An Evening at the Opera

Sydney, NSW, Australia
Friday, March 11th, 2011

The Customs House which is close to the harbour and the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

When Debi and Heather were asking me what I wanted for Christmas last year I said just give me a gift certificate for something I can see or do in Australia. I was thinking the Jumping Crocs tour in Darwin but they came up with something much better....a gift certificate to the Sydney Opera House.

It was a given that I would be visiting the famous landmark at some point during my time here and I had already scoped out the 2011 opera season schedule late last year so that I knew when I would want to head this way. I saw Carmen on the schedule and instantly knew I had to visit Sydney before the end of March so I could see it. Even if you don't like or follow Opera in any way, I can guarantee you know a lot of this music. It's in TV commercials, and in movies and TV shows, and figure skaters skate to it and I'm pretty sure I've even heard it in video games. It is some great music.

I'm still trying to find the name of this building, also in the lower CBD close to the harbour. I love old clock towers.

So as you can imagine I did very little today because my focus was on the Opera. So I slept in and then made my way out to find a nail salon to get a pedicure (very badly needed by the way) and I managed to find a pair of shoes as well.....not for tonight, just for fun.

This is the view from the roof of my hotel. That Coca-cola sign is one of the famous landmarks in Kings Cross.

After a little bit more walking around I made my way back to the hotel, took a nap and then got ready for the evening. It’s not a long walk from my hotel but I took a taxi instead. Now I have to admit that from far away the building looks amazing, but when you get close up……the Opera House does not look as great and the lobbies are really plain. The building is covered with reflective panels so that the building actually looks a different colour every hour of the day. Reflective panels are not that pretty up close. But that can all be ignored.

At the Opera House before the show. I arrived nice and early to make sure I could get a few pictures to send to Debi and Heather. Not the best photo but hey my Blackberry can't do everything perfect. I wasn't sure if I had chosen an appropriate dress but once I arrived I decided that I had. There was a wide range of outfits on the evening from something that must have been a bridesmaid's dress with a full train to full tuxedos with hats and gloves to jeans and t-shirts.. There is no real dress code.

Anyway, I had a glass of champagne and relaxed and then made my way to the back of the Opera House (near the door I would enter the theatre from) and found that it offers a great view of the harbour and the harbour bridge.

The view from my seats. The little screen above the stage is for the subtitles. Carmen of course was in French. The seats were pretty good and the seat right next to me was in the higher price range so I think I chose good.

And the Opera……well it was great. Carmen is a great and tragic story (all Operas are) about a gypsy and the man who falls in love with her. Of course in the end, Carmen dies (they always do) by his hand because as gypsies do, she changed her mind and decided to love another (who happened to be a bull fighter). And in between all that there was singing and dancing and some laughs and some tears and more singing. It was just wonderful.

After the show I was able to get a picture on my real camera.

Now I know I said that I would offer a comparison of the Sydney Opera House and the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC but I have found that I cannot. That’s because the two Operas I saw (Tosca in NYC and Carmen here) were so different. Tosca had only 5 characters who sang and there was no dancing. Carmen had a huge cast and even some dancing. They were both so amazing in their own way so I am going to say that both Opera Houses are perfect in their own unique way (although The Met certainly has a larger chandelier).

And so ended another perfect evening in Sydney. Now if only every city had the Opera House.

Julie