A Day at the Opera

Rebecca and I went to the opera this afternoon, and I may say that we behaved much more decorously than Groucho and Harpo did at their Night at the Opera, but we still had a lot of fun. We usually go to a favorite Thai restaurant either before or after the opera, but this time we were a bit later than usual, so we went to a nearer by Chinese vegan restaurant. As soon as we stepped in, I realized that the room was heavily perfumed, and I initially feared that I would have to sneeze all through our meal. But, thanks be to heaven, that didn’t happen. As we were discussing the menu, I pointed out that there were a lot of eccentrics eating there. These included a serious young (sort of) man with a much older woman, probably his mother, or maybe even his grandma. He had on a quite the flashy outfit as you can see, but the overall look was pleasing. Rebecca took some pictures with her telephone, at my request, as it was less obvious than with a camera. I think she was not as enthusiastic about taking pictures as I was. There was an older woman eating by herself, and she too had a definite air of eccentricity about her. Rebecca took her picture and when we looked at it, we realized that we fit into that odd crowd very nicely. Normally I would not post such an ugly picture of myself, but this one has charm in its ugliness. Rebecca put it on her Fuzzyshot, and someone immediately posted the comment, “Senior Sunday.” That was funny too.
The opera was “The Pearl Fishers.” I had seen it before many years ago, and then thought it was kind of boring. This time, however, it was fabulous. The music was delightful, the soprano’s singing was pure and true. It even had underwater scenes with people swimming about – much like Peter Pan did, except that Peter was in the air and these folks were under water, theoretically, at least. This opera, like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, was yet another example of the serious disadvantages of, and the trouble caused by being too beautiful. The men go wild and cause all sorts of havoc.