This Summer’s Opera Report

Madame Butterfly

Unlike last year, this summer we did not purchase season tickets to the Cincinnati Opera. Not because we didn’t want to go to the opera or anything, but since opera season is during the summer, and since the baby might be presenting his/herself right smack during the opera season, we decided to play it by ear. As it was, I had to convince Vin that if we went to the opera in June, we would STILL make it to the hospital if I went into labor. 😉

We went to see Madame Butterfly in mid-June. It was gorgeous, and beautifully performed, and at the end I cried and cried (of course). No sign of labor. 😛 We had seen a performance of it with Mei and Colin in England (community theater version) and so we were familiar with the story and the music. But this performance, done by professionals, really was extremely moving (plus it was sung in the original Italian instead of having a libretto in English). Both Cio-cio San and Suzuki were performed by Asian women (Cio-cio San by a Chinese woman, and Suzuki by a Japanese woman), and they were really good. I think I would still have been crying crazy tears at the end even without the pregnancy hormones, but I totally soaked through Vin’s hanky by the time the performers were taking their curtain calls given my currently crazy hormonal state.

I wanted to go and see Lucie de Lammermoor (in French, not the customary Italian Lucia di Lammermoor) because the soprano singing Lucie was a woman we’d seen last year – she stole the show in last year’s production of A Masked Ball.

Lucie de Lammermoor

But in the end, things were happening at work which kind of killed the mood so I didn’t push the issue with Vin. So, so far this summer, only one opera. But it sure was a good one! 🙂

*Note – the graphics were borrowed from the Cincinnati Opera website. I always love their artwork!!