I saw the back of Placido Domingo's head!

I went to Madame Butterfly at the Met last night. Not my first opera, but my first opera at the Met and my first time with this particular opera. My goodness, that was amazing.

( Well, that's what you get for marrying a 15 year old, jackass )

The one real problem with going to the opera is that it's loooong. I mean, I didn't mind at the time--comfy seats, engrossing performance. But it meant I didn't get home until almost 12:30 last night. Where I discovered that Chuckro, on autopilot, had put the chain on the door and I was locked out. He didn't hear me knocking. I finally had to call him on the phone from the hallway. He punished himself for that one--I only had to wait an extra minute. He was the one who had to wake up in the middle of the night to let me in.

Fall Culture run down

So I may have overbooked myself slightly in the culture department this fall. But last night's performance finally cleared out the last of it.

Here's what I've managed to see in the last three months:

Swan Lake - The New York City Ballet did a lovely job with the classic, although there certainly wasn't anything surprising. Still, beautiful and moving.

Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenco - Flamenco is an impressive and impressively angry dance style. Got a little repetitive.

Voca People - A cappella group pretends to be aliens. Cute fluff, kinda pitchy. In some places, they didn't have enough people to fill out the chord and I disagreed with which notes they chose to cut.

Bacchae - Deeply problematic modern dance. Individual bits were technically impressive, but the soundscape was grating and the minimalism was so minimalist you really couldn't figure out what was going on. Ivy03 and I individually disagreed with who was playing Dionysus, which kind of indicates how confusing this was. I fell asleep for a minute or two of the climax and apparently missed nothing.

Suor Angelica - Concert version of the one act opera. Very well done vocally, although I wish some of the singers had emoted a little more.

Koyaanisqatsi - The Philharmonic's take on Philip Glass' minimalist masterpiece (including movie) was one of the more thought-provoking classical music performances I've seen in years. Fascinating.

Madame Butterfly - The Met's current production is lavish and lush, just as over-the-top opera should be. Pinkerton's a little weak, Butterfly is a delicate powerhouse.

So. I just need to sort out a bunch of stuff in my life and then we can see about spring. Oy.

Edited to add: And Sleep No More! How did I forget that one? That was the coolest thing I did all fall!