Madama Butterfly at the Arena, Verona 8.5.06

Last Saturday night I went to the Roman Arena in Verona with our friend Laura, while Bob and Giorgio (not big opera fans) went off for a beer and a pizza. I had decided that I really wanted to see this opera here and as I knew that Laura also enjoyed going, we decided to go together and leave the men to themselves.

It was a lovely evening, even cool enough for me to be glad I had brought a sweater. Our seats were in the less expensive (26 euros a tickets), non-numbered, first-come-first-served section. Fortunately, even though we didn't arrive very early, our seats were pretty good, if a bit further away from the stage than would be optimal. But since we had splurged on the better seats when Nick and Jessica were here, I thought this would be fine and it was.

From the moment the sky darkened and the audience started to light their little candles to the last dramatic scene, I was mesmerized. The sets, the lighting, the music, the performances, were all magical to me. Laura, who is more experienced than I at watching live opera performed in this venue has a more critical ear and we talked about which of the performers she felt really excelled and which could have had more power. I just loved it.

Here are a few of the photos I took.

Candles are lit at the beginning of each performance


The geishas singing and dancing so gracefully around on the stage with their parasols


Another scene in the opera, with Madama Butterfly's house at the center