I'm not sure I like Opera very much

*Disclaimer* If you are anyway affliated with the show mentioned within, please don't hate me! :(

Last night, I got to see Les contes d'Hoffman done by Opera Lyra at the NAC. My friend Kris was in it and he was kind enough to offer me some free tickets. I find that I am in the same predicament as my other friend Natalie when it comes to expressing what I thought in this very public forum where people from the show might actually read this.

(Kris and Natalie's Blogs can be found in my links section if you would like to hear their stories on the show.)

I agree with that Nat that I don't think I like Opera and I would have to see another just to make sure that it wasn't just that one.

Things I discovered about opera last night:

1) It's long - over three hours long with two intermissions - TWO. I was actually quite frustrated when I saw we were going into another intermission because honestly, I just wanted to get it over with. Which brings me to point number

2)It was hard to understand - don't get me wrong, I was actually excited to see this opera in particular because it is in French and I was happy that I would be able to understand. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Quite a few of the singers were primarily anglophones and so a lot of the times their French was just plain incomprehensible. I was saved from this by the story synopsis in the program (so grateful for that!) as well as the most annoying distraction in point number

3)Subtitles - the show has subtitles - right above the stage, the lines the actors were singing were flashing accross the screen in English and in French. Since I was in one of the balconies, I was pretty much eye level with them and it was a huge distraction. Although, like I mentioned above, it did let me know what some of them were saying. However, I guess my French, my mother tongue, can't possibly be all that great since there were a ton of words that I had no clue what they meant and I found myself checking out the English translation quite often.

Now don't get me wrong, I didn't entirely hate the show. There were some wonderful moments. The girl who plays Olympia was just fantastic and I loved the chorus. Also there is definately not a lack of singing talent in the cast (although there were quite a few weaknesses on the acting side of things, but I digress). I was also very happy to see so many people I knew as the Supernumeraries and was happy to support them. Their costumes looked awesome (and no Kris, you did not look fat; in fact, you must have some pretty huge bicepts because I could see them from where I was sitting. Seriously, those guns must be huge! :)

That said, while that was probably the best darn stage orgy I had ever seen, I did find it pretty distracting and didn't get why it was there. It didn't really seem to have point or be advancing the plot in any way. I mean, the lead guy and the woman he loves are singing this very beautiful song and I pretty much missed it all cuz I was captivated by the bumpin' and gindin' (which goes to show how good of a job you guys did!).

The music was also very lovely at times, but I guess I prefer having songs that I can sing along too. I think that's why I like musical theatre so much because I can actually catch myself singing those show tunes in the privacy of my own home or, you know, in the middle of a busy street where everyone seems to instantly know the dance moves.

Anyway, this is a long rant and I want to end by saying that my friends were great, but I guess I'm not cultured enough to appreciate a good opera. Actually, as opera's go, I wouldn't even be able to tell you if that was a good one. So there you go.

What do I know?