Thanks to a very generous friend who gave us some excellent tickets, off we went last night with C&A to experience the Canadian Opera Company’s production of Otello. This was quite an adventure for me. I know nothing whatever about Opera. It’s really outside my experience, and I wasn’t sure what to expect.
It was lots of fun. Sur-titles above the stage helped me out a lot, seeing as I know no Italian and aside from knowing the basic story, couldn’t understand what they were singing about. It’s a really complex production. There’s a full orchestra, complete with conductor and who knows how many people in the cast. At some points it seemed as if there were dozens of people on stage.
The whole business seems like a really formal way of telling a story. I think you need stories with big broad themes to make it work. Even though it’s an old form, sung in a language I can’t understand, I enjoyed the experience.
27th Street 
I use to go regularly to the opera. I loved it. It was also back in my student days when I got the student priced tickets.
When I first started going I would read all of the subtitles, but later I discovered that I preferred to read the story outline in the program, and then just sit back and enjoy the music & the theater.
I miss it.
Wonderful experience, isn’t it? And Four, I loved the three tenors..
I used to go to the opera a lot, back when I was in university and could get season’s tickets for next to nothing. I have never seen one with subtitle though. I don’t really think you need them to appreciate the story.
I’ve got a cd of ‘The Three Tenors’ but that’s not quite the same thing I suppose…;-)
Sub titles are useful, even if the performance is in a language you do know. The music can be rather ornate and the sub-titles can be helpful.
A friend and fellow blogger got me into opera recently. What a wonderful treasure trove too. Previously, my experience with opera had been very limited.
My taste in opera, like music in general, run to the Baroque and I have been listening/viewing DVD’s of Lully, Rameau, Handel and others for the last several months (posting info about most of them on my blog). I feel like I’ve fit a big piece of a puzzle into my overall interest in music, art, literature and history.