Last thursday Derek and I had the most amazing evening at the epic perfomance of Don Giovanni at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden!
We were getting ready from about 4pm as Derek had booked our early evening train tickets to Euston. As previously mentioned I was wearing me blue satin "Miss Sixty" dress trousers and blue, lacey "Dark Angel" corset top, with the added bonus of a gorgeous black lace chocker with a cameo of Edgar Allen Poe which was made for me by a gothic jewellery expert. Derek said I looked fanastic! but he looked better I thought, in his pin-stripe suit and red bow tie I bought him for Christmas.
This photo, which I took during the interval does not really do him justice as its fuzzy and dark, so I had to put it though a couple of filters in Corel to brighten i up a bit. He looked so yummy he was almost edible!!
In a way, I was very glad I had researched the dress code for Covent Garden as there isent one!! I concluded I would have looked a right wally in my ball gown as everyone was dressed VERY casually. Even young students were in scruffy jeans!! and I only saw one young lady in a black strapless ballgown and she kind of stuck out like a sore thumb...so I was relieved we were not over dressed! However, when we disembarked the train at Euston a compleate stranger came up to us (a middle aged woman) and said "You two look very smart!! Have a lovely evening!!" which I thought was a lovely compliment!!
Anyway, as I have previously mentioned neither of us have attended covent garden before so this was a huge treat!! We have seen many operas together including La Bohiem, Carmen, Aieda and my favorite the Magic Flute. When we first started courting, almost 20 years ago now, he was clean amazed that I liked Opera and one of our first dates was to the Magic Flute at Northamptons Derngate! (we have also seen it twice since!) and Dereks next Operatic ambition is to see Wagners Ring Cycle too!
We arrived early and opted for a drink in the bar, before the theatre doors were open, to kill time. It was quiet at first but was soon buzzing with folks all looking forward to Don Giovanni....Ah yes! I feel I must explain a bit of the story here:
Don Giovanni is a noble with a man-servent called Leoporello who is always very put out because he has to arrange his masters many romantic liasons with a string of ladies. During the begining of the first act Don Giovanni is caught in the act by the father of one lady friend and they have a firght and Don Giovanni kills him. It dosent sound it, but its basicly a comedy, with many funny moments! But towards the end of the second act the plot turns into a very errie ghost story. The dead father comes back to haunt Don G. and beggs him to repent his lustfull ways. When D.G. repeatdly says "NO!" He is dragged off to hell by demons, to suffer for all eternety. The whole opera is a very heavy lesson in virtue and morality, somthing which we Freemasons hold dear! (Mozart himself was a Master Mason)
By the end I was blubbing like a baby at the sheer power of the beautifull music and trembling!! I clapped so hard I thought my hands would fall off!!
It was a sublime evening!!
And one thing is sure...this will not be a one off visit to the R.O.H!!
Derek is already planning the next one!!