Sunday 2 March 2008

Tosca in the Round

I was invited by R & H to go to see Puccini’s Opera Tosca at the Royal Albert Hall. It was in The Round – ie, the performance was held on the Albert’s ample floor space – and we had tickets in the Second Tier!

It was slightly uncomfortable being perched so high up but it was a spectacular view and had an accompanying feeling of old world charm. I felt like I had been transported back 100 years to tell you the truth. The 8 seats in the box were perched on little platforms to give us a better view and we had a little antechamber for drinks and coats all to ourselves which had a door that had to be unlocked to let us enter. A little extravagant but oh so nice.

The production was good too. In English, which is nice every so often. I’ve seen Tosca 3 times now but this is the first time I’ve been able to understand all of the nuances. Mind you it was very strange hearing Vissi d’Arte and E lucevan le stile in English. It just didn’t sound right actually.

But it was a lovely evening none-the-less. My heart really does crave opera every now and then… it was food for the soul and I left feeling satiated and oh-so-happy.

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