Tuesday Part 2 Rigoletto

I got to the Lincoln Centre and went intot he opera hall in plenty of time so that I could look at 2 large paintings that were done by Chagall specifically for the space. It was hard to see them.  There was a very fancy restaurant and a glass wall between me and them. I did my best at nonchalantly strolling past and peering in without appearing to peer. 

I had forgotten how hot it is in the opera hall and I needed to take off my leggings that I was wearing under my lightweight pants.  This required careful manoevering in the cubicle. I emerged and discovered, standing at the basin, that my belt was hanging down my back and a very well- dressed woman was watching me.  ‘OOPs’ I said as I threaded it back through the loops and quickly did it up.. She sort of smiled and I smiled, thinking to myself that I knew for a fact that my plain black top was very comfortable worn as a pyjama top but her beautiful slinky, sparkly, bejewelled number would be very uncomfortable if she ever wore it to bed!  Besides I had a very nice scarf .  Trouble is, my smugness disappeared when I realised I had forgotten to change my shoes  to my spare, as yet unworn this trip and therefore sparkly clean, even if they are my granny shoes. The shoes I was wearing were very dusty and had peculiar whitish marks that appear after I dry them in front of heat , as I did on Friday.  From experience, the marks disappear with polishing, which I hadn’t.

The opera was great. The 3 leads were different to the production at the Dendy Met we saw a few weeks ago. There were 2 oldish New York frequent opera patrons, going on their conversation, sitting behind me. One had obviously read a bit about this production set in Las Vegas in the 60’s, but he clearly did not know what a pole dancer was. At the beginning of the third act  I heard him sort of splutter when he realised that the topless woman moving round the pole did not necessarily come from Poland.   Did they have pole dancers in the 60’s?  

I found it difficult initially to get my head or more specifically my eyes and multifocally glasses in the right position so that I could read the subtitles on the back of the seat in front of me.

It was a lovely evening.