I am not a fan of opera. ...which is a little awkward, when dating someone who majored in opera in college. Um.

Christine Lavin has a song about that.

My in-Laws like opera a lot - and I like them very much. I'll check out Puccini.

And we mostly agree on Gilbert & Sullivan.

I think the whole thing started off on a bad foot with me at the appearance of the three ladies, dressed as goths with matching thick hornrim glasses, long braids, and leather skirts/boots/etc. Alternately described (I just found) by a reviewer as "Three Ladies in service to the Queen of the Night: a trio of lecherous Goths who borrow their wardrobe from "The Matrix""

So, yeah, kind of custom designed to annoy me.

Owen is amazing, Cash.

Christine Lavin has a song about that.

...seriously?

the three ladies, dressed as goths with matching thick hornrim glasses, long braids, and leather skirts/boots/etc. Alternately described (I just found) by a reviewer as "Three Ladies in service to the Queen of the Night: a trio of lecherous Goths who borrow their wardrobe from "The Matrix""

Ah. A "new interpretation of the staging." Some can be quite successful--"Live at the Met" did a version of Tosca set in Mussolini's Italy, and it looked very good. But other reinterpretations can be very distracting. "Magic Flute" is a weird work to start off with anyway. I'd recommend "Barber of Seville" or something more straightforward for a first opera.

meara,

The song is called "Good Thing he can't read my mind", and the opera is in one verse.(Other verses talk about skiing and eating sushi)

What's an "art song"?

Uh, don't see Pain & Gain. If you thought you liked anyone appearing in it, I'm pretty sure it's not enough. It's a remarkably unengaging movie. Movies about stupid people should feel more intelligent than their subjects, but this was a bit of "wow, aren't they dumb??" and "can you believe this really happened?" without...without anything else. Johnson and Mackie and Harris and Shalhoub--pretty much everyone turns in a good performance, but it doesn't actually make the comedy work sustainably.

I have not been that bored (I debated leaving, but decided to close my eyes instead) in a theatre in a long time. SADFACE. All the comedy in the trailers.

Oh, and it's also remarkably gross. Dwayne Johnson feeds his amputated toe to a chihuahua. Which turns out to be one of the reasons they get caught. It was too big for the poor thing to eat.

Gilbert & Sullivan is good times.

I'm not really familiar with art songs, but AFAIK they're standalone songs about love and nature and God and uplifting things like that. Anna Russell was a MidCentury performer who trained for opera and made her living doing comedic send-ups of opera and classical singers and Gilbert & Sullivan, and she talked about German and French art songs. I can't remember which is which, but one has glorious music and insipid lyrics, and the other has wonderful lyrics and boring music.

Anna Russels interpretation of Wagner's Ring Cycle is hilarious and quite informative.

edit: as is her "How to Create a Gilbert & Sullivan Operetta" piece.

I'm not a big fan of opera either.

Oh yeah, I like art songs. When I was studying singing in high school, I did a bunch of them. Some German love songs that of course now I can't remember, but my favorite was this Scarlatti.