i went to the opera

i wouldn't consider myself an opera 'afficionado' or even and opera 'buff,' but, tuesday marked the third time i've been to the opera in the past couple of years. and really, the second time i've been to the opera in the past 6 months. maybe it's growing on me. i guess i am unsure how much i even like opera, but i don't not like it. and i'm figuring out how it works. and i like the music. i think i just keep expected (quietly and mostly subconsciously to be moved to tears like julia roberts in 'pretty woman' or something).

but really, i was intrigued a little over a month ago by neon posters i'd been seeing around town saying 'can an opera make us warriors for peace' and such things. looking closer, i saw it was for satyagraha an opera about gandhi's time in south africa written by philip glass in 1980 and put on by the met.
i've never been to a show at the met, and this was the perfect excuse to go! i like philip glass, gandhi, music, theatre, getting dressed up all fancy, and peace, so i plopped out $211 for 2 tickets on the 'grand tier.' a bit of a crazy splurge on a cultural activity for me (i tend to go to the cheap, donation only, or free things), but i didn't mind one bit!

so yes, the night finally came, and many outfits were tried on, 4-inch silver heels* were worn, cabs were taken, and with the company of my very handsome and bow-tied escort, the 3-act, 4-hour event beautifully took place. i loved it! the music was very p.glass of course, and it had the feeling less of theatre and more of performance art, but the singers were oh so talented and the production design. oh! the production design was drooooool worthy.
oh and if that wasn't fun enough, i discovered that during the 2 intermissions, there is a little restaurant that you can go to on the grand tier, where during the first intermission you get your main course, and during the second, you get your dessert. hilarious and amazing and so logical and early 1900s-fancy feeling. maybe next time i'll hit it up. instead my companion and i indulged in a $5 brownie (pretty tasty, good density and had chocolate chips), and he, a $3 tea. (i was thirsty but they wanted $5 for one of those 4 oz bottles of evian. i'd rather swallow my spit, thank you!). going to the opera is expensive!

and there is also a cute little gallery adjacent to the main lobby that had portraits of philip glass ('phil') by chuck close. fun! apparently this gallery is always free and open to the public and i suppose exhibits art relating to one of their current shows.

while canoodling and hobnobbing with new york's elite on the grand tier, i spotted none other but john lithgow down one level on the staircase. this is a photograph i took of him in the lobby. i wonder if he liked the show.

and while we took a lot of photographs while we were there without a problem, apparently we were not supposed to. the uppity ushers will get snippity snappy with you (as we were walking out, we overheard one of them telling a family trying to take a group photo to get beyond a certain line-- going towards the doors-- before snapping their shutter). so, my advice? be discreet yet nonchalant and do not use a flash.


*in a funny sidenote, as i was walking by the staircase, an old man nearly tripped on the last step going up, as the young woman who was escorting and assiting him stopped suddenly on the stairs. she said to him 'oh! i'm so sorry!' and he says orneryily 'yeah! you just stopped dead!' and she says 'i know! i was looking at those shoes!' and 'those shoes' were mine. [no old men or young women were injured in the making of this comment or the event that inspired it].