Every once in a long while you’re given an opportunity to
feel cultured, and it’s up to you to grasp it. Friday night, I had just such an
opportunity: CIEE provided me with a ticket to the State Opera. One of my goals
on this trip is to experience as many cultural events as possible, so I attended the opera with great anticipation at what I would behold.
I don’t know about you, but when I think Opera, I think
large Italian women reaching unreachable notes as they bellow out a tale of
eternal love. Turns out, the definition of opera is actually broader than that
and on Friday night I discovered that first hand. First of all, full
disclosure: the opera was in Czech, so I really have no idea what was going on.
Then again, neither did the Czech buddies who came with us, so I wasn’t that
far behind. Big picture, this guy was singing in his bedroom as he was trying
to write when he said something about needing a guide. A guide, who looked a
lot like a devil in human flesh, showed up and took him on his journey, which
culminated in the gentleman falling in love with a maid. Along the way there
were some characters that seemed to come straight out of the ‘80s, a man in
boxers gesturing lewdly, houses that turned into a face, and most importantly,
five pink Easter bunnies.
In case it’s not clear yet, this was not the traditional
opera I was led to expect, but a modern and contemporary version. The music
incorporated guitars, keyboards and horn instruments, the attire was anything
but traditional, and there were five pink bunny suited people running around
the stage as if it was a normal occurrence.
I wish I had pictures, but the opera frowns upon pictures
during the performance, instead I hope this synopsis will suffice: Kudykam.
I knew I was going to have issues with the opera when I
started nodding off after the first song. My head felt like it was on a gyro,
it just couldn’t stay still, twisting and turning as my eyes rolled back into
my head. Fortunately, there was a wooden beam behind me that hit me when I
leaned back too far, effectively waking me up just enough to make sure I didn’t
have a chance to snore. Don’t worry, that only happened two or three times. I
tried to amuse myself and keep my eyes open by focusing on the choreography and
trying to think of ways to adapt it to Humo. Obviously that’s not my job, but
it helped in keeping me awake.
By the time intermission arrived, the question was really
whether to stay or go find food before everything closed. I ended up staying,
and am happy I am. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t have seen the bunnies, and they
really made the show.
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