Date Night At The Opera!
By 965koit on September 13, 2019
We love this time of year because we get to leave the house and head down to the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco. We’re still pretty new to the Opera scene but we are starting to feel like veterans. The list of Operas that we’ve seen keeps growing every year, and last night we added Billy Budd.
The first thing I noticed about Billy Budd was that it was in English. There are only a handful of operas we’ve seen that weren’t sung in Italian, so it was a nice change. I didn’t need to read the words projected above the stage nearly as much as I normally do. The second thing I noticed was the HUGE, amazing set that they built.
When the curtain pulls back you are transported to a mighty wooden ship from the 1700’s. A crew of at least 30 people singing in unison and moving up and down the three tall levels of this massive structure. Of course, you also notice the amazing talent of all the singers.
Billy Budd follows a sailor named Billy Budd who is loved by everyone, except one man. Billy gets falsely accused of mutiny thanks to that certain conniving individual and ends up fighting for his life. It’s based on the book Billy Budd by Herman Melville. The ending was definitely a surprise to me, but so well done by these amazing actors.
If you are looking for a fun new date night idea, why not try the opera?! We had never been to one 2 years ago and now we can’t get enough.