Top o’ The Mornin’ – Cochin, India – [03/17/2015]

Posted on March 18, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

celtic_dreams_by_lovesredrose-d77genuTop o’ the morning…

And the bottom of the glass to you all.

In honesty I don’t celebrate St Patrick’s day very heavily when I am not on the ship; at least, I don’t recall that I do, but since I’ve spent every March 17th in recent history ship-side it’s possible that I may have forgotten my own traditions!

Either way, I have too much respect for my own – rather mild – Irish heritage to see it degraded into an excuse to drink emerald coloured beer. After all, the day is actually celebrating the driving of the Druids out of the Emerald Isle, but as usual, I digress.

On ship? Whether you tend towards it in the ‘real world’ or not, St Patrick’s day becomes a full on, boisterous, wearin’ o’ the green. And, theatre girl that I am, I go big, or stay home.

Last year we were required to wear the emerald green sequened tail coats (they loan them to us from the dining room), this year…I asked for one. Sadly, they couldn’t find me a small, so I spent about 45 minutes on my cabin floor with a needle and thread doing temporary alterations so that the ridiculously garish garment would fit me. Normally I would not be caught dead in that much bling, but in this particular case, put that …thing…over a pale green cocktail dress, add the right shoes, the right make-up (thank you Amras and Alasse for picking me up emerald green eyeliner what seems like so long ago), fasten a “kiss me, I’m irish” bow in my hair…and presto, instant leprechaun.

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Golden Divinity – Thiwala, Myanmar – [03/10/2015]

Posted on March 10, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAEvery crew tour is a little different, but their chaotic beginnings almost always seem to be the same. We’re never quite sure where the bus is, no one else seems to be either, and the one person who is sure is usually running madly about trying to make sure that we have packed lunches – and hoping that said lunches haven’t mysteriously disappeared from the Crew Mess where they were being stored for pick-up.

Because we’re still in Code Red the Hotel Director popped into the bus before the tour began and warned us all to be careful what we ate while ashore and to make sure that we washed our hands at regular intervals…he cares about everyone on board, and he wants to make sure we stay safe and healthy, which is something we’re all grateful for.

Then there is always the inevitable crew member who is a few minutes late, or some other reason that departure seems to be delayed – which just seems to be a part of whatever tour, no matter what. But at last, we finally did get underway.

My first thought as we rattled and bounced our way through the arid and narrow streets is that Myanmar seems to be a country that is dying even as it lives. It’s dry season, and there seems to be nary a spec of green. Even the palm trees seem dry and dusty, as if they’ve been crisped under the heat and have forgotten what colour they are supposed to be. The country seems to be wilting under it’s own sun. Nature’s grandeur at the end of its cycle. But as I’ve noticed with so many other places that I have been privileged enough to visit, there is a beauty here – even if it is a touch singed by the Burmese sun.

I remember, standing on a roadside in Puerto Rico once, looking out over the slums of the city with Amras,

That’s how about half the world lives Sis…aren’t we the lucky ones

Oh yes, oh yes we so very much are…sometimes I forget that, and it takes something like looking out a bus window at dusty brown and tumbledown ramshackle to drive it back home again…

Once we reach Shwedagon Pagoda – I found myself in a position that is rather rare for me as a writer – I was lost for words.

Firstly, the temple complex is massive. In the 45 minute fly stop we had there was nowhere near enough time to see it all. And everywhere you look is gold, gold as far as the eye can see; I’m told that when the sun sets it looks like it’s turned to molten. I found myself feeling like Aladdin in the cave of wonders

Just a handful of this stuff would make me richer than the Sultan

And yet, I can’t help but think…in a country with this little…that one roof…it could make so many smaller ones. Not that I should dare to question a culture or it’s priorities but…I can’t help but wonder…

Anyway it’s not about the wealth, there is something about the place that makes it about so much more than that.

They also require you to remove your shoes before you enter the temple complex. It’s been a long time since I went barefoot, and the temple platform is located in direct sunlight. I wasn’t the only one who learned to walk on her toes very quickly, and not to step on the green tiles (the dark colour must absorb the heat more than the light).

