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Another Opera

Friday night, my pal Cyndee and I went to see another opera, this one being "Cosi Fan Tutte", by Mozart. I had very high hopes that I'd love it as much as I did "The Pearlfishers". For one thing, it's Mozart, who of all the classical composers, I think is the most accessible and easy to listen to. For another thing, this was a comedy, and had gotten very good reviews.

 Alas, so much for that. We both thought it was ok, but nothing to sneeze at. The story consists of two guys, who are dating two girls that they think are just the bomb. As they're rhapsodizing in the cafe about their fabulous girlfriends, one of their guy friends begs to differ, going on about how faithless women are. An argument ensues, and they agree to settle it with a bet. Guy friend bets that he can get their girls to give up on them in the course of 24 hours. He does this by making the girls think the guys have been sent off to war, and then bringing the guys back in ridiculous disguise, and getting the girls to fall in love with the "new" guys. And their efforts at deception end up working. But it's all the girls's fault. It's not the fault of the guys who end up pressuring and tempting them.

 Anyhoo, it definitely had its funny moments, and the production design and costumes were great. The music and the performances were fantastic. But it was LONG - it went on and on and on, and the plot just left a bad taste in my mouth. Call me a party pooper, but I guess I just don't find deception and taking advantage of people all that funny.

 Did this turn me off of opera altogether? Probably not. I'll keep giving it a try. There's some cool shows coming next year, so hopefully one of those will go down better.

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