Liz wrote:
>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.
I'm all for being considerate to fellow audience members (and performers) by being quiet and attentive during the performance. But I fail to see how wearing bluejeans if that's what I feel like wearing constitutes rudeness to fellow audience members. It isn't that I always want to wear bluejeans to the opera -- but I do question the orthodoxy of it and the stigma of looking, say, like a starving student at La boheme! I don't mind getting dressed up every now and then, but there are times when I would rather have my eyelashes pulled out one by one than put on a dress! And don't even ask about lipstick.
Joking aside, my main point is to question the shared expectation, especially among singers, that we must always look sharp and diva-like whenever we're at an opera or a concert, as if we in the audience are on display too.
The silk tunic sounds lovely though! ; ) And congratulations on the CANDIDE job!
Naomi
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