Simon Boccanegra... At the movies!

Since Frances has become such a big opera fan, and in fact is hoping to turn opera into her life's work, we make a point to listen to the opera when it comes on the public radio station. There are two opportunities to listen to an opera each week, Friday Night at the Opera and the Saturday Metropolitan Opera broadcast. Sometimes I really enjoy the opera broadcasts, and other times we end up turning them off. However, it is true that opera is much more fun to watch than to only listen to.

Saturday was one of the Met opera broadcasts that was simulcast in HD into participating movie theaters. Frances has been going to these all season, and we arranged to go with her. A first!

The opera was Simon Boccanegra by Giuseppe Verdi. I usually like Verdi operas, Macbeth being one of my favorites. Placido Domingo sang the title role, which is unusual for him since it is a baritone role.

The opera started at 10 am, and there was actually a pretty good house, consisting almost entirely of the senior set. The exception was the small handful of Sac State music students attending. The audience was (except for a few people) what I would consider dressed up (i.e. no jeans and in nice looking duds). Maybe because of their generation, maybe because this broadcast was an Outing. Some of them brought their own snacks and lunches, which they ate during the two intermissions. With running time of 3 hours and 20 minutes, the opera is a pretty long slog.

Did I enjoy the performance? Yes. I particularly was interested in studying the costumes and watching the back stage switching of the sets. Renee Fleming interviewed the main characters back stage during the intermissions. I didn't realize why her eyes seemed so strange until Ted complained about how distracting it was that she was focusing on the telepromter.

There were a couple of interesting things that came out during the interviews. Renee commented that when singing, she couldn't hear anyone else singing. At one point when Adrianne Pieczonka is singing a duet with Marcello Giordani, they are both singing very vehemently, and their mouths move in perfect unison spitting out the words. I almost laughed out loud, their lips were so identically shaped. I imagine it's true, that they can't hear each other. On the other hand, I don't suppose they are trying to blend!

The other funny thing was Renee commenting that she liked the role of Amelia Grimaldi because she is the only female among the cast. She doesn't have to worry about competing with some mezzo. DIVA!!

What didn't I like? The story was pretty hokey. The plot had a lot of holes. I don't think this was a very listenable opera, but I'm not sure. Attending in the theater, the visuals took over. I suspect that if we had been listening to the radio at home we would have turned it off.

The outing was completed by lunch at an Italian restaurant. It was good and in keeping with the theme, but a bit pricey for lunch.

Would I go again? Yes, but not very often.