Never Done: I went to a 2nd grade opera
About six months ago, Josh and I were approached to make a documentary film about a Brooklyn school that pairs up with the Metropolitan Opera Guild to create and perform original operas. This was right up our alley, and we were super interested in it, but it turned out there was no money for the project, and our days of taking jobs with no money are over. But one of the teachers is our neighbor Jimmy, and so even though we didn't get to make the film, we did get progress reports in the evenings as we all put our garbage and recycling out.
The show this year was retelling of classic fairy tales, like Jack and the Empire State Building (featuring my favorite lyric of all time: Fee Fi Fo Forker. I smell the meat of a New Yorker!), and Peter and the Frying Pan (featuring Captain Cook in a chef's hat), and Little Red Apple (who catches a cab to bring her grandmother some hot pizza, but the cab driver really likes apples...) But my plot favorite was The Three Little Pigs, in which the Big Bad Wolf just wanted to borrow sugar so he could make a birthday cake for his mom, and when the pigs said they weren't home, sang Why are people so mean? and then his allergies made him sneeze and accidentally blow the houses over, and then the cops came and wouldn't accept his apology and in the end he decided that next time he would just bake a sugarless cake. Really, how can any of us compete with 2nd grade imaginations?
It was so hot in the auditorium that the wooden chair combined with my body sweat and stained my new sundress. (I came home and washed it and it's OK!) But people were just sweltering in there, and yet completely focused on the performances. I for one had almost no negative mind chatter -- it was pretty much all an experience of sheer delight. I'm not sure what other ethical lessons I learned from being there except maybe that I kept my commitment to going. Right before hand, I was completely busy with something else, and it was incredibly hot out, and I almost opted to get in the shower and stay home to finish my work. But I took the break to do something delightful and still had time to finish my work when I got back. Balance, balance, balance.
This is why I still believe in karma. You went to the opera in spite of everything, you were so hot your dress was stained, but you were rewarded with wonderful creativity and the stains came out! And I got to share in your joy (and skip the heat besides). Thank you, Jenny.
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