Once our visit to the temple was over – far too quickly – we loaded back into the bus and made our way to the sprawling expanse of Scott’s Market. I will admit I would have been in a better position to enjoy the market – which was complete with a line of 7-year old nuns filing through the stalls looking for donations – if by that point the extreme Myanmar heat hadn’t been starting to get the better of me, the world was starting to swim ever so slightly in front of my eyes, and I was seeking out shade more than I was jewelry. I am – at heart – a northern girl (okay, the west of Canada is not nearly as ‘north’ as the rest of the country, but still, I’m not built for extreme heat levels) and the temperature today was topping out at 101F. That’s not just hot, that’s boil-a-lobster…

Having never had a fantastic tolerance for the sun, I was just as glad when the bus rattled it’s way home and deposited us back to the blessed A/C of the ship…

 

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Bypassed Glory – At Sea – [03/06/2015]

Posted on March 7, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

queen_of_the_nile_by_enchantedwhispers-d65ldlfI can’t honestly say that the letter slipped under everyone’s door surprised me when it arrived beneath mine. In this line of work, you learn to spot an itinerary change memo before you even pick it up from the floor. That said, I was slightly startled to find it was Egypt we were bypassing – not Myanmar, as that is the one that everyone has been asking about (although, in truth, our sister ship has been making calls at Myanmar regularly with no trouble at all – I know this, because Amras would have told me if it were otherwise since he’s on that ship).

But I wasn’t too startled to lose Egypt, not really. There is so much unrest in that area of the world that it’s just not worth risking heading into the mire. Naturally, there are a fair few ruffled feathers at the decision, but the cancellation of a port – let alone three ports – is not something that the line takes lightly, and the has so much going on behind the scenes that we will never be aware of before such a decision is even reached.

So the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings are not in the cards for us. The Temple of Luxor will not bless our ears with its ghostly whispers, and I will still not see Karnak. I’m okay with that though, really – I’ve come to realize just how much better safe is than sorry in such things. Besides, I am among the lucky ones who have seen the pyramids, and the valley, and even the Cairo museum – in some cases on more than one occasion. While I would always welcome the chance to return, I can live without their lessons for one season.

In place of the Sphynix and Cleopatara we have gained two ports in Iseral (which I am actually excited about as it means the possibility of finally visiting the Dead Sea), and one call in my favourite port in Sicily. Heaven knows I’ll trade Egypt for Europe any day!

 

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Can You Read My Mind? – Singapore – [03/04/2015]

Posted on March 4, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAYou know you have an amazing manager when she agrees to give you an extra hour off so that you can have more time for your semi-annual theme park escape. True story. I swear! There is one thing I can always say, the flagship team – in some ways – knows me very, very well.

There was no question that I would go to Universal Studios, it’s become tradition, and with this week marking the half-way point of the entire voyage, I found myself in need of the complete break from reality. The park, as usual, was sweltering- there’s a reason I was saying to everyone that I was saving my heat-tolerance (which isn’t great) for today.

I did break somewhat with tradition this time, in that I didn’t go alone. One of my team-mates has a similar theme park weakness to me, and so jumped at the chance to ride the cable cars over to the world of the movies.

I was actually surprised at just how empty Sentosa itself was. Normally, even early in the morning, I find myself slaloming through crowds to get from one end of the island to the other. Today the people were so thin on the ground that picture that you would normally never stand a chance at getting a clear shot at were easily accomplished! They had decorated the main island in celebration of the recent Chinese New Year, so there were splashes of red and gold and hanging lanterns everywhere. I would love to see what it looks like at night as I’m sure a lot of those lanterns will light up.

Making our surprisingly quick way past the ticket booths and finding ourselves on the small scale reproduction of a busy New York City street we looked at each other and ask where to first….

Much to my continued disappointment the Battlestar Galetica dueling rollercoasters are still closed, for what appears to be indefinite refurbishment as they have been closed for at least two – if not three- years now. Everything else was open though. And this year I was finally brave enough to discover what I had been missing by skipping the Revenge of the Mummy ride all those seasons before. It wasn’t until I went on the one in LA that I realized it was a dark-coaster, which I love, and as seemed to be the case in most places today there were virtually no lines! Usually the line for Mummy is 45 minutes! We walked straight on! Chalk one up to theme park karma.

Of course, whenever I make my way to Universal there is my ongoing battle with a certain water rapids ride. This time, I was determined. Therefore, I informed my companion that she had one duty today, should she choose to accept it – she was to make me keep my eyes open. This may have something to do with the fact that a certain somebody made rather a point of making fun of me for refusing to keep them open before this (thanks a bunch Big Brother!); and keep them open I did. Although, I have to admit…the ride was more intimidating when I kept them closed. Because – as is often the case – what you can come up with in your own imagination to go with the narrative the ride provides is much better than even the best audio-animatronics. BUT now I can say I did it…so there. Ha.

