An hour ago, Kate and I left the latest Live in HD at The Met production, La Boheme. We have attended quite a number of these operas that are broadcast live in movie theaters around the world. While there is nothing like the experience of being at The Met, we find that these live performances on the large screen offer an even better experience of the opera itself.
La Boheme, of course, is an emotional opera. Given the outstanding camera work, it has quite an impact on the theater audience. On and off throughout the performance, Kate reached over and squeezed my hand. As she also does at many live productions, she also expressed a few audible “Wows.” The final death scene is always moving, but I find that I am more affected by such things since I know that Kate is on that same path.
I was just as taken by the opera as Kate, but the added treat for me was getting to see her express genuine enthusiasm. There aren’t many things nowadays that elicit this kind of response. The fact that she continues to enjoy musical productions makes me feel good and reinforces my hope that she will retain her feeling for music a lot longer. It’s been another great day, and my pleasure wasn’t tarnished at all when we left the theater and she asked me the name of the opera we had just seen. She had enjoyed herself even if she couldn’t remember it.
