I Got Some Culture

Friday night I went to my first ever opera, which was followed on Saturday night by my first ever ballet.

The opera, La Boheme, was performed by the English National Opera at the Coliseum. Jessie and I dressed up extremely fancy for the night and were pretty disappointed to find that the majority of the theatre-goers were simply wearing jeans to the opera. As we were leaving, we did, however, see one lady that was dressed up even more than the two of us in a gown and furs. We were pleased. Though originally in French, the opera was performed in English as all operas by this company are. Thinking I would understand it better, because I knew nothing about opera, I was originally excited by this aspect. I soon learned that opera's always hard to understand, except for when they're saying the most mundane things at which point you wish it was in another language so it didn't ruin the beauty of it all. Furthermore, the performance was subtitled so you were sure to catch everything that was being sung. While I loved the whole of it and am trying to find some more inexpensive opera to go to before leaving London, I think I would much prefer another language.

Jessie and I saw our ballet, Onegin, at the Royal Opera House, this time a little less fancy and accompanied by some of the girls from downstairs, Brittany, Megan, and Amy. Our seats were just a few rows from the very back of the building, in what they referred to as the ampitheatre, but we could still see everything really well. The ballet was absolutely beautiful as was the set. The dancers were obviously amazing and all of us were very much in awe of their ability. Megan and I might try to see a different ballet next month called Mayerling if we can find an available evening.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I loved both performances, not really expecting to love the opera or ballet, and I can't wait to find more to see before May arrives. I better hurry!