The O-o-o-opera

Having already seen a ballet in Russia, Leah and I (yes it's Ross again writing another blog...surprised Jeana?) decided that it would be a good idea to experience a Russian opera. Therefore, last Saturday, the 21st of March, Leah and I went to see the Queen of Spades opera at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, which was the same theatre that we saw the Nutcracker ballet at. Since we felt slightly uncomfortable the last time that we went there (we overdressed) we dressed down a bit and blended in quite nicely. This time we made sure to purchase tickets that sat us in the first row of the balcony since we learned from our last experience at the theatre that having people sitting in front of you is less than ideal (thank you annoying French group for proving that point). However something interesting happened to us this time as well. It appears that the theatre will allow people in to watch the performance for free but they are not given seats. Instead, these people are allowed to stand behind the last rows and also to the sides of the front rows. This is not normally a problem except that on this particular night there was an older lady who decided she couldn't stand for too long. Minutes into the performance she shoved her way onto half of my chair and forced the entire row to sit on half of their seat and half of their neighbour's. Luckily enough, during the second part of the opera we had our chairs to ourselves as she opted to stand and lean on my chair instead of trying to sit on it. During the third act someone in one of the rows decided to give her someone else's chair as they felt bad for her, only to have the actual owner of the chair come and yell at them. Someone eventually gave up their seat for her and that was the last of that drama. Apparently there was also a couple who decided to bring their six year old boy to the opera with them that sat beside Leah. So until the third act when he finally fell asleep, he was squirming around and kept asking "eta vsyo? eta vsyo?" which translates as "is that it? is that it?" But all the negativity aside, the opera itself was quite enjoyable. The costumes and set design, as well as the orchestra, were amazing. The Queen of Spades is a famous short story that the Russian author Pushkin wrote, and I would highly recommend reading it. Both Leah and I agree though that we much prefer the ballet to the opera as the dancing is much more interesting to watch than overly dramatic singing (no offense to anyone who reads this that likes opera music). Having seen a ballet and an opera at the Mikhailovsky Theatre, we are now looking forward to seeing something (hopefully a ballet) at the much bigger and more famous Mariinsky (formerly the Kirov) Theatre.