21 April 2008

Opera Family Series

We attended a fantastic event at Memorial Hall this weekend. The Cincinnati Opera had a Family Performance of The Barber of Seville. It was in English and shortened to 45 minutes. The 4 member cast was engaging and talented. Can kids enjoy opera? If presented in the right way, yes:

 


Every time we go to Memorial Hall, I am suprised by another detail. Below is a crappy cell phone photo of a room off the upper balcony, which is meant as a lounge. It has one of those lounge chairs that they used to have at the nurse's offic in elementary school, plus a wall-hung porcelain sink and a simple table and chair. It all appears original.

 


I've also noticed that all of the spaces in Memorial Hall have lots of natural light and that they have dual gas/electric light fixtures in the stairways. Just a fascinating building all around.

I'm not sure when the next family opera event is. I didn't find out about this one by word of mouth a few hours before it started. They definitely need to publicize this better.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wasn't it great? It helps to have a humorous opera to begin with, but the singing was good and the staging was very clever. We saw a small squib about it in the paper but you're right, they do need to do more publicity. It was a perfect venue, small enough to feel accessible to kids but "grand" enough to make them feel it was a special event. I'm looking forward to the next opera!

CityKin said...

Yes it was lovely.