Stadtfahrt

We went to two operas last week. The first was Boris Godunow, by Modest P. Mussorgski (great name for a band). It was pretty hard to understand, because it was sung in Russian with the German translation projected above the stage. It was really interesting though! It's based on an old Russian novel, but this version of the opera was super modernized. The characters were, I'm assuming, supposed to make you think of Russian mobsters. The coolest thing was that Drs. Hix and Jackson randomly knew one of the main performers! He went to school with them and was listed in the program as "The American."

The next opera we saw was Verdi's Falstaff and I loved it! It was incredibly light-hearted, especially after Boris Godunow, and the Italian was much easier to understand than Russian. The performer who played Falstaff was amazing and some of the staging was really, really neat.

The best thing about both of the operas was what happened on the train after Falstaff. All the trains were rerouted and we were a group of scared, lost Americans getting on a random train in the hopes that it would take us back to the hotel. A man on the train was speaking in English on the phone and Alan accosted him, asking if he could give us directions. Turns out that not only was he from Oklahoma and could give us directions but that he had been pretty recognizable characters in BOTH of the operas! It was amazing. I immediately ran stumbling down the moving train to awkwardly take his picture, which turned out to be a video.

Best moment so far.