I know it's by design and no doubt can't be otherwise, but I still can't get next to the garrishness of it all, what with the use of extremes of art - exaggerated singing, exaggerated costumry (sp?; word?), exaggerated acting - it's all too much bombast for me.
And while I love a tenor, there isn't a soprano out there who doesn't make me wince during her performance.
So you see, either I'm not made for the Opera or the Opera is not made for me. But as the curator said; I'm not duty bound, so it's really no big deal right?
I have to agree; I don't have the independent twin I-beam suspension on my disbelief that it takes to believe that in La Bohéme, Mimi can still sing while dying of tuberculosis. :) I also have a hard time dealing with the thick layer of Ethel Mermanesque vibrato on the singing. Give me early music or even Bulgarian women's choruses over opera any time.