Tag Archives: theater

Opera!

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I think the most iconic experience I could have here in Vienna is going to the opera.  (One could argue that going to the ball or visiting a Christmas market might be pretty close, but I don’t think they rise to the level of the opera.)  It’s the thing I’m asked most about by friends back home, and, until this past spring, I had to constantly inform people that I hadn’t yet been.

This was often met with some level of incredulity — we’ve been here 4 years, how can we NOT have been to the opera (especially when most people make it their first priority when they come here)?!?  Well, it’s pretty simple.  The opera isn’t the most kid-friendly proposition, and we’ve opted to use our rare babysitter times on other things (like going to the ball).  Seriously, Dan and I probably go out on average twice a year without the kids — once for the ball, and once for our anniversary (though our first year, and this year, we didn’t go out for our anniversary at all, so maybe we don’t even quite average twice a year).  We really should have made it happen when Jo was here with us a few years ago, but we didn’t.  C’est la vie.

But I’ve finally been to the opera!  (Dan still hasn’t, though.)  This past March, a friend of mine had a birthday, and to celebrate, her husband bought her tickets for her and a friend to attend the opera.  I got to be that friend.

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I know next to nothing about opera.  I like music, and I like theater, so it doesn’t seem like much of a stretch that I’d enjoy opera, but I’ve never really been exposed to it, so it remained a big question mark in my life experience.  That said, there was no way I was going to miss out on a chance to experience it!  And, we were lucky enough to go see La Traviata, which is one of the most famous operas of all.  And, frankly, even if I didn’t enjoy the show, I figured it would be a worthwhile experience to get fancied up and enjoy an evening out with a friend, at least!

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It was great fun to have a reason to get dressed up, and we were so excited.  Just going inside the opera house and seeing the elaborate interior (the chandeliers!) was a treat.  It’s a beautiful building.  We had box seats, and just getting to find and explore the seating area was exciting, too.  We felt very fancy.

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917We wandered around a bit, enjoyed a pre-show glass of champagne, and got ready for some opera.

It wasn’t quite what I expected, but it was wonderful.  I expected something closer to musical theater, where there are songs and spoken words intermixed throughout, but that was not the case.  With the exception of about a half dozen spoken words, the entire production was sung.  There was a small screen in front of me that provided a translation, and though I referred to it often, I didn’t really need it to get the broad strokes of the story.

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Everyone was amazing.  My reaction was overwhelmingly, “Wow”.  The orchestra was fantastic, the actors/singers were stunning — at one point, the lead actress was lying on the floor, “dying”, and singing operatically in her full voice!  (How does THAT work????)  I thoroughly enjoyed the entire experience.

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I felt very fancy and grown up being at the opera.  And also very international — the performance was in Italian, set in Paris, and I was sitting in Vienna watching it.  It was a wonderful experience, and I’m so glad I got to do it.  And I got to check something else off of my “must-do” Vienna experience list.

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On with the show!

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For literally the first time in 5 1/2 years, last Saturday I had a true opportunity to sleep in.  I was in London, on my own, with no obligations and a schedule that didn’t kick in until around lunchtime.  But, of course, I DIDN’T sleep in … because I was on my own, with no obligations and a schedule that didn’t kick in until around lunchtime … and I had all of London to enjoy.

After getting up and surprising myself with how little time it required to get just myself ready and out the door, I got some breakfast and some coffee, and reintroduced myself to London’s Tube system, meeting several helpful Londoners along the way.  Navigating the Tube was much easier than I remembered (i.e., without a stroller), and I easily made my way to the first of the stops on my to-do list for the weekend — Sherlock’s house.

(It’s probably worth mentioning that I really like TV, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.  Most of my favorite TV comes from Britain, so there was more than one piece of this grand adventure that was initially inspired by British television.  More on that later.)

