Comte Ory, Take 2

I had no idea when I purchased opera tickets on a hot day in August that the performance date I chose would turn out to be one of the coldest days of the year. Last week’s cold weather (highs in the 20 degrees F) made wardrobe planning a little tricky. How much time would I actually be spending outside? How overheated will I get on a crowded subway, if I’m dressed for the outside weather? Of course I tackled this problem with my usual over-thinking, and ended up in leggings under a long skirt, also a many-layered shirt ensemble that ended up being pretty nice. And, as usual, I wore my hiking shoes, and stashed my heels in my pink purse. Here I am on the train, sneakily putting my feet up on the opposing seat.

I met my friend at Penn Station and we headed uptown on the subway. We had a little time to kill so we puttered around the Met Opera shop, which was amazingly empty. I’ve only ever been there just before an opera, when it’s wall-to-wall people. Then we went to Avery Fisher Hall to use the Secret Public Bathroom. Anyone who is stuck uptown in that area of Manhattan, there is a nice bathroom in AFH open to the public. There’s even a bench and a full-length mirror. So we got ourselves together and switched out of our traveling shoes into our heels for the short walk to the restaurant.

As usual, we went to Café Fiorello. Don’t know why I always go there. Habit? It seems about as good as any other place in the area, and I do love the seafood. This time we shared a “Seafood Supreme Pizza”

and for dessert, a tiramisu cake:

I’m not that into tiramisu, to be honest, but the cake was nice and light and fluffy. And of course we enjoyed a cocktail – this is a “metropolitan daquari” and was quite yummy.

Next, on to the Met. And guess what? It had snowed during dinner. The sidewalk was a slushy slippery mess! We clung to each other like old ladies as we minced our way across the street.

Our seats were in the last row of the Grand Tier. There are only 7 or 8 rows so it’s not such a big deal…however that didn’t stop us from upgrading ourselves to empty seats directly in front of us in the first row. Here’s the upgraded view:

The opera was just as funny as I remember.

The soprano – Pretty Yende – was A M A Z I N G. This was her Met debut, filling in for someone who dropped out before rehearsals began, due to illness. As usual, the legato poured out of Juan Diego Florez like honey. And Nathan Gunn was pretty good too, except that he was kind of hard to hear over the orchestra. I’ve read reviews of other things he’s done where people commented on that, but I’d never actually experienced it until then. Anyway, I must admit, it was pretty funny seeing him and JDF dressed as nuns.  You can see some of that here, a few minutes in.

 

Usually during intermission I like to go out on the Grand Tier balcony but the door was locked... Yeah, that's snow. You can see the fountain all blurry in the background.

At the end of intermission we decided to put our snow-worthy boots on because we knew we'd want to make the mad dash for the subway the moment the curtain calls ended. So we were very stylish, sitting in our fancy clothes and clunky boots. 

People went NUTS at the curtain calls, hooting and hollering for the singers. It was kind of awesome. Everyone left the building with a smile. My friend and I joined the press of people entering the subway. There were so many people, someone had opened the emergency gate and we were herded through with the crowd. Finally made it home at 1am! Long day but totally worth it. Plus, I broke 3 rules!!! 1. Feet on train seat. 2. Upgraded opera seat. 3. Unpaid subway ride. I'm seriously living the rebellious life.

The Other Part of Florida

Finally have time to catch up on the blog - got stuck in Florida an extra day due to a snowstorm up north, and then was struck down by a stomach virus.

Lucia in Florida was fun!! My mom, my cousin and I



met another cousin in downtown Fort Lauderdale for dinner. We at at Himmarshee. It was good, although a little noisy. The weather was gorgeous and we sat outside so some of the noise was from the street. Then we walked the two or three blocks to the theater and found a cute guy to take our photo:



Yeah, I know, he's not IN the photo, so use your imagination. Look at our smiles.

The opera was great! Everyone was so talented, as usual. My only beef with the production, and my companions agreed, was with the stage setting. They had this diagonal wall across the stage, pretty much cutting off half the stage, so everything was sort of stuffed into the space in front. Also, some of the scenes seemed out of order from how I remember, some stuff was cut and there were parts that I didn't recognize. I guess that's normal - directors cut sections of the opera for various reasons, and the plot is so ridiculous that doesn't really matter. The mad scene was great - Lucia came in walking on this long long table, and they brought Arturo's body out wrapped in a sheet - wonderfully gruesome!

Opera Tattler type stuff:

• The chairs squeaked like mad. Someone get out there and oil them! The people in the row behind sat down, heard the squeak and began doing it on purpose, for fun. Not during the production - not on purpose - but anytime anyone moved the chair made a squeeeaaaak.
• The coughing!! At one point I started counting each time I heard a cough or a nasty throat-clearing. I'd start again from 1 when I heard another. The highest I got was 12. Generally it was: 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 1....
• Once again, the cellophane candy wrappers. Or perhaps it was cough drops?
  

There's nothing else to rant about - just the noise from chairs and people. Everyone was dressed up - some were ultra-glamorous. We were too tired afterward to peek backstage to say hello so we went home.

The rest of the Florida visit was uneventful. When I asked my mother if she'd like to hear me sing she said, "If I have to." Nice. Later in the trip I was singing while doing the laundry. I came out of the laundry room and she said, "Ok, you can stop singing now." Nice. On the other hand, when my cousin showed her the video of me singing with the Opera Project, she was so proud of me she was ready to explode. So... ? Perhaps she was trying to "protect" me from my father's mean comments? Who knows. Anyway, it allowed to me rest my voice. And the snow up north gave us another day to swim in the pool, dip in the hot tub, swim in the pool, dip in the hot tub...

Now we're under a blizzard warning!! Look!


TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO RANGE FROM 12 TO

22 INCHES INTO EARLY TONIGHT... WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS
STRADDLING THE INTERSTATE 95 CORRIDOR.

NEAR-BLIZZARD OR BLIZZARD CONDITIONS ARE RARE FOR OUR AREA... SO
IT IS LIKELY THAT PEOPLE WILL NOT REALIZE THE PERIL THAT EXISTS
IN VENTURING OUT IN SUCH STORMS.

Peril!!! Quick! Duck!! Geez, you'd think I had free tickets to see Nathan Gunn 2 hours away, with weather like this.

A Disturbance in the Force - Where I WON'T Be

I don't want to put the National Weather Service out of business so I'll stop pasting the forecast here. Needless to say, the entire area is under a winter storm warning. Here we're getting snow and sleet in the evening, turning to all snow after 10pm, just when I'd be driving home. They're predicting 6-10 inches tonight and an additional 3-7 inches tomorrow!

In Baltimore the snow and sleet is expected to start shortly after noon and continuing. They're under a winter storm warning starting at 2.

Based on all this, which is caused, by the way, by an upper-level disturbance across the deep south, I realize, reluctantly, that I'm not going to Baltimore today.

I know I've been writing about not going for the past few days, however I have secretly been hanging on to a shred of hope that the weather forecasters are all exaggerating because they have nothing better to do. I have lost all hope (cue: dramatic swelling music) and will be stuck at home while Mr. Gunn does this thing 2 hours from here. Unless it's canceled.