Though I will also admit that the whole time my imagination was screaming at me “it’s a big bloody dinosaur and IT’S GONNA EAT ME!”

Get the swat team!

We don’t have TIME for the swat team!

Perhaps that’s why I was so overly pleased when I ordered a snack for lunch that was in the shape of dinosaurs (what?! Kids’ meals are cheaper, and come with free stuff! I finally have a lanyard for my keys now!) And they were shaped like dinosaurs! I found this highly amusing for some reason).

Side note: I have never understood the appeal of the Jurassic Park movies. They’re all the same plot! Resurrect dinosaur, dinosaur gets loose, chases people, eats people, gets caught, gets killed, park closes. Park is miraculously reopened by the time the next movie takes place and not only have they not learned from the events of the previous movie, they’ve made worse ones! ….I don’t get it…

I like the rides that go with it though!

We got extremely lucky with characters, as there are not normally many out in this park.

As is far too often the case, I find myself unable to pass the souvenir shop in ‘Ancient Egypt’ without walking out with something. My excuse this time is that my statuette of Bastet that I usually travel with is now missing an ear, and I’m worried about her getting damaged further, so I didn’t bring her with me – so I got a replacement. Hey, it could have been worse, they have some lovely jewelry there.

Way more money than either of us had intended, we crawled gratefully into the air conditioning of the island’s Hard Rock Café for our one drink of the day. This is where I first got hooked on the Hard Rock’s pomegranate martini, and thankfully it is still as yummy as I remember it. I didn’t add the glass to my collection however, as 1) I was out of money for the day and 2) I already have a glass from Singapore.

There are a lot of people who never quite understand my dependence on theme parks. The simplest explanation I can really give is this: sometimes, when the job gets to be too much and the homesickness is almost crippling, the best cure in the world is to grab someone by the hand and go be a kid for a while…

 

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In Soaking Wet Tribute – At Sea – [03/03/2015]

Posted on March 2, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

King_neptune_and_his_queen_by_candra-d4z82zgJump in a lake
Slide in the rain
When I’m dry start over again
Surf on a board, sail in the wind
LET’S GET SOAKED TO THE SKIN

Hear ye, hear ye…’tis once again time for King Neptune to board our fair vessel and grant us rightful passage from one side of the equator to the other.

Which means it’s time for everyone involved to get very very slimy, and very very wet.

I’m actually not sure how many Crossing the Line Ceremonies I have now participated in, but this one was by far, the best. The weather was the perfect middle-ground ,not too hot, but not so cold that the people who were sent to “bake” were better off than the people in the pool! The ship’s staff was cruel this year, with most people being sent to the rocks instead of into the drink…until of course, we got to the entertainment department.

Captain we do not wish you to be mean, but look at the pool, it’s just way too CLEAN

When our hapless stagehands hit the tables I looked at my fellow medic and she looked at me.

How are you at lifting?

And we each grabbed one end of the tub of multi-coloured goo and tipped the whole thing over our final ‘patient’, much to the glee of the audience who were only a few steps away from us. Entertainment ended up in the drink.

And then something…rather unexpected happened.

Y’see, it’s always been tradition that the medics take the plunge at the end of the ceremony, if only because we are by that point completely covered in pink, green and blue slime (and in my case, I even had it on my face this year, because one of my pollywogs fought back!), but that’s usually where the line is drawn. There is however, always a bit of a joke about it…as we were all lining the sides of the pool waiting for the Cruise Director’s final words, we were somewhat surprised to hear

And now for a tradition so tried, true and cool, let’s try and get the Captain into the pool…

And we all burst out laughing, and everyone starts beckoning towards the ship’s staff, and lo and behold, our dear captain holds up his hands in defeat, removes his name tag, watch etc etc, and dives head first into the pool. I think he actually got slimed first. This led to something of an onset of hilarious insanity, two of us slimed the Hotel Director, who then proceeded to chase me around the pool, and ultimately throw me into the pool (at least I think it was him, it may have been one of my team mates), and by the time I spluttered to the surface the entire ship’s staff was in the water (in full uniform), as well as all the medics, all the freshly christened shellbacks, half the pirates…and even King Neptune himself, and the Cruise Director, who both went in in full costume. And last but not least, Jersey, our travel guide who never gets in the water because she always has a lecture afterwards took the plunge near the end. By which point the captain had hoisted himself out of the water, only to shrug, turn around and execute a perfect dive back in again just as the band hit its final note of the morning.

