Source: Opéra de Montréal website
It was about time Sarastotle and I had another adventure; this time, we chose the opera. Opéra de Montréal premiered Delibes’ Lakmé last night, and we were lucky enough to score kinda last-minute tickets. We did have some trouble physically acquiring said tickets; let it be known, that if you purchase opera tickets online with a credit card, you need to bring that credit card to the box office. Apparently photo ID doesn’t cut it. I only brought a few things in a tiny purse, and my credit card didn’t make the cut. The box office people did eventually relent and hand over the ticket; I now have a note on my file in the Opéra de Montréal computer system outlining my transgression.
Box office problems aside, we had a wonderful evening. The performances were beautiful, the costumes were lovely, and the set design was really, really cool. I don’t know how critics will rate the performance, but my assessment is that the whole thing was beautiful. I’ve never been to the opera before. A lot of what I know about the opera comes from movies and cartoons, where it’s shown to be kind of boring and hard to understand. This one had very helpful “subtitles” shown across the top of the stage in French and English, and the singers enunciated very, very clearly. Maybe this was an easy opera, but I followed along very easily.
*SPOILERS*
Lakmé is a very sad story about a beautiful young Indian woman named Lakmé who meets an Englishman, who is trespassing in the very sacred temple that Lakmé’s father is in charge of. Her dad gets really angry at the Englishman, vows vengeance, and then stabs him. Lakmé saves the Englishman, because of course they have fallen in love, and wants to bind the two of them together by drinking from the same cup of sacred water. The Englishman kind of changes his mind about their future together, and Lakmé kills herself.
*END OF SPOILERS*
It is a great show, and the music is really lovely. My mom has a CD of a production of Lakmé starring Maria Callas that she played in the car every once in a while, and I’ve always wanted to see it live. In getting ready for tonight, I felt a little like Cher in the absolutely fabulous movie Moonstruck, when she gets all dolled up to go to the opera with Nicholas Cage.
Perfection.
Nicholas Cage did not accompany Sarastotle and me, but we did end up getting super pretty and were among the fanciest at the opera–some people wore jeans! I didn’t know that that was a thing. Here’s my Cher makeover!
Some gnarly activity going on right now on my bare face.
After a layer of base, foundation, and concealer over all blemishes.
Cream-coloured eyeshadow on the lids, taupe eyeshadow along crease, brown eyeshadow along lashes. I tightly lined the top lids with a eyeliner brush dipped in a pot of black gel eyeliner. Very slight cat-eye. Mascara on top and bottom lashes.
Wine-coloured lip gloss. I have nothing vampier.
I could probably have made my creases more noticeable; comparing my eyes to Cher’s in the picture above, hers are definitely more defined. My bedroom has pretty dim lighting; in my mirror, it looked like I was creating some serious eyeshadow creases. Out in the real world, I looked more like I was going for a smokey eye.
I don’t have Cher’s great head of hair (and I still haven’t had my hair permed like I was planning to), so I just put some gel in and kept it straight. I certainly felt glamorous.
Also, how gorgeous is Sarastotle’s dress (and Sarastotle)?
It’s hard to see, but she has some very fierce gold eyeshadow extending into a gold cat-eye. Her hair is also really cool: all the rhinestones are little Goody twisty hair gems that I got for cheap at Walmart.
Wherever we go for our next adventure, we shall be sure to look just as fabulous.
Players of Prince Arthur 