Romeo Still Makes Me Cry

Here I am alone on New Year's Eve... well, not exactly. True, Jim is out overnight at a party that I'd rather not be at... but Alex is here after all... with a fever... and a cold... and what appears to be pinkeye. This leads to opera, I promise...

So he hasn't napped for over a year, but today he took a 90 minute nap, then he asked to go to bed early. He woke up about an hour later and was pretty wide awake, so I sat him on my lap in front of the computer while I played Scrabble on Facebook (it's my other addiction!) and we listened to the Met's live broadcast of Romeo. Alex finally went to bed and I listened to the rest on headphones.

So I've heard this opera dozens of times... yet I still cry at the end.

Tonight Matthew Polenzani was Romeo. I've heard him dozens of times since he's Tamino on that ever-famous English Magic Flute Alex used to watch every day. He was fabulous tonight. What a beautiful voice, like flowing water.

I listed through the curtain call. Most of the cast was gone by then- only 4 or 5 came out for curtain calls. That's odd - I thought they all always did. I guess I was wrong.

I didn't get to hear Nathan Gunn's first aria because the laptop wasn't cooperating... grrr.... Even though I have three different recordings of it, it's just different when you know it's live. It's like watching gymnastics in the Olympics - there's that tension that anything can happen.

My online friend who likes Anna Netrebko flew to NYC from Barcelona to see the performance tonight. I'm sure he had a great time. I'm envious!

If only I had unlimited funds, I'd go to the opera all the time.

Happy New Year to all. It's 11:15 and I'm going to bed.