Last night John took me to the city to see an opera. It has been fifteen years since I’ve last seen an opera. It is safe to say that I was crazy excited about it!
When we think of opera, we think of tragic stories in foreign languages with elaborate backdrops and costumes. This show was not like that. We went to see Frida, a contemporary opera about the life of Frida Kahlo by Robert Xavier Rodriguez. Unless you have been living in a cave in the Himalayas your entire life, I don’t have to tell you who Frida Kahlo was. She was the Mexican painter, married to Diego Rivera, who was unapologetic about her love for Mexican indigenous culture and her sexuality. She was the painter with the flower crowns and the eyebrow.
Frida’s life with Diego, much like her paintings, was both beautiful and sad. The backdrop for this opera consisted of Diego and Frida’s paintings projected on a big screen, which was absolutely perfect, because Frida painted herself. I don’t mean that in the vapid sense of our digital selfie culture; Frida painted her heart and her soul, and her paintings often reflected pivotal experiences in her life.
A small orchestra accompanied the talented singers in this production. They played and sang so flawlessly together, at times I almost forgot I was watching a show. The lead soprano, Catalina Cuervo, is absolutely gorgeous and made me cry at times.
The opera was performed mostly in English with some Spanish, and a bit of “Spanglish” in the comedic parts. Yes, there were jokes. At least two of them were about eyebrows.
This was an absolutely amazing production. There is one last show tonight, and if you can, you should definitely go see it.
(In case you were curious, like some folks last night were, my sugar skull outfit is by Catalyst Latex).
