Le Nozze - with Troy!

Well, my friends, here I am trying to catch my breath after a 3-weekend opera marathon!

Wow – that sounds pretty great, nes pas?
A three-weekend opera marathon.
I have to tell you, it was a lot of fun (and a lot of work, which it always is, but what work! interesting, fascinating, addictive work!!!).
Cosi in DC, Le Nozze in Baltimore… Two Mozart’s operas with Angela Gheorghiu’s recital in between. A critic’s dream come true, is it not?

You can read all about the Lyric's Le Nozze here, if you scroll just a couple of reviews up. However, just before you leave this page, please remember to come back for the details that I can't wait to share with you.

Le Nozze di Figaro: My sneaky pic of Act 2 set

Friday night was very special, primarily because Troy joined me in our good old Lyric.

Think about it this way: Troy has known and loved Non piu andrai, Voi che sapete, and Se vuol ballare, signor contino since his very early days, when he became a fan of Andre Rieu's talent and my own modest piano playing and singing skills.

And now, finally, here was a great chance for him to experience this opera first-hand and live, to hear it performed by real opera singers, on a real stage, in a real scenery, and from where else but Row H (aka Row 8) in the orchestra.

Troy’s father and I had made an arrangement that Troy would be picked up during the intermission. With all the previously mentioned super hits coming before the intermission, this would be as much of a night at the opera as a 3-year-old could ever enjoy without getting tired.

But of course, nothing at the opera ever happens without an adventure. Not to us anyway.

The will call volunteer got all shaken up at the sight of my 3-year-old son, patiently standing next to me in the lobby. A 3-year old in the opera house – SOS! Run for your life!

Having watched him fussing around the tickets, asking other volunteers if a child was allowed in the opera and finally asking for my ID, I knew I had waited long enough. It was time to play my ace card. So instead of handing my driver’s license over to him, I produced the Bachtrack ticket confirmation and said quite firmly: “ Sir, I am a press rep. Here is the confirmation for 2 tickets. Would you give me my tickets please”. And, trust me, there was not much question in that question.
The rest of the story is quite banal, hence not entertaining. Guilty smiles, apologies, a lot of mumbling about not knowing if the child was allowed blah-blah-blah, and finally – the tickets.

Mission accomplished. Whew… Can't wait till Troy looks mature enough for people to stop doubting his love of music due to his age. For goodness sake, what does age have to do with it?

But then there we were, in the Lyric, which looked just beautiful as I remembered it.

It was lovely. And by “it” I mainly mean Troy’s delight and excitement of being in a real big opera house. He could not stop looking up at the chandeliers, tiers, balconies, all the beautifully dressed people and of course, the stage with its delightfully traditional scenery. And of course, with typical for his age eagerness to ask questions, before the lights went down he managed to ask “Where is Figaro?” only 10 times.

However, as soon as the performance started, he paid undivided attention to everything that was happening on stage and never made one sound, except for clapping his hands and screaming “Bravo” two or three times in a row after almost every aria and duet.

He was very sad to leave. He wanted to stay and listen, but bedtime is sacred for 3-year-old opera lovers, is it not?
Besides, incredibly beautiful as it is, Le Nozze is not a short opera and lasts a lot longer than a 3-year-old can take at once.

Saturday morning Troy shocked his classmates’ parents and his teacher with an as a matter-of-fact comment “I saw Figaro!”
His teacher was particularly impressed with the fact that Troy had seen the whole two acts of Le Nozze and loved it.

Having heard it live, Troy is even more hooked on Non piu andrai and starts his morning with marching across the living room, singing it with self-made words, while pretending to play the violin on a violin-shaped box of Mozart bonbons.

He still shares his impressions of the opera:
“They played Mozart, they played a lot of music. French horns. Violins. Double bass. Everything was blue. And orange. Yes, blue and orange. And there were many doors. The girl sang and then she opened the door and she went away. And then the boy sang too. He was sitting in a biiiiig chair. How did he sing – how? [ I hum Voi che sapete] and Figaro was marching like this and he sang like this [ here comes Troy’s personal presentation of Non piu andrai].

In short, it was wonderful. It was worth it. It was memorable.