Phantom of the Opera

Saturday, October 10th, Frank and I attended the musical Phantom of the Opera at the Center for Performing Arts in San Jose. Frank and I are season ticket holders and this seasons's seats are on Orchestra Left (even numbers). We now have end seats 46 and 44 in Row 8. Our angle of view to the stage is about the same as last season and we are a bit closer than last year's Row 12. Here is what we saw. Note the chandelier suspiciously suspended above the audience for this show.

I am not a fan of opera. Although I appreciate the skill and talent in the voices of the singers, I still find the sound a bit pretentious. The power is incredible, but in this performance I could understood only about 10% of the words. In Act I, the staging of the gondola scene in the misty subterranean lake of the opera house was impressively well done. Even so, slightly discouraged, I actually considered leaving at intermission. Frank was enjoying the show more than me (which is not usually the situation) so I banished the thought of not staying. I was so glad of that decision. 

The opening song of the second act was Masquerade. The visual spectacle of the broad scope of the colors and creativity  of the costumes and masks along with the sheer size of the cast blending their voices was so powerful I was glad I was there to soak it all in. This short facebook reel gives a brief glimpse. Full lyrics describing what we saw are here.  What follows is just a sample of the choruses.

Masquerade, paper faces on parade
Masquerade, hide your face so the world will never find you
Masquerade, every face, a different shade
Masquerade, look around, there's another mask behind you

The word Masquerade also brings to mind the quilt I made for Robin's and Jeremy's 2011 wedding (completed nine years later). The title reflects that the quilt was made from fabric with masks all over it. For a full account check out my 10/16/2020 quilting blog post.

In retrospect I am glad we committed to be season ticket holders. Having done so gets Frank and me off our duffs and relieves us of the boredom associated with staying only within the confines of our comfort zones. Perhaps if I had reviewed the lyrics on Wikipedia or some similar source I would have gotten more out of the show. But that would have been homework! So much better to just go and relax.