Last night I paid a whopping $20 to see the Met Opera perform "Macbeth." They place the standing room tickets behind the orchestra section, but the overhang really kills your view. Not to mention standing kills your ankles. In addition, they rope you in once the lights go down like your going on a thrill ride and you must have all arms and legs inside the standing room only invisible box. However, none of this became an issue for me since when the lights went down I dashed over to an open seat in the orchestra as the usher turned her back. :) The many joys of being a single New York girl. No baggage.

"Harpier cries, 'Tis Time 'Tis Time"

Act I, Sc. 1 of the show which was 20-ish minutes was SOOOO boring. They really took their time warming up. The entire town were apparently witches and they were the happiest freakin' witches ever. They personified Christmas Carolers versus prophesy orators. I know Macbeth calls them "weird women" but come on! They did not belong in this play. It was just...odd. At this point, I was seriously considering leaving at intermission. Then came in the gorgeous Maria Guleghina who played a very clever, infectious Lady Macbeth. The growth in her story was surreal. She gave me chills. A powerhouse and a brilliant actress. The other two powerhouse storytellers were John Relyea and Dimitri Pittas, Banquo and Macduff, respectively and to their advantage they were also both really hot. Sorry had to digress a bit. Ok...Zeljko Lucic, playing the title role of Macbeth, was for the most part incredibly dis-connected for the rest of the cast. I enjoyed him somewhat with Lady Macbeth, but she was sharing him in the scene. The only part of his performance I enjoyed and this sent chills up my spine was his solo purely left alone on-stage during the "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" speech when he realizes how tedious life is and it's all for nothing. That was a really beautiful moment. My ultimately favorite part of the play was in the banquet scene when Lady Macbeth broke out into a drinking song. That was a very interesting choice!

Verdi's music overall was gorgeous but some of the spots with the witches became through the music and their characterizations almost cartoonish. I actually laughed outloud when Lady M. took the daggers from the chamber once MacB did the deed because their duet turned into a sprightly jig. Yes, let's kill the king and then bust out what sounded like a musical theater number from "Brigadoon." That's what I call dancing on someone's grave. It was funny.

The setting was a very modern underground. Between the sets, costumes and high tech supernatural lighting effects, I felt like I was walking into a world of Mad Max. But the baseness of it worked I believed. Some of the nice people that paid $300 a ticket were disappointed they didn't pull out the big fancy traditional costumes but you know, the darkness and absurdity of it seemed to read well.

The fights. I know. I know, I didn't go to the opera for the fights but I do have a real thing about using guns on-stage. Not a big fan personally. However, if your gun is a prop BY GOD do not use it as a staff. If it's loaded, shoot someone. Preferably your castmates using the gun as a staff. Seriously??? I don't think I blinked in the timespan this fight was happening.

In any event, this was the best 3 hours I spent on Friday night. The 2 hours after that wasn't so shabby getting knockered with my recent cast members. I always forget with opera. They took like a 20 minute bow. The ensemble came out, then each of the leads (Lady M took 3 bows), then the conductor, then the conductor with the leads. People were still clapping so the leads started popping out of queue and taking additional individual bows. Is it as long as there is clapping, the performers can't leave the stage? But isn't it that when the performers are on the stage you should clap for them until they leave? I don't know. Once they started popping out of line and Lady Mac milked it with a FOURTH bow, I bolted for a much needed cocktail. :)