some of it
> >is a pain.
>and later....
>> I don't see why wearing blue jeans, etc. is necessarily wrong. I wish
>I had more room to squirm, stretch (or get up and leave) during poor
>performances. Alas I am too much of a conformist and so I will sit
>there in my slacks, shirt, and maybe tie + jacket and wait for the next
>official break. Why does opera have to be so formal all the time?
>
>Congrats again!
>Ingo
>
Oh, some of us LIKE to get dressed up! I wore my gorgeous hand-painted silk
tunic to the Lyric Theater of San Jose's "Merry Widow" on Saturday night
(THE BEST "MERRY WIDOW" I'VE SEEN YET, AND I'M NOT SAYING THAT JUST BECAUSE
I HAVE FRIENDS IN THE CAST.) Formal or "dress up" or "Sunday best" is not
necessarily expensive or uncomfortable. And the part about waiting for
intermission to "check the plumbing" or walk out of a poor performance is
just consideration for your fellow audience members.
Also, there are, shall we say, different levels of formality in areas with
two or more opera companies. The behavior and dress at the San Francisco
Opera is much more hoity-toity than that at Goat Hall Productions (WHERE I
WILL APPEAR IN "CANDIDE" IN MY CRITICALLY-ACCLAIMED ROLE AS THE OLD LADY
OCTOBER 18-NOVEMBER 3).
I still enjoy the memory of singing an "opera night" at an Italian
restaurant and, during the break, hearing a man say "You know, this opera
stuff isn't as bad as I thought."
Elizabeth Finkler
San Jose, California
mightymezzo@h...
http://home.earthlink.net/~mightymezzo
We all live in a place called "23 skiddoo." --John Prine
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