Silent Night

This blog is becoming more and more about the opera. This is an excellent thing, but the reasons are twofold: one, the opera is giving us more opportunities to draw during their shows (yay!) and two, I'm using this blog less and less. the second reason isn't totally a bad one though, I've never really liked the way blogger works, it just doesn't play that well with artists, but I used it begrudgingly, as no one else really fit the bill.

until tumblr.

Not that I plan on dropping this blog, but if you want to watch me update more often, definitely go here.

But back to the opera.

the MN Opera is awesome (said that already, but it is!) they're debuting a new show titled "Silent Night" about the soldiers who crossed the line during the Christmas of 1914 to share the holiday with the men who they'd been killing and being killed by just the day before. This has always been one of my favorite bits of millitary history, it's proof that the common man doesn't really desire to kill other men (or women, sorry but war's been a sausage fest until just recently really, trust me ladies, you weren't missing out.), It's the powers that be and their pissing contests that decide when and where it's people die. More importantly, left on their own, people would rather share a drink with his enemy right after he's shot your best friend than shoot back.

So how was the Opera? Best. Sets. EVER. Seriously, if you have the ability to go see this one, do it, and failing that try and find a recording of it, it's astounding. the costumes were fantastic, and the musical arrangement was epic in it's scope. If I were to nitpick (just to try and find something to say to prove it wasn't total perfection) it's that there was one story thread (in the three or four it was juggling) that wasn't resolved as tightly as it could have been. and there were one or two moments early on were the music was reaching an amazing crescendo that didn't totally meet up with the on stage action.

So two little nitpicks. how does it compare to the other operas I've seen? Still the best. Treat yourself to this one.