So I went to the Canadian Opera Company yesterday for the first time. The closest thing I’ve come previously is a serious musical, way back when I was like 12: Les Miz. I have since seen other musicals, but I don’t think they count (Evil Dead). The theatre, named after some no doubt famous opera patron, is quite nice. It is one of these modern, maximizing sight-lines and acoustics type places. From our seats on the second highest level to the extreme stage left, we could see all sorts of things that people in the orchestra section couldn’t. Of course I found this as interesting as the piece.

Maria Stuarda is showy. I mean it’s really showy in parts. It requires both female leads to really show off their vocal abilities (and the women more than met the task). The negative term for this kind of stuff is noodling. However, that has a jazz connotation so I’m not sure what it is called when it is written out ahead of time. And I’m not sure what it’s called when it’s positive. I can’t help but feel that the opera would have been fine without those moments. But then that’s the way my thinking has been going since I discovered prog rock wasn’t the only good kind of music.

The plot is ridiculous, but the program warned us. The plot has very little resemblance to what I remember reading about this incident in British history. The moral is basically “Those evil Protestants are so morally decrepit they can’t even realize they are killing a perfectly innocent and beautiful Catholic should-be monarch whom the people adore.” Or something to that affect. Now, it was written by an Italian, and it was based on a Catholic German’s play, and both of these were written in possible ignorance of what actually happened (I’m not trying to excuse Mary Queen of Scots execution, I’m only suggesting that it is difficult for a 1500s head of state to tolerate competition, especially a female head of state).

But the music was nice. I don’t know that it was outstanding. I would have to give it my dutiful three listens (really, with “classical” music it should be five) before I could give it my vote one way or the other. It was tuneful, which is sometimes a good thing and sometimes a bad thing. There was a great sense of dynamics to the whole thing. The orchestra was energetic. The cast seemed to have no holes.

I guess what I would say about the whole thing is that it was a good (if a little idiosyncratic – what was with those deer-people?) performance of what probably isn’t a great opera. But what do I know?