Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings
• What do you need

Excellent! An opera fan friend of yours decided it would be really cool to get you to the upcoming performance. You shake with fear all night. It is very difficult to hide the horror that you feel when thinking about this trip to the opera, but take heart - you can quite please your friend and really enjoy the evening!

Steps

1. 1 Get ready in advance. A helpful way to deal with this evening is to bring along a few things that will keep you busy. Here are some suggestions:
   • Use small candies or gum to chew or suck on. Either way, having something sweet in your mouth will help you cope with the sour experience. Expand them in advance (so there is no noise).
   • Stock up on handkerchiefs to sneeze and cough quietly. During the opera, any sound will sound very loud and people will turn around and look at you.
   • Stow a small notebook and pen. You can write down thoughts to kill time. If you like to paint, portray spectators or singers.
   • Before this epic evening, ask your friend what language the opera will be in and bring a mini-dictionary of that language with you. To pass the time, you can play guess the meaning of the word.
   • Take your mp3 player and headphones in a dark color so they won't be visible. If a friend reveals you, you will be in trouble.
2. 2 Dress nicely and elegantly. Going to the opera at least gives you a wonderful opportunity to look your best. Strut proudly in your evening dress in between and look as graceful and educated as you can.
3. 3 Examine the suits. The costumes in the opera are incredibly rich. Rate them, especially look at the materials. Consider how realistic the costumes look and see if there is one particularly cool one that inspires you to fashion ideas for your own wardrobe.
   • You can also analyze the scenery. Think about the work that went into creating them and what creative ways there are to move the sets and how they work. Think about a composer. It can be fun trying to figure out what the composer was thinking when he or she wrote this opera.The program can provide clues, and perhaps you can even build a whole picture of the composer's mood at that time: whether he had personal problems that form the line of the story, and what lesson or moral he was trying to pass on to the future generation.
4. 4 Decide which performer would be good outside of the opera. Opera requires extremely good acting as well as singing. Pick one of the singers who you think would transform well into an actor if they quit singing.
5. 5 Disconnect mentally. Retreat into your thoughts for a little mental gymnastics. If you love meditating, take this opportunity and meditate right in your chair. This is a chance to think about things you usually don't have time for: a list of gifts for friends and family, how to open a crowded mailbox at work, and whether you should buy that new pair of whatever you saw in the shop window. the way to the theater. Or, if you like it more, think about nothing at all, and use this time for complete mental relaxation - you do not need to understand what you see, no one is talking to you, and there are no difficult tasks in front of you, so get out of benefit this! Straighten up, relax and enjoy.
   • Stay relaxed and calm. You will look interested in performing, while you are actually thinking about other things (or nothing at all!).
   • Don't let yourself fall asleep. It will look bad - even worse if you drool - thus losing your friend's trust.
6. 6 Try to get into the spirit of the performance. Open the program and read what this opera is about. She may intrigue you. You might even be interested in how they put the story through the music. At least by understanding the plot, you will be watching the performance, and in the end you might even like it!
   • If there is no program with commentary, you can search for information about the opera on the Internet before the hike, or in the lobby on your smartphone before entering the hall.
   • Ask your friend about the history of the opera. Find out what he or she finds great about the opera and try to understand their point of view as the performance develops on stage. You may find yourself so intrigued that it makes your whole evening interesting.
   • Remember that opera performers have been practicing for many years, and those who perform on stage are the best in their art. Try your best to get into the spirit of the evening by admiring the skills of those on stage.
7. 7 Watch. Half of the enjoyment of opera is the art of how singers interact with audiences. In the plays, there is no guy on stage saying “Yes, I like this girl” pointing to the girl in the lead role. You see how he communicates with her, trying to get her attention, or how he stands and hopes that she herself will notice him. Even if you don't understand the language, understanding what is happening on stage is intuitive. For example, in the second act of "La Traviata", a boy and a girl are happily in love with each other. When a guy is busy and not on stage, his father comes to the girl and says to her, “Hey, you are from too poor a class, and you will ruin our family's reputation if you marry my son. You better get out of here. " She begins to write a letter to her lover, and it is clear that she suffers because of this. Ironically, after she leaves, the father has the audacity to stay and console his son, who is upset with everything that is happening.
8. 8 Distract yourself if the performance is too long. Take a break from the break room and get some fresh air; take a short walk; if you need to yawn, do it in the foyer, appreciate the works of art; and stretch a little before heading back to the gym.
9. 9 At the end of your talk, find a polite way to avoid deep discussion of the opera and any hint that you don't like it. Some answers to help you:
   • “It was fun enough, but I had a hard time understanding the language.I'm not good at Italian. "
   • “It was interesting, but in a special way. I could love opera. "
   • "Wow! What a puzzle! "
   • "Fabulous! Tell me, are you hungry? I would just jump at Bertie’s choux cakes right now. ”
10. 10 Get ready to enjoy it. If you pay attention, you may realize that you actually enjoy opera!

Tips

• Check out books like Stanley Sadie's The Grove Book of Operas for more information on the history of various performances.
• Show respect. Your friend will be very disappointed if you make a fuss out of boredom. Remember that you've seen great artists, most likely some of the best in the field. (Otherwise, they would not have performed on stage).
• There is more eroticism and crime in opera stories than in many cable TV shows. So give it a try and leave your preconceptions at home.
• During the show, resist the urge to play a game ("Bejeweled") on your phone or email your Facebook friends. It will be noticeable, plus theater etiquette suggests that you turn off your phone altogether.
• Check it out anyway. See if this is for you. If not, you can at least say "Hey, I was at the opera!"
• Many top-notch opera houses have subtitles. It is a scrolling translation along the stage showing the words being sung. So you can follow the history without knowing Italian or French.

Warnings

• Don't be offended if your friend notices that you are bored. Just smile and say that you appreciate his interest, but it turns out that opera is simply not yours, but you see clear reasons why your friend loves opera. Think about the next entertainment that you both enjoy. Otherwise, you risk becoming a victim of your friend's choice again.
• Be careful when leaving your chair when you are bored; some opera houses will not allow you to enter back into the hall during the performance, so you can wait in the lobby until intermission.

What do you need

• Distractions like candy
• Suitably assembled bag
• Evening outfit or trendy clothes