Dress for opera
 

My wife and I will be attending Otello on Sat, 24 May at the Staatsoper in Vienna, and are wondering about dress. Black tie/dress? Or jacket. We don't mind dressing up, (it can even be fun) but don't want to drag our formal stuff over the sea unnecessarily. Any opinions out there?

I don't think you need formal attire for the opera, even if you are in the most expensive seats in the house.

We sat in the second most expensive seats in Paris at the Opera Bastille and the guy next to my wife had on a black T-shirt. We saw just about every mode of dress.

In Vienna at Die Volksoper, you see just about anything. In Munich, where we were sitting people were more nicely attired, but no tuxedos or mink stoles in my section, about the 3rd most expensive seats in the house.

A dark coat and a white shirt or a black dress for a lady would be plenty good because you will see jeans.

The only exception might be if it was a premier of some fancy dan opera and the prime minister was bringing his entourage.

In my 8 recent "goes" to the opera, I sure did not need formal garb, and none of my seats were in the peanut gallery!

I have a funny story about the opera. My college friend and I were in Vienna about 5 years ago, and went by the opera house one night to see if they had tickets. Well, sure enough, they had student tickets, I think we paid about $10 each to sit in a box seat!! Needless to say, we weren't dressed up at all. I felt a wee bit guilty sitting next to people who had paid a lot more, but it was a wonderful experience. The only problem was that the opera was in French with German subtitles. I know a little French but not at that pace. The opera was Oedipus Rex. There was a scene where everyone had the plague, but I couldn't even imagine at the time what those spots on their faces were for! Enjoy - it's a beautiful opera house - great ceiling.

At age 14 my parents drug me to a performance of Madame Butterfly. I went, totally ignorant of the plot or anything else about the opera. To this day I don't like the opera despite some of Puccini best music. (I like Un bel di and some of the duets - particularly Jussi Bjoerling in the role of Pinkerton.) The other one was a performance of Carmen in Foster Auditorium at the University of Alabama. Foster was a basketball arena and the stage was nothing but a wooden platform at the south end. The opera company had a lively dance troup, a gargantuan Carmen built more along the lines of Brunnhilde than that of a Spanish seductress, and a little guy for Don Jose. At the beginning of the 4th act outside the bullring, the dancers began stomping on the floor causing clouds of dust to spurt from the cracks. At the very end, Jose had to reach up to stab Carmen above the waist. Carmen fell dramatically to the stage floor with an audible thud. Then in her dying passion, she reached up and grabbed Don Jose around the neck and pulled him down on top of her. She would not let go while little Don was wallowing around trying to get up. Tragedy turned to farce.

Carmen is still my favorite opera.

Is it true that the Met does not have Carmen on the schedule for next year?

To Bob Brown: Jussi Bjoerling is my favorite tenor; in my view the best of all time. (See the street named for him in Stockholm as well as his statue in front of the Opera House there.) Unfortunately I never heard him in alive performance. However, you did and were lucky; but in doing so you know you are dating yourself.

Thanks for the responses, everybody! Looks like the Tux doesn't get to go to Europe!

I heard Bjoerling live in the Royal Albert hall in early June of 1956. I consider myself lucky. I had just turned 23, so yes I am no longer a boy.
I never was fortunate enough to hear him sing on stage in an opera.

I did see Rise Stevens as Carmen and she came to that same auditorium as I described above to give a solo recital. Talk about a stage presence that could capture and hold an audience, Ms. Stevens had a rare ability to take total command. When she sang the 3 biggies from Carmen, you could feel the enjoyment level and anticipation rise.
And she responded. Unforgettable.