There are many many pictures that the guests will have snapped of us all treading water at the deep end of the pool, grinning somewhat maniacally and trying desperately not to laugh.

All things being equal, I think we can be pretty assured of a safe passage from His Majesty this season…

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Family Reunions – Semarang, Indonesia – [03/01/2015]

Posted on February 28, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

kindred_spirits_by_enchantedwhispersart-d859tc7Just when the ship is getting dreary and tired, and we are near to the mid-point of the cruise which always brings a slump, something happens that brings us all back to life.

We pull into Indonesia.

And half the crew gets to see home. And the energy level on the ship goes to an entirely different kind of volume.

There is really no explaining what it feels like to see the ship suddenly come alive with children, with families, when you suddenly hear tiny footsteps running everywhere and high-pitched giggles echoing down the hallways. They bring joy back to this ship, just when it is sometimes starting to go missing.

I have the highest of respect for my fellow crew-mates; most of whom complete much longer contracts and work much longer hours than myself. I consider myself beyond blessed to be in the entertainment department, and to therefore be only separated from my loved ones for four to six months at a time. For many, today will be the first time they’ve seen their loved ones in a year, sometimes more. I can’t imagine what that must be like.

What I do know, is I can’t really think of a better way to celebrate the fact that tomorrow is the halfway point of the cruise…

From here on in? it’s all a slow coast downhill….

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Racing, Racing, Racing – At Sea – [02/28/2015]

Posted on February 28, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

Woman resourcesWhen you’re racing with the clock
When you’re racing with the clock
And the second hand doesn’t understand
That your back may break
And your fingers ache
And your constitution isn’t made of rock
It’s a losing race when you’re racing with the
Racing racing racing with the clock

I know that some will have been wondering what has been causing my near radio silence this season; but the simple truth is this: work has kept me too busy to write, and there has been little to write about.

The temperature in this area of the world sadly pens me mostly indoors (me and heat are a very bad combination), so the majority of my port days are spent curled up with a book or watching the meditative flicker of a needle pulling coloured thread through cloth (I have made so much progress this season!). And as for my work days? Well, the time that I get to sit down is rare, except for a few blessed hours in the evening that I carve out for myself.

Busy , busy busy!

But not unhappy! Just…a little over run.

It’s also worth noting that March is looming in front of us, and with March comes the ever-regular mid-season slump when things sometimes start going a little strange around here…

In short: I do apologise for the silence; and I promise once I stop juggling books, sewing needles, broken computers, prize vouchers and book club guides, I will get back to writing.

In the meantime, I truly hope you are all well, and wish you – as always – fair winds and following seas.

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Little Lady – At Sea – [02/24/2015]

Posted on February 28, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

virtual-personal-assistantEvery so often you get one of this instances that makes you somewhat preen, even though it’s really such a small thing and not particularly preen-worthy.

You would think that in this day and age, the “little lady” attitude (as in “don’t you worry your pretty li’l head about it little lady, this is men’s business”), would have fallen by the wayside. We all know, however, that it hasn’t. And it’s just as prominent in my field as anywhere else. I never used to notice it much, after all, librarian is a field one somewhat expects girls to be in (to be fair, the few guys on the librarian team probably notice the same attitude only reversed) – but tech? Tech is all too often considered not to be a “girlie” field. And since I’ve taken over the internet position, I’ve noticed a sharp upswing in people who simply refuse to believe that yes I not only can resolve a great many of their technical problems, but it is in fact my job to do so.

Now, I’m very lucky, the ITO on board (who is awesome) has desk hours once a day in the afternoons to help take the pressure off the worst of my peak times. If there is a problem I am unable to fix I can redirect it to him, but that doesn’t stop the fact that I’m able to handle most of it myself.

Anyway, this morning, a gentleman comes up to me and asks – as many people do – if the “internet guy” is going to be in any time soon.

Now, this is a question I get a lot – some people have really complicated computer problems and have been working with the ITO the whole cruise, and some aren’t even aware that there isn’t an internet manager anymore. But sometimes, it’s the tone…the tone that totally dismisses me as the secretary and goes looking for the “man in charge”. So I quirk my head to one side and explain that the ITO won’t be in till later today, but the internet is basically my job so perhaps I can assist him.

And he looks at me blankly.

Either one of us can help you sir, what seems to be the trouble?

And he looks at me, and I swear it feels like he looks me up and down, and again, dismisses me.

Well. It’s a technical issue.

And I can’t help it, I feel my eyes go flat in reaction to that “you couldn’t possibly help little lady” tone, just for a second. And when I respond it’s in that slightly overly chipper voice.

