One opera down...

I was looking forward to seeing Oklahoma City University's production of "The Ballad of Baby Doe" as my first exposure to opera. I don't have any other opera experience to compare it to, but I think the performers did a really good job even with my limited knowledge of such matters. But. You knew there was a but coming, didn't you? But I'm not sure that opera is for me. Even though it was in English, I am glad they were projecting the words above the stage because I probably would have missed a lot of important stuff otherwise. It was kinda like watching live TV with subtitles! But that was just about the most exciting part, sadly.

Don't get me wrong, my nephew Christopher was fabulous in his role as one of the Washington Dandies. My favorite parts were when he was on the stage. But he wasn't out there all that much and the production lasted about three hours. At the end it was almost painful to watch the lead male die onstage. I wanted to stand up and yell, "DIE ALREADY!" but I didn't. It is good to expose myself to this kind of culture. However, my Dad has said that he is done with opera and won't ever see another. I won't go quite that far. But next time I might want to see an Italian opera. It might be better when you can't understand the words.

Here are some pictures from backstage of Christopher looking all used-car-salesman or rough-and-tumble-cowboy in his costumes. I sent my camera with him so I would have some good shots of him in costume. However, I didn't request that they not take these pictures in the bathroom. Live and learn.

Here's another picture of Christopher playing uncle with his nephew (my great nephew) Caden this morning at IHOP where we all (13 of us) met for breakfast. You can still see the rash he's gotten from wearing that weird mustache.