Last night I had my first ever opera experience. Although I generally enjoy live music and performance I wasn't 100% if I would like opera, even with the excellent introduction to the operatic world I got from a bonafide opera singer. I mean, all that warbling and melodrama. Maybe it would be a bit OTT for me?
But then I remembered that I love stuff that's OTT. And opera, or at least this one, has it all. Gorgeous ladies in gorgeous costumes, an impressive set bedecked with chandaliers, protestations of love, sacrifice, longing, mortality, familial squabbles... there's even a guy dressed as a matador at one point. And amazing voices joined together in song. Wow.
And even with the "please don't leave me!" and "oh, I'm dying of consumption!" histrionics, it was still very moving. I was surprised by that, but shouldn't have been, because in addition to the singing there is actual acting that goes on too, and I got rather pleasantly swept up in it all.
La Traviata means "The fallen woman" and the plot revolves around Violetta, a French courtesan, a party girl who after resisting for a time, realises that actually the party can't go on forever. She moves with her lover, Alfredo, to the country and everything's rosy (literally, the set was covered in roses at this point)...until it's not. There is heartbreak and anger, shame, and remorse - basically every terrible break-up you've ever had.
Verdi's opera is based on the play The Lady of the Camellias which was itself adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas fils (the son of the Alexandre Dumas who wrote The Three Musketeers). Also known as Camille in the English speaking world, it has been adapted numerous times on stage and film, including a 1984 movie starring Greta Scacchi, Ben Kingsley and Colin Firth. It's certainly a story that has legs (and some rather annoying gender politics but sometimes you just have to note these things, wish they were otherwise, and move on).
My takeaways from the evening were -
- I'm a sucker for love stories
- I didn't fully appreciate just what a properly trained human voice was capable of. Crikey!
- I really need a spangled gold bolero jacket
More for fans of La Traviata
- About NZ Opera’s La Traviata
- Buy tickets to La Traviata
- Listen online to La Traviata
- Read The Lady of the Camellias by Alexandre Dumas fils
- Titles about Giuseppe Verdi's life and work
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