I did recognize the soldiers’ clothing and some of the decorations on stage, but Goya gives me a much gloomier and darker feeling than this particular production of Il Trovatore. Verdi is stunning though, and I got my doze of chills down the spine from the music.

In case somebody likes reading boring reviews in a newspaper, here is NYT on this production. I actually recommend going to that page and listening to Dolora Zajick. I am an uncultured peasant and normally don’t really care for any kind of female opera voices. Yet, I was mesmerized by this “true dramatic Verdi mezzo-soprano“, and her performance more than matched.

Lastly, as I sat down, I had a flashback to this piece by Mary Cassatt. I love Cassatt’s idea of having an impecable front for display, yet remaining “an other.”

Just like the woman depicted in the paining, I did lots of double-edged people  watching: endlessly beautiful hedgefund wives, old men with bright scarves in a breastpocket, old women with “perfect hair” and inch-thick gold chains, sophisticated talk in German, French, Russian, etc… I saw many people coursing amongst expensive orchestra seats, “Oh hello, so wonderful to see you!” Looks like opera remains what it has always been – a social event, participation in the fancy ways of the higher society.