Second try

My second try at the opera was better than my first. Last night, a friend and I went to go see Phillip Glass' Waiting for the Barbarians. After Madame Butterfly, which I found unapproachable and kind of boring, I wasn't expecting much but I was pleasantly surprised.

The set, a series of semi-opaque screens that rose and fell in time with the music, was visually stunning. The music was accessible and the story, while not subtle, was interesting. I found it a little off-putting that the score was in English because it is hard to ignore the bizarre phrasing and pay attention to the sound, but after a while I managed to ignore the meaning of the words and just read the subtitles. A little bit of nudity and a rather obvious political message apparently served to make the people sitting in front of us a little huffy. They left after the first act, and then we were blessedly free to put our feet up on their seats, which is not a small thing in the cheap, cramped, upper balcony seats.

Overall, I had a good time. Who would have thought?! Since B was only willing to get one opera's worth of culture, my mother-in-law will be coming in April to see the Barber of Seville with me. I'm hoping for two out of three - it's supposed to be funny, right? I think I've had enough tragedies.