I shouldn't have said anything about the noises.

So I went to the opera last night. It was the Baltimore Opera production of Aida at the Lyric. Went up there as the result of a personals ad, if you must know. Unfortunately for the dating front, I don't think there was any spark there -- after seven hours (door to door) I think I'd know.

Anyway, we were sitting there as Act I got underway, and we both started to notice this low growling noise coming from a few seats to my right. Becky (my date) thought it was somebody snoring, but I suspect that the guy was attempting to clear his throat surreptitiously. The growling, you see, was interspersed with coughing. Unfortunately for everybody in the vicinity, the guy kept it up all night. (growl ... grooowwwwwlllll ... groooowwwwllll *cough* growl)

At least there were no gum poppers, like the ones two seats down, mother and daughter, when I saw Little Shop of Horrors off Broadway -- my god -- fifteen years ago.

The opera itself was mostly entertaining. It was a park 'n' bark staging, the sets were an odd mix of Olde Egypte and Opera Modern, and the body makeup was inconsistently applied, but the soloists were for the most part quite good. The only one I had a serious complaint with was the tenor (go figure¹) who sounded like he was either marking or singing from the wings. Nice voice, but it got lost whenever anybody else opened their mouths or the orchestra rose above mezzo-piano.

The other highlight of the evening was the decorations on the walls of the Lyric: composers' names such as GOVNOD and SCHVBERT. It took me a minute to resolve GOVNOD into the name of a composer with whom I was familiar, as by the time he was around the letter U was well established.

And Growling Man didn't ruin the night, so I guess I shouldn't complain.

 

 

 

 

1). Q: How many tenors does it take to change a lightbulb? A: Six. One to change the lightbulb, and five to stand around and say, "I could do that better than him."

(29 oct)