I have always wanted
to go to the opera, perhaps something to do with the movie Pretty Woman and my
obsession with the actress Julia Roberts when I was younger, or merely it has something to do
with my involvement in Theater and wanting to see another type of stage
performance. Either way, Guillaume made my dreams come true and bought me
tickets for my birthday. What a sweetheart!!
So, last night we went to
the Opera, Cosí fan tutte which was
written in 1790 by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart and Lorenzo de Ponte. We had no idea
what the opera was going to be about until we got there, and there weren’t any
reviews yet, because Guillaume had to buy the tickets before it was even
showing, because the opera sells out quick. (Who knew! lol)
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| This is how I felt all night. Sharp, Classy, Sexy. |
But first, I needed a
dress. I got off work early, the day before we were going, so I finally had
time to stop by a dress shop I’d seen in our neighborhood. The parallels between Pretty Woman and my
dress hunt started out very similarly. Apparently my jeans, greasy hair from
working all day, and worn down boots made the lady dismiss me as an actual
client, but either way she made me feel unwelcome.
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| At least Julia Robert's hair was clean... |
I had two dresses in my
arms, and after the other client left and I was the only one in the shop, I asked her
to help me as I was going to an Opera and didn’t know my dress size. She played
with the radio for about 4-5 minutes until settling on the least scratchy
channel and came over to me. Looked at the dresses I'd selected and asked when the “party”
was.
“It’s tomorrow.”
The look on her face
was enough to know that she thought I was impossible. Oh, but I don’t think our
seamstress will have time to make the necessary alterations on the dress that
quickly, this is impossible. I replied that I hadn’t thought of this, as I’ve
never had to have alterations done except for bridesmaid’s dresses
for weddings. This is mostly due to my motto while shopping, if they don’t have
my size, I’m not meant to have it. I looked at her and asked, well what if the
dress fits? She looked flabbergasted, well it’s very difficult to find a
perfect dress; there is always a little alteration that needs to be done.
“I’ll go to some other
shop then.”
She was shocked at my
response again and as she hung up the dresses in the changing room stated
firmly that it wasn’t about it being the shop, but that any shop would say the
same thing.
“Am I not allowed to
try the dresses on then?”
“Well, yes, but…”
I almost walked out of
the store just then, but I have a fighting spirit. I stepped into the dressing
room, and picked the first dress, once again almost deciding not to even try it
on and just go to another store, but I really liked the dress and just had to see if it fit.
I stepped out. She
zipped me up. Perfect fit.
“Wow, that looks great
on you, let me get you a waist sash for the middle.”
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| The dress is amazing, I love it!!! (in your face shop lady!) |
Oh, now you want to be helpful… I decided not to try on the other dress as it
was clearly too long for me, and would need alterations. How much is it? She didn’t
know, we needed to go next door to the actual boutique (apparently this was not
a different dress shop, rather the outlet. Good news, that meant the dress was
50-70% off). We went next door, and the owner, Tony, was on the phone. So I
started to look around and found two more dresses I wanted to try on. Luckily
the woman had to go back to the store next door to help other customers and I
was left with a very helpful man who was all but interested in the new freckly
customer. NOW, they take me seriously.
Ridiculous.
I tried on the other
dresses and liked another one and it was yet ANOTHER perfect fit. Great, now I have to make a decision on
which one I want, and here that lady
thought I wouldn’t find any dress that fit! Tony seemed to take a liking to
me and told me he’d give me a “precio especial”, which really just meant that
he gave me a good deal on the second dress if I bought them both. So, I ended
up with a lovely dress for the opera and a dress for one or all of the
many future weddings of our friends and families coming up in 2014.
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| Me trying on the dress at the store. |
The evil woman from
next door returned as I was checking out, and said that I was extremely lucky
to have found not one but TWO dresses. I just smiled and said, well, if I hadn’t
have found one, I would have just worn one I already had. She just kind of
smirked, as if she would never have done such a thing. If I like a dress, you
better be damn sure that I’m going to wear it again and again and again. I don’t
care if there are already pictures on facebook of me in that dress. It looks
good, so “Imma wear it!”
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| I really wanted to do this... |
The next day came quickly and
I got ready, nails, hair, makeup, the whole 9 yards - which most of you know,
is something I only do for very special occasions, or when I just randomly feel
like spending 2 hours to look fabulous once or twice a year. Guillaume pulled
out his nice suit and ties and was ready in about 20 minutes, shower and all. Boys are so lucky!
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| Nice and Sharp before the show |
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| All ready!! |
We took a taxi to the
Teatro Real de Madrid, which is the great Opera House that was built in 1850 in
Madrid and has been putting on Opera’s, Ballets and plays every since. This is
also the Theatre that Cari, Vivian and I went to last year for the Cuban
Ballet.
