For the love of a Sangwich

Hey guys!! You are now chatting with an opera veteran!! If you have plans to see this show stop reading, because I'm about to spoil it. But if you're interested in my retelling of Amahl and the Night Visitors keep on reading!

So, the show (well, final dress rehearsal) started at 7. P & S were running late, so when we left here we parked close to the awesome new Symphony Hall and made our way in with probably about 10 minutes to spare. Seating was first come, first serve and since it was an opera and since I work with rednecks not that many people had gotten tickets. The usher said we could sit anywhere we wanted, even the boxes if we so chose. Well, YEAH, we're gonna get a box?!?! How often do 20-somethings ever get a chance to have their own box at the opera??? So, we settled into our box for 4 and the show promptly started at 7. Sort of. The MC said they would be making some final changes and for about 20 minutes they would play small bits of the score and then stop and do it again. We were starting to think there really wasn't going to be a run through when the conductor said "60 seconds and we're ready to go!" YEAH!! The lights dimmed and the show started. It was in English but there was still a little subtitle screen which came in handy for the really high pitched verses. The story was about a crippled boy and his widowed mom who were dirt poor. The boy had a vivid imagination and the mom was pretty much bitter and over it, and didn't listen to anything he said. In the middle of the night 3 Kings following the North Star (to baby Jesus) stopped in for a rest. The mom kept sending the crippled kid to the door to see who was there. I mean, who sends the crippled kid to the door in the middle of the night??? That's so wrong. Three trips to the door and she finally got angry enough to get up and see who it was for herself. About time. A lot more singing, the lady tried to steal some gold while the Kings were sleeping, and finally she understood that they were on a mission to find baby Jesus who would make the poor rich. The crippled kid gets it too and says all he has is his crutch and could they give it to baby Jesus? Suddenly the kid can walk, run and jump. Much miracle excitement ensues. And now the kid wants to go with the Kings and take baby Jesus the crutch himself. This kid really doesn't get that baby Jesus does NOT want his crutch. I'm thinking baby Jesus would prefer some milk or even a hug. His mom is down with the trip so the opera ends with them all heading off to continue following the star to the baby. Oh, and there was a REALLY weird song where one of the Kings discussed what was in the little chest he always carries with him. Drawer #1 was all sorts of miracle curing stones, drawer #2 was "Beeeeads! I love to play with my beeeeads!" and Drawer #3 was "Black Licorice! Black Licorice! I love Black Licorice!" That king is on mushrooms or something.

So, right as the lady is stealing the gold our friend P gets up and and leaves our box. We figure he's going to the potty. He was gone for a while, and I thought he might have gotten lost or had some "problems". No biggie. He comes back in right as the opera is ending and the crutch journey has begun. When it's over and the lights come up Brent asks if he got lost on his way back from the bathroom. That's when P tells us he got hungry so he went looking for food! He ended up buying a sandwich in the symphony cafe and eating half of it because he couldn't bring it back with him!!!!! He totally missed the entire conclusion of the story! He told us there was a guy with a handlebar mustache guarding the other half downstairs. Just like the mom in the story I totally didn't believe him.....until we got downstairs and there was the sandwich and the guy with the mustache. So odd!

We left to go get dinner (dinner #2 for some.....) but messed around in the garden first. We were taking pics when a lady who had obviously spent quite a bit of time in the cafe drinking wine offered to take our pics. OMG, she was roasted. I was dying laughing at the way she was holding the camera and stumbling around. After she took pic #1 she was like "oh, i think i need to re-do that. it didn't look so good" HA! Pic #2 was better and we headed out for our REAL dinner.










Anyway, it was great fun. Am I a big opera person now? No, not really, but it was very cool and we had a lot of fun. The performers were great and the new symphony hall rocks. And it was fun trying to sing everything we wanted to say the rest of the night. And all day today at work. And I will never forget P missing the whole point of the story because of his need for a sandwich!!!

I ran a few more miles on the treadmill tonight. Everything seems to be pretty normal post marathon. The 5K race Friday night will be our last for the year! Other than that we've been painting in the kitchen and we're planning to rip the carpet out of our bedroom starting this weekend. THAT should be an adventure!

It's my bedtime! Happy end of the week!