Try me.

And he hands over his tablet and explains what’s wrong, and I can immediately see the issue is way simple. So I flip into his settings, adjust one slider and one switch (which takes about five seconds) and turn the screen around to face him;

That better sir? Looks like your brightness settings just needed to be adjusted, you can turn off auto-adjust to prevent it happening again, if the device thinks its battery is dying or it’s getting low on memory the first thing it does is dim the screen because the display is a massive battery drain

He looked suitably shocked…and even apologized for doubting my competence.

Little lady indeed….

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Lollipops and Roses – At Sea – [02/14/2015]

Posted on February 19, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

Chocolate_by_Juli_SnowWhiteTea? Check

Chocolates? Check

Roses? Check

Chick Flicks? Check

Operation survive ship-board valentine’s day is once again a go…

Actually, Valentine’s Day has treated me exceptionally – surprisingly – well this year. Despite my love/hate relationship with the “day before cheap chocolate”. Simple terms: I got spoiled, really spoiled.

I was rather stunned when one guest handed me a pound bag of Lindt chocolates (the good kind…the…I’d-better-just-forget-I-have-these-or-I-will-gain-ten-pounds-and-possibly-become-diabietic-kind), and another handed me a box of See’s chocolates (which I know the guests were given in their rooms as a Valetine’s gift, but that totally not the point). Between that, the two boxes of mint thins I picked up at the store yesterday, and the various films I have in the queue (I believe I have a date with a dashing english poet this evening)…I suspect I’m going to sail through this year with relatively few bumps and bruises.

I’ve said before that this is an odd day on the ship, and it is. There are a lot of emotions to be sensitive to, so for the most part we’ve kept it very low key. Although there are hearts everywhere, and for those that are interested in flowers and chocolates and such there are certainly plenty of chances to aquire them!

We’ll have the Valentine’s Day Ball this evening, and just before dinner the team assembled to drape everything that could be seen in swathes of red and glimmering hearts as far as the eye can see (although they’ve done away with the fanci-fetti, which I already miss, because despite the fact that it got everywhere it did produce a magical effect under the lights).

For the first time this season I dug out the Whiplash Special (yes, that, dress) and wrestled my now nearly-overly-long locks into something resembling an elegent up-do (I’m usually tempted to just leave my hair down, but I can always hear Mum’s voice in my head…) and eased my aching feet into the dorothy specials – fire engine red spike heels that would do put any pair of ruby slippers to shame.

Apparently when I went past the photography studio the photog on duty had no idea who I was. Ran into a friend of mine at the ball later in the evening who raised her glass to me and said,

You realize that Clicks had no idea who you were

Huh? Seriously?

Seriously.Totally thought you were a guest…why do you think he took so many shots?

I did…kind of wonder

Yeah, and then you walked away and he was like ‘who was that’ and everyone around him went…’you don’t know who that was? Really? That was Shaughnessy…you know…the Librarian…works down the hall”

I laughed. Apparently I was in disguise without even knowing it.

 

 

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Poor Butterfly – Sydney, Australia – [02/10/2015]

Posted on February 10, 2015 by GypsyShaughnessy

madama_butterfly_locandina“She who cannot live with honour. Dies with honour”

I am told that the last time I saw Madama Butterfly I was a toddler, I’m not sure how old, you would have to ask my Mum – who told me the story so much growing up that I can almost convince myself I remember it when in fact I don’t remember a thing! Apparently I was contentedly watching something on television (it must have been a public broadcast of some kind), when I turned to her and in all seriousness asked her why the sailor didn’t want to marry the nice Japanese lady.

Mum has always said that that was one of the moments she realized she was in big trouble…

I’m digressing again…

Seeing an opera at the Sydney Opera House has been on my bucket list for years, heck, seeing anything at the Opera House has been on my bucket list! I missed The Magic Flute; I couldn’t afford Carmen, heck I couldn’t even get tickets for my favourite stand-up comedian when he played the Opera House four seasons back! So when I found out that this season Opera Australia was remounting Madama Butterfly? I didn’t care what the ticket price was (and yes, it’s true, I probably couldn’t really afford it, but I could squeak it by)…I was going.

Actually it seems that about half the ship went! But only a small handful of crew arranged to go on our own as opposed to going with a ship-escorted tour. So we got all dolled up in our nearly-best (none of us quite felt like going the full ballgown route to the opera…as much fun as that could have been) and sauntered the ten or fifteen minutes around Circular Quay – stopping multiple times along the way to take pictures and eat chocolate – from the ship to the Opera House.

