Well, I made it to the opera after all. Bob and I stood around outside the opera house with our little sign that said “We need 2 tickets,” along with several other inhospitable-looking characters waving money, intent on re-selling whatever tickets they picked up. Just as the doors were closing, and perhaps because we weren’t wearing blankets like the rest of the people looking to buy tickets, a cute guy walked up to us, handed us two orchestra tickets and said, “My plans have changed, enjoy the show.” !! So we got in, free excellent seats to Handel’s Giulio Cesare. The opera had several counter-tenors, including David Daniels as Cesare, which was a bit jarring at first hearing that high-pitched voice coming out of that big hairy body. Ruth Ann Swenson played Cleopatra, and their pairing made a really hot combo, with all sorts of trills and flourishes. There were even two humpy bald buttboys who pawed at and slithered around Tolomeo, as Cleopatra speculated, while gesturing at the buttboys, that perhaps he’d be luckier at love than with politics–it was very San Francisco. The extreme ornamentation in the music was carried through in the set and costume design–a baroque version of Egypt. Okay, I’d better get to sleep. Nighty night.
Tales of Post-Twinkie Ennui