A Night At the Opera

December 7, 2006 - 10:06 AM by Allison

Tel Aviv has a fabulous opera house, if your cultural tastes run to the high-class tier. Stephanie, fabulous mom that she is, is making sure her son appreciates the finer things in life from a tender age:

5-year-old Raphael and I went to see a children’s rendition of The Magic Flute at Israel’s Opera House this evening. I was pleased to learn that my son has the patience for & interest in opera and seems to “get it”.

HOWEVER…

- While I understand that prominent (recently deceased) Israeli composer Ehud Manor modified the opera to suit a local palate, I was surprised and disappointed by the Hebrew – decisively NOT the original German penned by Herr Mozart. But okay, I’ll cut some slack. The average age in the house was four.

- Interesting to hear Russian tinged Hebrew. I’m putting my dime on the conjecture that of 7 company members performing this eve, at least half were of Russian descent. A global village is what we all are, indeed.

- Can we talk costumes? What was up with the purple nightgowns and matching knee-high purple vinyl platform boots the Ladies of the Queen of the Night were sporting? Okay so I coveted them but I’m thinking time period: Late 1700′s. Absynthe parlor loungewear, perhaps. Ecstasy inspired Dominatrix boots? Nah. And about Pamina’s PayLess flats and shiny white semi-formal-prom-night-gone-bad knock off? Oy. Oy. Oy.

**I KNOW what season tickets go for. PEOPLE: Invest some serious $$ into the wardrobe, n’kay?

Other than those petty observations, the experience was a thrill and it’s a wonderful thing for kids. There’s a whole series of themed operettas aimed at exposing the wee ones to Johann Strauss Jr., F. Schubert, Beethoven…

If nothing else, it’s worth attending to hear commentary from the kid (’cause there’s always one) who unabashedly shouts from his/her seat: “Oh NO! Look out! He’s coming! There he IS!” or something similar.

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