Day 339/365 - Opera in the Outfield

Tonight was the Washington National Opera's second annual "Opera in the Outfield" and I went along with my friends Chris, Desiree, and Adriana and some of my co-workers. For the past two years, the WNO has aired a simulcast of its season-opening performance on the big HD scoreboard at Nationals Park (DC's baseball stadium). It's completely free to attend and you're allowed to sit in either the stands in the lower seating bowl or park your butt on a stretch of outfield grass.

Last year we sat in the stands until the intermission and then moved down onto the grass, but this year we opted to spend the entire time in the outfield. The sound quality is certainly much better in the stands, but it's just more fun to be laying back on a blanket on the grass under the stars and watching the opera. It's always a funny contrast when the simulcast begins and they show the crowd at the Kennedy Center on the screen. They're all gussied up in tuxedos and fancy gowns and there we are in jeans and t-shirts, eating hot dogs and drinking beer.

This year's season opener for the WNO was Rossini's comic gem, "The Barber of Seville." Although I'd seen "The Marriage of Figaro" before, I'd never seen its prequel "Barber of Seville." As with last year, before the simulcast began they showed a Bugs Bunny cartoon on the screen. This time it was the perfectly appropriate "Rabbit of Seville." The opera was even funnier than the cartoon. It's a story of love, greed, disguises, schemes, ruses and plots and the WNO's staging had several broad, slapstick-ish elements that were hilarious.

The singers in tonight's company were all excellent, and for a change the male performers were just as skilled at acting as were the women. It's been my experience that female opera performers are equally good at both the acting and singing required by the genre, while the men tend to focus almost entirely on their singing and settle for the most wooden, rudimentary, declamatory style of acting. The male performers in "Barber of Seville" thankfully didn't settle for that and their acting was generally excellent.

The crowd seemed bigger than it did last year and the concession lines were fairly crazy, but it was still a great night out. After the opera, my friend Chris got touched by divine inspiration and decided we should make a run to Krispy Kreme. As we neared the store, we saw that the "hot donuts now" sign was lit and we got as giddy as little kids. The four of us split a dozen donuts, which meant we each got to pick three. Chris and Des went for three of the hot glazed, I went for three of the chocolate iced cake donuts, and Adri mixed and matched. Then we sat there under the glowing neon sign and scarfed them all down. It was the perfect nightcap to our evening of high culture and low comedy.

(Taken with my Nikon D90)