To Be or Not To Be

On Monday, we went to the Lyric Opera in downtown Kansas City to see Hamlet, the opera. Hoyt looked absolutely handsome with his tuxedo, and he, of course, had me dress in my fineries as well. We stuffed ourselves at the Olive Garden, then away we went! The balcony was not very full sadly, so we moved into a couple nicer seats along with a friendly couple Hoyt started speaking with. He was a chemist who moved in from Brooklyn (NY), and he was kind enough to humor us with his accent, Hoyt attempting it, and then speaking German poetry to me. :-p Twice. I seem to attract old guys. *sigh*

Hamlet had an awesome singing voice. Ophelia… I think she stole the performance, even with a different person singing her lines (her doctors would not let her sing, usually happens) her acting performance and the abilities of the second Ophelia (she was in the pit), were astounding! It was sung in French, so I understood snippets of it without supertitles, but with all opera, I can usually not even understand what is being sung when in English! Ophelia's death sequence was also one of the most drawn out and creative I have ever seen in opera (I have been to a few now; Tosca, Aida, Turandot, La Boheme while in Mongolia… a few others I think). Very neat though, with her suspended in air behind two curtains of shiny shards meant to look like ice on top of the river; quite a spectacle! Worth seeing. 🙂

We have the Barber of Seville and a John Pizzarelli concert coming up as well, and I am looking forward to them. I would like to see Through the Looking Glass performed by Kansas Regional Ballet, and may just go on my own since it is at the community college. Exciting! And last year I saw the Nutcracker at Madison's exquisite Overture Center, so I am considering it here as well. It's good to get out. 🙂