|
(Post 1/4)
Post 1 of a lot for the weekend (I hope).
I have a lot to update on, so I figure that I'll try and put them in small parts, because otherwise it'll get too long and I'll get bored anyhow. This post is about the Beijing Opera.
About a week and a half ago, I trekked up to Portsmouth, NH, to see the Beijing Opera with Kate and Herb. Kate had gotten comp tickets from a friend of hers and needed a ride - I was happy to oblige, as was Herb, so we both went. I drove, because my car has insurance and two headlights (things that Herb's car does not have or did not have at the time). And, as an added bonus, the show was sponsored by the Cornell East Asia Department. :-)
Anyway, the show was really good. I enjoy theatre a lot to begin with, and the seats were good. It was called The Adventures of the Monkey King, and it was divided into 3 Acts. It was not opera in the traditionally thought of sense (I've never seen an Italian opera, so I can only guess on that), though apparently in the really really traditional sense, it was. Opera is merely a type of theatre, after all. I expected a lot of singing, but there was only singing in the second act.
The three acts were three different short plays. Before each one, they gave us a little backgroud on each, and also taught us fun things about the history or Chinese words or something. For the last one, they translated parts of it into English, so that we would have a better idea what was going on. The costumes were amazing, and so was the action - plenty of dancing and impressive stage fighting. The music was pretty much the same the whole way through, so nothing too impressive with that. In general, I had a really good time and Kate is awesome for inviting me.
It did make me realize how much I miss theatre, though. I hadn't seen a show of any kind in over a year, and I really miss it. It's Christmas time, and I would really like to find a showing of The Nutcracker (okay, that's more ballet than theatre but I love that too), however, I know it would be expensive. I'd just like to figure out ways to take advantage of any theatre around Boston, and if I can't find any here, well, a short trip down to NYC would be worth it for a Broadway musical (and I'm sure Amy would be thrilled by that).
That's all for now. Later on today/tomorrow there will be updates on things like my car, Ithaca, art, Thanksgiving and anything in between, plus other miscellaneous stuff. :-)
- Lizzardie, at 11:19 AM
|
