A Night At the Tulsa Opera with Don Giovanni

Hello, my blog friends! Sorry for my delay in blogging. I've got lots of fun and exciting things to fill you in on. Hopefully we can do that this week. (-:

Karlie and I took a trip to our local performing arts center this weekend to see the final dress rehearsal of Mozart's Don Giovanni. Karlie had never been to an opera before, and had no idea what to expect, and I realized there were probably lots of people who have never been and may be in the same boat.

So, I thought I'd fill you guys in on some insider opera information AND tell you how AWESOME the show was, so you can go see it, too. (-:

The show was absolutely fantastic. Now, I know you might think I'm partial, but seriously. It was great. It was very entertaining. It's a story about a villain, Don Giovanni, who masquerades around causing women to fall in love with him and then leaving them behind and putting their names in a book of women he has conquested (yeah, pretty terrible!). He has a servant named Leporello who  definitely stole the show - he was hilarious. He realized his master was a scoundrel, and repeatedly told the audience. There was romance,  murder, revenge, and humor, all in one show. The singers were great and I really thought the lighting and staging was really awesome. There were some really cool visual effects that  made the show that much better.

So now that you know the show is worth seeing, let me clarify some things about opera. (-:

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about opera. First of all, there are some people who think that you can't understand what is going on when the operas are in another language. Secret number one: There are subtitles. So, if the opera is Italian, there are English words on a screen above the stage so you can understand everything they are saying. Makes it much more enjoyable, eh?

The second secret is that you do NOT have to wear a fur coat, or even high heels, for that matter. People dress in all ways to see the opera. Some people in Tulsa will even wear nice jeans and a nice top. You will have a huge range of clothing at an opera, so if you want to get all fancied up, go for it, but if you don't feel like it, throw on some nice jeans and you're good to go. (-:

Another big secret is that the singers and instrumentalists aren't using mics. It's pretty stinkin' impressive that their voices alone can fill up a large concert hall!

Also, at least in Tulsa, you can get tickets for as little as $10.00 - about the same as a movie. So it's a pretty fabulous date idea. I will say, operas are generally about three hours in length, including an intermission, so just make sure you know you're gonna be there a while. I think this one is around 2:45 in length.

Me and Karlie had a great time, lots of laughing, and some beautiful music. So now you should go to the show as well! Go to www.tulsaopera.com for tickets and enjoy some culture. (-: It opens tonight and then there are two performances next weekend as well.

Happy Saturday!

~Kathryn