Last week, I went to a play that was secretly an opera. This is not unlike how I went to a [movie] musical in December and it also was secretly an opera. In fact, I'm going to call this the Miserable Phenomenon. (Only you have to pronounce it in a French manner. Mees-er-ah-blah.)
Please. If you are an opera, don't go skulking around pretending to be a play. Just be an opera. It will be better for everyone in the end.
The opera I accidentally saw last week was about a guy being stuck in an elevator. It is called (ready?): Stuck Elevator. That's pretty much the whole plot, but there are other things to sing about too, most notably how much it sucks to be an illegal immigrant. (Oh. We don't say that anymore. Um...an immigrant illegally in this country.) Who is stuck in an elevator. It's not a good combination. In truth, being stuck in an elevator for 81 hours (81 hours! It's a true story.) is pretty horrible no matter who you are, but I'm still not entirely convinced it should be an opera. I didn't hate it, and the lead had a beautiful voice, but I'm sure I would have been happier if I hadn't been anticipating a play (see above).
My favorite things:
1. That some of it was in Chinese and some of it wasn't, but there were supertitles both ways.
2. That some of the songs were addressed directly to the elevator. As someone who talks to inanimate objects as a matter of course, I appreciate the impulse to ask the elevator directly to stop being stuck.
3. An Elevator vs. Take Out Man wrestling match
My least favorite things:
1. Operas that are not out of the closet about being operas
2. The song about the guy wetting his pants, some of which was sung from the point of view of the bladder. Also, the fact that they rhymed "pants" with "pants."
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