We swiftly discovered that the seats we had thought were towards the rear of the theatre were quite the opposite, we were two rows from the front! Now, to me…this is a good thing, because it means I can almost fall into the stage (And since I knew I wasn’t going to understand a word of what they were saying closer was better for me), but it also meant we were two rows back from the pit…and I will forever be an admirer of the band, so being in a position where I can see “both worlds” (that is to say I can look at the stage and see the actors, and then shift my gaze down and see the dancing fingertips of the first chair violin)? That…is a recipe for perfection for me.

Of course, we were out of range of the surtitles…well, technically…they were pretty much directly above our heads, which was actually more than I expected because our tickets clearly said that we wouldn’t be able to see them at all. It did mean a bit of a sore neck though, since you catch yourself glancing upwards more often than you think you will.

Me and opera have an odd relationship, I find that as much as I would love to rapid-translate the words, I honestly don’t mind the fact that I can’t understand Italian, with a performance as strong as this, you know what’s going on. And the plot of Butterfly – though I have no idea how I knew what was going on as a child – is fairly straight forward. Girl falls in love, girl gets duped, guy is an unabashed moron, who realizes his folly way too late…girl dies tragically (that last bit is pretty common to most operas I think, I’ll admit to not knowing opera well, so I don’t know if there’s one out there where the heroine lives…but usually? No.)…it’s relatively easy to let your mind’s ear fill in the blanks; a bride’s fear on her wedding night is the same in any language, a broken heart, a broken life, all universal…English or not.

“I told you! Be wary! For she believes us!”

I have sympathy for Butterfly, I do…but at the same time, I do not. Butterfly is the ultimate example of love being blind and stupid…and overly stubborn. She is only 15 when she marries (which is sometimes difficult to believe given that no one that young could ever sing the part, but that’s not the point), and when it becomes clear to everyone around her that the marriage is a sham and that her “husband” is never returning she has every chance to legitimately salvage her life in a way that would – by the culture of her time – cause her relatively little shame. She does not do so; and she perishes at her own hand because of it.

No, the person I sympathize with the most in the whole sorry tragedy is Suzuki, Butterfly’s maid and probably best friend – who is much smarter than anyone gives her credit for and is not only responsible for trying to make something out of nothing as far as the house’s finances are concerned (“mistress, this is the last”), but has to carry the constant burden of putting on a brave face for her mistress when she can clearly see the severity of the situation, and then on top of all that is handed the responsibility of telling Butterfly that Pinkerton has abandoned her for a nice stable American wife…knowing what her reaction will probably be, because well…best friends know each other, but being completely unable to talk her out of it.

So, so tragic on so many levels…

And spectacularly acted. Despite the lack of spoken dialogue (not even recitative), this was an opera that was acted, and acted well. Only once was there an instance of an aria being sung from the middle of the stage with a pause for applause – and that was expected, because Butterfly’s aria is one of Puccini’s most famous, even non-opera people like me recognize it. Despite the fact that Butterfly is meant ot be a teenager (“fifteen, the age for sweets and games”), she is played by a much older performer, she would have to be – the part carries the whole show and she rarely leaves the stage; and this worked heavily in the production’s favour in the second act, when – three years abandoned by the man she loves – Butterfly has aged before her time. The heart wrenching moment when she fills the house with flowers anticipating Pinkerton’s return, only to wait all night and find he does not come…when a single, solitary flower tumbled from her hair…her face said everything, though her lips never moved. It was worth being so close to the stage simply to see that expression.

And, as a friend of mine who attended with us said, you have to “hand it to Puccini”, as, in its final scenes, Butterfly does not indulge in what I have oft considered the most frustrating tradition of opera. Butterfly does not sing as she dies. She takes the audience head on, lets the blade catch the light, and lets her actions speak for themselves…

The performance more than deserved the partial (though a large portion) standing ovation it received (I, personally, waited for the actress who played Suzuki to take her bow before I stood, so did several others) – though it was funny to be standing where you could see down into the pit, where all the musicians were looking up at us, some of them clearly wondering how long they were going to have to stand there…

I have the funny feeling I understood the opera better when I (apparently) watched it as a child and must have not known what I was understanding…but…I am so so very glad I was able to attend at all!

Though…I will admit…I still don’t understand…

Why didn’t the sailor want to marry the nice Japanese lady??

 

Posted in 30 Things, Entertainers, Grand World Voyage 2015, Ports of Call, Theme Events | 2 Comments