Opera

So, tonight, I went to the opera for the first time. Opera Theatre of St. Louis is an amazing experience. When you first get there, there's an enormous covered tent; tables set up for dining; folks enjoying lovely little picnic dinners; amidst a lovely garden of beautiful flowers.

It was magical. And that's not even the opera, as in singing part...

I don't think there's a bad seat in the house -- and what I saw tonight was "Flight," a contemporary production -- making it's American debut.

This is a brief review:

Flight is that rarest thing: a popular new comic opera with music that is instantly graspable and often beautiful. Optimistic yet poignant, it indulges sentimentality along with laughs. What matters is that Dove's music flies, the opera is fun, and people are going to love it.
-- The Evening Standard (London)

Well, it was very funny and the performers were incredible.

Add to that, the crowd that goes to the Opera is a really eclectic mix of rich white ladies, kooky older gentlemen in powder blue suits with bow-ties, and the regular assortment of power fags.

The best part of the night was a little girl prancing around in a Taffy Davenport outfit. She was an adorable bratty child and pranced around all night while the slender ladies with severe haircuts and big jewelry puffed on the cigarettes, their David Yurman bangles clinking and clanking. And then when it's all over, the cast mingles with the audience under the tents for drinks.

Just my kinda crowd.