Theatre fix

Last weekend I headed up to Logan to see some of the offerings of Utah Festival Opera and Music Theatre company. My friends and I started with Don Giovanni on Friday night, followed by South Pacific and Boris Godunov on Saturday. Whew. Three very different shows, each glorious in its own way. I think my most favorites thing about UFOMT is that you see the same people in different shows/roles. By the end of the weekend, the performers feel like friends since you've seen them in multiple shows. My second favorite thing (don't worry, I'll stop here even though there are other favorites) is that the theatre itself is small enough that every seat is great and it feels quite intimate. This makes it so easy to get completely caught up and absorbed into the happenings on stage. Rejoining the real world after three hours can be shock to the system!

Next year the musicals will be Kiss Me Kate and My Fair Lady, and I am already looking forward to them.

In a few weeks I will head to Cedar for the Shakespeare Festival. This year we are seeing A Midsummer Night's Dream, Music Man, and Noises Off. That should satisfy my desire for live theatre for awhile. At least until October when we are going back for the Fall season. :-)

Friday night entertainment

Tonight I went to BYU with friends see Mozart's Don Giovanni. I thought it was quite well done. It started 30 minutes earlier than most BYU productions, so I was worried we'd be there until 10:30, but, it wrapped up at 9:57. I love that they did NOT put microphones on the singers. The last musical I went to at BYU (Oklahoma) was not very enjoyable for me because everyone had microphones and it was way too loud for me during the singing. (Though in fairness, I suspect my ears are a bit too sensitive -- I almost always wear earplugs when I go to movies)

The woman sitting behind me tonight was quite fidgety -- constantly rubbing her stockings-clad leg that was right behind my head. The sound of the friction against the fabric drove me to distraction and I REALLY wanted to turn around and ask her to please sit still. Instead of embarrassing myself and my companions, I resorted to leaning forward to put some distance between my right ear and those stockings. Somewhere during the first act she then started playing with beads of some kind, and I nearly exploded with indignation. This time, I did turn around to "shhhh" her. That was the last of the beads, but not the end of the scritch scritch scritch on the stockings, so I spent long moments of the second act hunched forward.

This is the first time I've seen this particular opera, and I understand it was shortened some. I like operas with a bit (or a lot) of humor, and this one fit the bill. I personally thought it was funny that we had an "Opera death" in the first 10 minutes of the show -- you know the kind I mean -- one of those deaths were it takes 'em awhile to die, and yet they manage to sing while going through their death throes. I found I had more patience for it when it happens early. When it happens near the end of the show, I am usually thinking something along the lines of "Less singing, more dying"!

I think I have a ways to go before I become a true Opera aficionado...