Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera

When I first moved to New York, I thought that going to the opera was what old, rich people do. I never had any interest in going because I tend to fall asleep during musicals and I don't understand Italian.

But then last year my bf took me to see Madame Butterfly at the Metropolitan Opera. Upon entering the Met, I was mesmerized by the sparkling chandeliers hanging from the high ceiling (and was surrounded by old, rich people). The riveting vocals and live orchestra music transcended language barriers to express a range of emotions. The wardrobes and stage set transported me to another time and place. I quickly grew to appreciate the opera.

In front of each seat is a screen that translates the song's words into English, Spanish and German. I read the synopsis of the opera before I watched the performance so I could focus on the stage. But it's pretty easy to follow along with the words on the screen since one short sentence in English takes 15 minutes to sing in Italian.

The latest opera we saw was Turandot. Like Madame Butterfly, it takes place in the "Orient" and a woman ends up killing herself over her love for a man. 

Operas tend to have very simple stories. I prefer to watch performances that move the story forward instead of people just standing around singing, but it seems like operas have a lot of the latter. And that's when I fall asleep. In Turandot, I couldn't wait for the second act to be over and then nodded off during the third act, only to wake up when the best song of the entire show came on (click on part 1:05 of the clip).

At the end of the show, the conductor came on stage. We sat in front to the left of him and were able to see his facial expressions and epileptic-like movements of his head, arms and body. I never appreciated a conductor's role until I saw up close how the conductor set the tempo of the orchestra and cued the performers to sing.

The cast of Turandot.