So La Traviata was fun. Tragic, but fun. I sat next to two very nice people, a singer and a writer. The singer had been in a production of this show, and she had all sorts of enlightening things to say about the volume of the orchestra, the costuming of Flora (the character she had played), and the history of the dress she was wearing (it was a costume she had worn in a recent production of Kiss Me, Kate - apparently the book is much better than the movie). The writer agreed with me that opera is opera is opera - we liked the costumes and the singing (wow, the lead has an amazing voice) and the part where the Marquis was getting spanked and the Spanish dancers were doing their thing.

I can't say that I Love Opera. But I do Like It A Whole Lot. I have to admit that when they are singing away, and there's no translation up on the translation boards, my mind wanders. I think if they'd been translating the last 15 minutes of the show, I might have cried, as was expected, apparently. Instead, I was thinking about who was coming over tonight and how much cleaning I really need to do to make the place presentable.

Where can I get a good pair of binoculars?