Second City's Guide to the Opera

Anyone who has ever been to the opera knows that it can be funny. Some of the plots are so far-fetched, it's ridiculous. My favorites are the ones when someone disguises themselves, like in The Marriage of Figaro. I'll put on this wig! He'll never know it's me!! Or when we are supposed to believe that a plump woman of a certain age is meant to be a consumptive teenaged courtesan... or, gosh, I could go on, but we don't have all afternoon. Sometimes the opera is unexpectedly amusing, like the time we sort of saw the woman without a shadow (frau of something something). I say sort of because we left after the 2nd act. True story. It's the only time I've ever walked out of anything. First of all, I know the singer actually has a shadow, but there must be a lighting trick to make it look like she doesn't yes? Because Lyric hadn't figured that out when I saw it, so old Deb Voigt was down there going on about her shadow and it was like, no, it's right there, problem solved. We can save ourselves 4 hours of this. That and they had this lame prop horse that lowered down from the rafters and it was supposed to be dramatic, but it hit the stage with a thud and rocked back and forth...

Ahem. Sorry. The point is, opera can be funny. So who better than the talented cast of the Second City to help demystify the experience and poke a little fun at the world of opera? Lyric teamed with Second City to present The Second City Guide to the Opera last night. The gorgeous and all-around fabulous diva Renee Fleming was on hand to host with Sir Patrick Stewart (yes. Because what I think of when I think "opera" "Chicago" and "Second City sketch comedy" is Patrick Stewart. But anyway...) and basically it was a pretty fun evening. It began with an overture, sung by the cast about... all of the stuff that happens during an overture. They did similar songs about the intermission and the finale. Other sketches included a master class with an ego-maniacal, multi-scarf wearing diva, whose star pupil turned out to be... Ms. Renee Fleming, a couple on a first date (to the Ring Cycle! The guy wanted to prove he wasn't afraid of commitment and pointed out that if you could survive 40 hours of Wagner together, you could survive ANYTHING), and "Doctor Opera" therapy sessions for operatic characters  including Mimi and Rudolfo, Hansel and Gretel and Elektra. Both of our genial hosts performed in sketches and were both quite funny (P-Stew, I am sorry I doubted you!).

There was an audience participation sketch which resulted in an improvised Shakespearean rendering of the selected audience member's life. Which was weird. Because, hello, how is that related to opera? And also, the audience member they picked was from the bank sponsoring the show and he seemed extremely uncomfortable and gave one word answers (clearly he never read Tina Fey's book, because she tells us the first rule of improv is to agree and add - so if someone says, do you have any pet peeves and you say "No", you've shut the sketch down before it's even started). So did they pick this guy on purpose? Because if they told him ahead of time, you'd think he would have been more willing to play along.  I find it a little weird that they picked him randomly out of all the people there, but it's not usually common practice to embarrass your lead sponsor.  They ended up having a good time with him because he's a banker and he said he didn't have any pet peeves and that nothing bothered him. That added a little humor, because like, really dude? Nothing bothers you in the world of banking? Are you not living in America right now?

There was also a funny sketch where Patrick Stewart taught the cast to find the opera in regular life situations - so you're at Starbucks and they're out of soy milk (holy crap, Patrick Stewart goes to Starbucks?)? Unleash merry hell on that barista in the form of an aria. Someone has stolen your parking spot even though you've claimed it with a folding chair? Whip out your sword and make that sucker pay.  Your friend loses your favorite sweater? Fall on your sword and kill yourself. That, folks, is opera.

In the middle of this mayhem, Renee sang two arias, as if to say, yes, the plots can be stupid and outlandish and unrelated to real life, but at the heart of it is this - stunning music and amazing singing and artistry. That's opera, too.

reading on the railroad

Happy 2013. I know I've been MIA for a while, but I'm going to try and be better about posting here this year.  It's hard to figure out what this blog should be about. It was originally about my quest to become a real arts professional, and now I am one, but posting about work would be boring. But I like to write and tell stories, so maybe I'll pop in now and again and do that. Cool?

So, I commute from the suburbs into the city to work. It's maybe a 30 minute train ride, followed by a brief ride by bus (don't even get me started on the CTA. Another time, another time.) - my time is spent usually with a good book (hooray for my new kindle!)

Some kind soul at the public library, recognizing that reading material is a commuter's best friend, set up a bookshelf in the station house. The books on there are.... interesting. It's a combination of books that people leave for their fellow patrons and cast offs/weed outs from the library's collection.  Sometimes you can find some good reads - I came across a Patricia Cornwell novel (it's one of her older ones, but I've just started reading her books, so I was excited to find this one), and once somebody left a (kind of old) copy of Studs Terkel's book The Good War.  I am a nerd, I know, and this one excited me a whole bunch.

Mostly though, the books on the shelf are old trashy romances. These were largely uninteresting to me until one day when I was bored and started checking out the titles. Since then, I've been making notes of some of the books featured on the shelf, which I am now sharing for your amusement (but mostly for my amusement). I have never actually picked any of these up, so I don't know what they are about, in most cases, I think it's more fun to speculate.

Recent titles on the shelf, with commentary (not surprisingly, most of these have been on the shelf for quite a while):
Loving the Lone Wolf
The Millionaire's Baby
Having the Boss's Baby  (ewwwwww - should have stuck with the millionaire)
The Outlaw Bride
The Husband She Couldn't Remember  (Help! There's a strange man in my house!!)
Passion's Far Shore
Desert Devil
His Very Special Nurse
His Child or Hers (Huh?)
Conroy Could Love Only One Girl (At a Time)  (that Conroy, what a cad)
The Last First Kiss
Defiant Surrender
Head Over Spurs (about a clumsy cowboy?)
Do You Take This Cowboy? (maybe if it's Tony Romo - ahahahahaaha)
A Montana Maverick's Christmas
Married in Haste
Mistletoe Mischief
Bride of the Night (well, because she had to marry in haste)
Rancher's Request
Riley's Retribution
Midnight Stranger
My Wicked, Wicked Ways (I was so curious about this one, I actually took it off the shelf to examine it - turned out to be an autobiography of Errol Flynn)

I will continue this list as long as the titles continue to be this good.