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| Teatro Real de Madrid: Opera House |
A nice man outside took our photo in front of the theater before we headed inside. As we found our seats,
I felt even more like Julia Roberts in her bright red gown. Everyone is looking
at me, I look ridiculous, they know I’m not supposed to be here, everyone is
more casual than me, what if I don’t like it... and more thoughts that Katrina and Karen assured me were ridiculous via text.
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| Ready for the Opera!! |
To add to these
emotions and the parallels between the 90s hit, we sat in a “Palco” or a
private theater box with four other people on the first floor of the theater.
It was fantastic. We could see the main floor where at least a few hundred
people were piling in, the director of the full orchestra (with TWO oboes), all
but a small corner of the stage hidden by the elegant velvet railing of our
private section, and I felt like a princess (except that I wasn’t sitting in
the Kings private theater box).
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| Theater Box 6. Our "Palco"!!!! |
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| Even the signs are fancy. |
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| Us in our seats! |
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| View of the theater from our seats. So beautiful. |
The opera itself was in
Italian, and there were a selection of screens that displayed subtitles in Spanish
and in English, as well as a screen on the balcony level three or four floors
above us that displayed a close up of the actors while they were singing.
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| Our tickets to verify we weren't dreaming and we were indeed in this theater box! |
I caught a few words
in Italian when they were singing songs that reiterated the theme of the
previously sung conversation, and followed the plot through subtitles. It was
nice, because singing takes longer than reading, so you could quickly read the
subtitles, then return to watching the opera and listen to the orchestra play.
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| Dorabella and Ferrando, Don Alfonso, Guglielmo and Fiordiligi, and the maid in the back, Despina |
The plot itself was
very misogynistic presenting two couples and an old jaded man who bet the men
that their lovers would betray them, proving that women’s loyalty is like the
wind. The men, being extremely arrogant, not necessarily counting on their
lover’s pure love, but betting on the fact that they believed themselves to be
of the most noble, wealthy and charming men out there, agreed to deceive their
lovers to test their loyalty.
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| The conniving old man and the arrogant young men |
I must admit now, that
I was rooting for the women the whole time. Hoping that they would recognize
their lovers in disguise and play a mean trick on the deserving idiots, but we
have to remember this opera was written in the late 18th century, by a man, and that there would be no strong, intelligent, independent women in this opera. Other
than the maid who in my opinion was a terrible skank and I can’t believe she
sided with the old man for gold and lead the women astray - THEY TRUSTED HER.
Oh, I could write a novel on how much that character irked me at the core.
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| The conniving maid who sold her girls out for a gold chain... |
In the end, everything
went as the maid and old man wanted, and the lovers were increasingly cocky.
Although, the hilarious point of the story is that the women chose each other’s
lovers in their secret admirers, which really bothered the men, obviously. I
rather enjoyed this part of the opera because the men were secretly shocked and
outraged, and thought they had been discovered, but actually the women were
just “being women” according to the author. (The author
even had the audacity to have the women sing “what do you expect, we’re just
women” as part of an explanation for their unfaithful actions).
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| Fiordiligi, one of the main characters, singing about her confused passionate feelings for her lover |
In the end, the
solution was marriage, and the men were advised by the old man to just marry
these two ladies because they still loved them, and to be honest, no other
woman would be any different anyway, so there was no point in searching with
jaded eyes for new lovers. SAY WHAT!??!
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| Their practically forced marriage with the "opposite" men, before the real identity was revealed. |
I wish I could say
that this opera no longer had real meaning in the 21st century, three
centuries after being written, but unfortunately it holds a sad truth for many
people even in our society today. Although, I think many things have changed,
and the ending would be quite different, some still believe this thought
process to be true, and for some it is.
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| Needless to say, the giant love quadrilateral made everyone unhappy. |
We couldn’t help but wonder
how the women in the opera feel about playing their parts in this extremely misogynistic
opera each day. Do they accept it as an old-fashioned opera and merely jump into
character as they sing their lines? Or do they wish to re-write the opera and
represent a more modern view of women as I do?
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| Dorabella and Fiordiligi |
Even though the
storyline really bothered me and I was disappointed in all of the character’s
actions, the actors did an amazing job and god they could sing. I wonder if I
would have enjoyed the opera more had I not read the subtitles, although, it
was quite obvious what the opera was about. The orchestra was phenomenal and the
music was written very well.
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| Orchestra section and curtain call |
The only bizarre thing about the entire opera was
the choice of costumes for the characters. There were characters in clothing
from the time period the opera was written, including the old man and maid and
half of the extras, and there were characters dressed in modern-day outfits,
including the main couples and the other half of the extras. I wonder if this
is to show that the old man’s thoughts are “old fashioned” or that the opera holds a “truth” even in modern-day society? Either way the emotions, acting and
music were magnificent.
I encourage everyone
to see a classic opera at least once in their lifetime. It was an experience I
really never will forget.
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| Merci beaucoup Mon Cheri!!! |
Until next time,
Raelynne
