La Clemenza de Tito

Last weekend I went to Prague. It's a magical city with a lot of history. One of the things on my list to see was the Estates Theater. It's famous for being the home of Mozart's Don Giovanni. I am hardly an opera buff. To be honest, my first opera was less than ideal. Actually, I found it quite boring. I wanted to go the Proms in London so I went to see Wagner's Gotterdammerung. It met all my preconceived notions about what an opera would be like. In fact, I only lasted for 2 of the 6 hour program. Granted, it was probably a little too heavy for my first opera and I thought it would be my last. But the show playing that night in Prague was an opera. Mozart's La Clemenza de Tito.

The Estates Theater is amazing. It's exactly what I expected. Opulently decorated. Intimate. It just oozed a sense of history. Everyone was dressed for the occasion and it felt like a proper night out. Granted, I was probably the only single guy in the place. And other than kids who were dragged along, probably the youngest person in the place. Regardless, I was looking forward to it.

My view from the second balcony center was perfect for taking it all in. Everything in its place. Very traditional setting except one thing - the stage. It was set up as a large white wall with a small opening with light shining through. You can see a picture of it in my web album. At first I thought there was some construction going on and it wasn't really the stage. Well I was wrong. It turns out this was a progressive interpretation of the opera. The scene opened up on this stage and when the white wall essentially the curtain was raised it revealed an equally stark white tunnel. Completely white with no decorations save a couple of dark diamond shapes in the center of the stage. The end of the tunnel was open and was about 6 feet high. The costumes weren't traditional either. They were dressed in very modern clothes. They were kind of costumes but overly so. In fact, a couple of the outfits probably wouldn't look out of place in a night club. Another interesting point is that two of the male characters were sung by women. Well of course I had to read the synopsis to try and understand what the program was about.

It turned out to be an interesting story and one that I could follow along because they actually had a screen with the English and Czech translations of the Italian that it's sung in. I know it sounds crazy but I actually enjoyed the opera. I really found it entertaining and not only did I not fall asleep. I stayed for the whole show and had a smile on my face at the end. It was definitely an enjoyable experience. And the good news for me is that I will probably pull a Costanza and end on a high note. =)