I’ve enjoyed opera ever since I was young. One of my favorite memories of Mom’s ex, J, is when he took me to my first opera. I can’t remember now whether it was Aida, or Lucia di Lammermoor, but it doesn’t really matter. It was just the two of us, and I dressed up and went to the Kennedy Center. I felt so adult. But I haven’t been to the opera in ages. Then, a couple of months ago I got a schedule for the San Francisco Opera in the mail and discovered that they were going to be performing Mozart’s Magic Flute. Even though I’ve loved Mozart ever since I saw Amadeus sometime in my pre-teens, I’ve never actually seen any of his music done live. And *this* was a production to be seen.

A large part of it was designed (stage, costumes, some of the creatures) by Gerald Scarfe - a British cartoonist, illustrator, stage designer, caricaturist and political satirist. Now I might be slow, but I didn’t recognize the name. But then I saw some of his drawings. He designed and directed the animation in Pink Floyd’s The Wall. He has a very distinctive style. While his stage design of this opera wasn’t in that style, it was more colorful than I’d expected, and the colors felt very ’70’s to me. Bright oranges, neon greens, purples, as well as more primary colors. And his hybrid animals were hilarious - the crocodile/penguin, the ostrich/giraffe. All dressed in the brightest colors. Quite visually stimulating.

But I was most impressed by the voices. The Queen of the Night was sung by Erika Miklosa, a Hungarian soprano who has performed the role over two hundred times. Her voice was breath-taking. When she sang the aria I recognized from Amadeus (where the Queen is telling her daughter to kill Sarastro), I was amazed, stunned. My words don’t do the experience justice - it’s just something that must be experienced to be understood. I thought Georg Zeppenfeld, who sang Sarastro, also had a great voice. My favorite part (as a character rather than a singer) was that of Papageno. He’s a good bit of comic relief, a ‘regular guy’ just looking to eat, drink and meet a lovely Papagena. There were several times he made me laugh out loud.

Mozart was 35 when he wrote this, his last opera. Only four years older than I am now. And he heard this wonderful music, wrote it, and brought it to the rest of us. It’s amazing. I can imagine characters and their lives with no problem. But I have no idea how someone could create music from nothing.

I had a great time with Mom. We’d gone shopping yesterday, specifically looking for something for me to wear to the opera. We found a great outfit - long black skirt, grey shirt and a necklace. Not only do I fit in it now, I should be able to wear it over the holidays (even as my belly grows) and since it’s not particularly maternity wear, I’ll wear it after the baby too. Dressing up, putting on make-up, and heading out on the town was so much fun. It’s been too long since I went to a cultural event. (Apparently Mom doesn’t consider Eddie Izzard a cultural event, more of an entertainment event.) I’m going to have to do it more often.

The baby seemed to like the music - he flipped around in the belly for a little while, then curled up and went to sleep. Or maybe he’s like Tom - bored by the whole thing. After all, who sings everything?

Posted on October 18th, 2007 by Kat
Filed under: General