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My destination was, in particular, the place where they film the exterior of Sherlock’s residence in the current BBC incarnation of the story (not at the iconic 221B Baker Street, but instead nearby on Gower Street).  I wanted to see it in person after having watched it so many times on screen.  It was fun to be there.  It didn’t look quite the same (of course) and I got another visiting fan — a young woman who was so excited to be there that she said she thought she might cry — to take my picture.  Neat!  And then, it was back to Westminster for more typical touristy stuff.

060My next stop was to fulfill Benjamin’s request for some pictures with his own camera (which I brought along just for that) — primarily he wanted pictures of Big Ben.  I managed to get a few, plus some with my phone, and even managed a doubly impressive Big-Ben-and-red-double-decker-bus-in-the-same-picture shot.  If I was going to go away to London for the weekend, it was really the least I could do.

Shortly after my Benjamin-inspired photo shoot, Pam arrived and we set out together to explore the city.  We wandered to and through Parliament Square, and then over the Thames to the South Bank for a stroll.  We walked for quite a ways, along the South Bank and back across the river, through 045Trafalgar Square and over to Buckingham Palace, and then back through St. James’ Park (where we saw some very unseasonable looking Cherry Blossoms).  It was great fun to explore London with an old friend (Pam and I have known each other since we were 10 and 11, respectively).  It was amazing to me how much ground we were able to cover and how many hours we were able to walk — I’m used to my walking excursions being severely limited by the energy and patience of a 5 year old (while Liam, on the other hand, pretty much never tires of walking, but hiking is more to his liking).  After years of European exploration with the kids, I’m completely unused to a grown up sightseeing schedule.

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And then, in the evening, it was time to prepare for one of the main events of the weekend (and one of the initial motivations for the whole trip) — seeing Richard II at the Barbican Theater.  I’ll admit that my initial interest in the show came from having a bit of an embarrassing crush on its star (who I first watched on British TV), but even if my inspiration for going to see the play might have been a little silly, the experience of seeing it was decidedly not.

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To needlessly state the obvious, seeing Shakespeare done by the Royal Shakespeare Company in London is incredibly special.  I don’t think anything can emotionally manipulate an audience like Shakespeare brought to life by talented, experienced artists.  Everything from the sets to the lighting to the music was just perfect, and the level of skill displayed by every single one of the actors was impressive even to my ignorant eye.  I am so grateful to have had that experience.  It was a night to remember, and I will take any future opportunity to experience anything like it.  I’ve been completely won over.

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It was a great day.  I missed my family, but my desire to be with them didn’t ruin my time (nor did it inspire me to try to fly home early).  As Pam and I opted for an early night rather than going out after the show, it occurred to me that my concept of a good “girls’ weekend” has certainly changed a lot in the past decade, but I wouldn’t have changed a single thing about this day.

Richard II

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004Last Wednesday evening, Dan and I had a date night:  we went to see a play that was being performed live in England.  Luckily, we only had to go two U-Bahn stops to see it.  The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Richard II was filmed and broadcast, live, into movie theaters all over the world, and luckily enough, one was in Vienna.

I could claim purely cultured and scholarly interest motivated our desire to see the play, but truthfully, I have a massive crush on the lead actor, and Dan has likewise been a fan since first seeing him play Doctor Who a few years ago.  But although we may mostly have been motivated by general geekiness, we truly loved the experience (and did feel a bit more cultured as a result of having seen it).

It was amazing to see a performance like that, by such amazing actors.  Shakespeare is always impressive (done properly) but it can be hard to always get the whole understanding by just reading it.  Seeing it performed, by talented actors, run by experienced and well versed people, made it so easy to understand and become absorbed by.  It was captivating and moving, and thoroughly enjoyable.  What a treat to get to experience that, all the way from England, while here in Vienna.

I can only imagine, then, what a treat it will be to see it live!  In January, I’ll be traveling to London to see the show in person, along with one of my very best friends (but without Dan and the kids).  It will be my first “girls’ weekend” in a very, VERY long time, and I’m looking forward to it so much.  It also feels very grown up and sophisticated to being flying to London for the weekend to meet a girlfriend.  (Who does that?!?  Apparently, I do!)  I’m really looking forward to it (and I’m sure it will be fun to see the play again, too)!