This is Opera.... Now don't be scared.....

Last night Louise and I went to the Ellie Caulkins Opera house, part of one of the largest performing arts centers in the country.... It was awesome.

We went to go see "The Tales of Hoffman..." which according to opera Colorado is "the fantasy of a poet obsessed with four remarkable women - and the four villains bent on his destruction." So Louise and I got all dressed up, in high heels, dresses and fake eyelashes ready for a night on the town. After about an hour we both emerged from our powder rooms, and were ready for dinner and to hit the road. Ryan made us sit down at the table for dinner and brought us our food and drinks, because he said we looked so nice he felt like he needed to wait on us... We didn't object... =). We finished eating, took some pictures, and hit the road.

When we arrived at the opera we discovered that it was half price ticket night, so we got really good seats and then went inside for the lecture before the show. We weren't sure if we wanted to go to the lecture but we ended up being very glad that we did because if we hadn't the show wouldn't have made any sense....


Hoffman was a contemporary of Jane Austen, but his works were very different from Austen' "Pride and Prejudice". His works were psychological, dark, surrealist tales that would later inspire the likes of Edgar Allen Poe. The show was very good. It had a golden muse that came to life and followed Hoffman around begging him to forget about women and go back to the poetry that was his true love. But instead of heeding the muse's words, Hoffman during the course of the opera fell in love with an absurd Robot that gets her head broken off, a poor girl who sings herself to death, and a crazy woman at the end who Louise and I didn't get. For some reason she was dressed as a seahorse and was supposed to be able to steal men's souls, but she just stood around on stage making out with some creepy puppet. I still don't really know what happened in that act. All Louise and I could think of was "Creepy puppet, creepy puppet, sea horse, creepy puppet, sea horse, sea horse...."

When we got home and started telling Ryan about it he thought we were making it all up "OK so he falls in love with a robot and there is a golden woman walking around on stage with a giant sea horse that's kissing a puppet... what happens next, they all start flying just before the zombies attack?"


I love the opera. I love getting all dressed up and seeing all the girls in pretty dresses and the guys in tuxedos. I love the sounds of the music and the costumes and the orchestra! When I grow up I want to be an opera singer. I told Louise that and she said that I was no where near fat enough. Maybe if we put the three of us together we could be an opera singer she said.

What do opera singers do when they are not singing opera? I mean I know they have regular lives too but what happens if someone doesn't know that they are an opera singer and like invites them to a Christmas caroling party? Do they go up front and belt out "Silent Night" in Italian? Or do the stand in the back and intentionally sing "Jingle Bells" badly so as not to make all the Joe Schmos feel bad? These are the thoughts running around my head for the whole opera.

It was an amazing night and I hope to go back soon...