Porgy and Bess - my first opera!

Last night J and I went to see Porgy and Bess. It's an opera that is part opera....part jazz...and very different from the typical opera with big white wigs, fat ladies, and a whole log of boredom. It's set in the 1940s in a poor neighborhood and is a story about a crippled man, a drunken slut (not really, but she was in the begining) and her lover that was also a drunk and abusive. The drunk lover leaves, the cripple shows his love for her, she's with him. Then the drunk comes back, tries to steal her away, big fight in the end.

It was really great. Our seats were 6 rows back, almost center stage. I was worried that I'd get bored, but it was awesome. The vocals of all the cast members was amazing. And, for times when you couldn't understand them - there was supertitles that ran above the stage (that was pretty cool.) During intermission I asked J what he thought - and he was enjoying it too. I don't think he was paying attention to the supertitles though ~ he said he couldn't understand part of what they were saying/singing, but got the overall point with the acting. I guess that's what it would have been like if the opera were in Italian. You just have to get the feeling from what the actors are doing onstage, and also feeling the emotion they give when they sing.

I liked it. I'm glad we went. The audience was a mix of casualware, business ware, and then dressy. We went the dressy route. I mean, when else will I get to wear my nice dresses? Only when I go on cruises? Nah.