A Night At The Opera

Well, this was a first - going to see an opera. Mrs C had grown up in a household where her mother used to regularly play opera records, but never took her to see one. My knowledge was pretty much limited to “Nessun Dorma”. We spotted last October that a production of La Boheme was being staged in Carlisle in February, but didn’t really do anything about it until I received an email a couple of weeks ago offering discounted tickets. Some decent seats still available, so tickets duly booked.
It was obviously sung in Italian, but English subtitles were displayed above the stage. I found they helped with the story but Mrs C felt it might spoil the experience. Didn’t stop her sneaking a look at them though, as she admitted afterwards. As far as the story was concerned, I was a bit underwhelmed. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, girl dies of consumption after a last minute reconciliation just about sums it up. But as a show, I really enjoyed it. Some fine singing and an excellent orchestra. I even enjoyed watching the scene changes as these took place in silence whilst the orchestra sat there doing nothing. This looked quite unusual to my eyes, but that might be because the company and orchestra were mostly Ukrainian.
Which meant that for me - and I suspect most of the audience - the most emotional part of the evening was after the curtain calls, when the orchestra struck up the Ukraine national anthem. As one, the audience rose to their feet and stood in silence whilst the cast sang at the tops of their voices. A few flags even appeared in the audience to match those on stage. Not unsurprisingly, the applause at the end was long and heartfelt. And a nice message on the subtitle screen.
So, the sixty four thousand dollar question is “would I go to see another opera?” Short answer, yes. But I’d like to see that opera in a proper theatre. Sands Centre in Carlisle is an ok venue for bands, but the acoustics of a converted sports hall do not lend themselves to un-miced performers competing against a full orchestra - some of the arias did feel a little “lost” at times. I shall keep an eye on the listings for either the Lancaster or Blackpool Grand Theatres…