Madama Butterfly

Sandy and I spent a great rainy afternoon at the opera. It was Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, a series of live telecasts to movie theaters. I had seen advertisements for previous shows but I thought the tickets were kind of expensive for watching it in a movie theater. To my surprise a few weeks ago there was coupon in the mail for a buy one, get one free offer. And the theater showing it was just up the street in Oxford.

We were looking forward to this event ever since I picked up the tickets. We both are fans of all sorts of music, including classical and opera. Anyone who has travelled with me for any extended distance knows that my musical taste can be somewhat eclectic. But opera is best experienced while viewing it, especially if it is live. It is much more of an emotional experience than just listening to a soundtrack.

Sandy was an usher at the Detroit Opera House a few years ago but I have only been to a few in person. The theater version was better than having the best seats at the Met since many different camera angles were used, including closeups of the performers. In between acts Rene Fleming conducted interviews with the stars and other members of the cast. The back stage views were very informative. The sound was also first rate and the subtitles made the opera a lot easier to follow. I have to say the seats were a lot more comfortable than at the opera house and I don't recall anyone taking popcorn to a live performance either.

The entire experience was well worth it and we may buy tickets to one or two of the operas remaining to be telecast. They previewed next year's schedule and there were quite a few that would be great to see on the big screen.

After the show we stopped by a new barbecue place in town that opened a few weeks ago and got dinner to go. The barbecue was good and there was enough left over to provide lunch for tomorrow.

I didn't ride outside today but ended up on the trainer due to the rain. Tomorrow may be more of the same but with daylight savings time starting at least we will have longer to ride after work if the weather permits.