L'Opera Bastille

Last weekend I went to see Lady Macbeth de Mzensck at the Opera Bastille. The Opera Bastille is the newer opera house in Paris, and its located right on the Place de la Bastille where the famous prison once stood. In comparison to the other opera houses here in Paris, Bastille is much newer and definitely more modern. It's not necessarily reflected in their repetoire, however. The realisation of the operas however, can be considered more modern.

Lady Macbeth is actually quite a dark opera. It's about a woman, Katerina, who is forced into a life of more or less servitude. She is married to a rich merchant, who she doesn't love, and her every move is watched by her step father. She eventually falls in love with one of the families new workers who is really only after her for the challenge. The story involves a lot of killing and sexiness, but its pretty powerful.

The staging was really cool. The first act took place in a glass house that was surrounded by dirt. Like real dirt. It really reflected how Katerina was caged in and such. And then the second act was in a prison, that had like a foot of water in the bottom. Staging like this could not have happened at a different opera house.

I guess I'm really lucky that my program sets stuff like this up for us. I mean, I went to an OPERA in PARIS. Wowza.