7th Inning Stretch - Take Me Out to the Opera

When I was a teenager my mother told me that if I hung out with people who did drugs, no matter what my original intentions, eventually I'd start doing drugs with them.

That said, Husband is slowly coming around. He is actually excited to be going to the Met. Excited! He said he'd be willing to listen to Carmen beforehand, to familiarize himself with some of the music. And then yesterday when La Cenerentola was on PBS I pointed out to him that Elina Garanca, who is so adorably cute as Cenerentola, would also be singing the title role in Carmen... Well, that settled it. He has hung around with me long enough, he's finally dipping in and sampling the drug on his own. Ok ok I wouldn't go that far. He's not listening to opera with I'm not around, as far as I know. But while before he went along with me to the local performances, now he's looking forward to going. No doubt some of the prestige surrounding a performance at the Met rather than our local opera company is fueling some of his enthusiasm. I wonder if I'd feel the same about going to see the Yankees in Yankee Stadium after having been to so many games of our local Yankees AA team in the stadium down the road. Thinking about that now... nope. I get bored right around the 4th inning. Hm does this mean he'll get bored by intermission?

Ah so much to think about. Opera. Baseball. Which tickets are more expensive. Are the food and drinks more expensive and/or higher quality in the opera house or at the stadium? If you don't factor fashion into it, I think it's a toss-up.

One Week!

Met tickets for us non-subscribers go on sale next Sunday. So in a week I'll know what day of the week I'm going to see Die Zauberflote. I'll have my Carmen ticket. Husband is now saying he'd go to the Met but only to see Barbiere, and he doesn't care if Rosina is Joyce D or Diana D. I'm trying to convince him to come to Carmen. I'm going to see Elizabeth C at the Met no matter what. If I'm supering in the other Carmen I guess he'll see that one too, if only the final dress. But I won't know anything about that for a few months - not sure when, but my guess is that it'll be near or after Thanksgiving (that's the end of November for my non-US readers) before they know anything.

Why why why isn't Juan Diego Florez singing in something I haven't seen? I'm torn - I so want to see/hear him, and I do want to hear Diana D, but I'm not sure if I want to see La Fille again.

Oh who am I kidding. Of course I'll go, in balcony seats in the $65 range. Better seats for the others.

So I guess my plan is, get a pair of tickets for each performance I want to see, and then find a date. Banawoman for Die Zauberflote, I bet I can drag my voice teacher to La Fille to see JDF, Husband to Carmen... and who knows what other events will pop up over the season. Frankly I'm surprised that Husband doesn't want to come to Die Zauberflote. I mean, I know why he doesn't want to see that particular opera - we've seen it before and he admits that while the music is great, the talky bits are a bit tedious. But considering the Papageno, I'm just surprised. And relieved. I'd be nervous, he'd make fun of me for that, he'd make snide comments about... stuff... and silly man, doesn't he know that he's the beneficiary of all this nonsense? Well, anyway. He's not coming. Banawoman and I can be silly to our hearts' content. Husband would cramp my opera-going style. Maybe I'll see if there's a baseball game the same day and if so, get him tickets to that.

Singing Hand

Does this make you long for spring training or what? Alex and I threw this together over the summer.




And here's another take on "Goodnight My Someone."




Enjoy.