I went to the MoMA this past week and checked out the Tim Burton exhibit. Most of the time I was admiring the work I was thinking "This is one twisted guy." Everything seemed to be out of a twisted parallel universe. There was so much in the exhibit, I couldn't help but wonder "How did he come up with so much stuff?" I noticed a lot of his imaginary creatures seemed to be combinations of various "alien" characteristics like antennas and many eyes. At the same time, they didn't seem to be random combinations.

My first reaction to the opera was "What language are they speaking?! Why isn't it Russian?!" I was actually looking forward to understanding what was being said at the performance. I suppose romance languages are pretty popular among theatre. And even if they are speaking English, there's always an accent, probably British. But I digress. As a lot of you guys said, the background was a depressing gray and was simple yet effective. It served the purpose to show the bleakness of the prison and how it's the polar opposite of luxury.

   Before entering the Metropolitan Theatre, I was excited because this was my first opera as to the many first time events I have been to in our IDC class. I loved the atmosphere from the outside being very grand to inside being cozy as well as luxurious. The theatre was packed and our seats were considerably nice. The opera began instantaneously; it took me by surprise even when I was looking at the stage the whole time. The curtains went up immediately and it began with a very gray and dark stage, where I only saw the glimpse of a few prisoners for the first few moments.

I've always had the same vision of a typical opera. A rather large lady with a bun so enormous that it barely stays on top of her head stands centerstage. With her hands held together at the center of her chest, she begans to sing at atypical ranges in a language unknown to the audience. She ends with a long high note, and the crowd gathers in applause, yet having no idea as to what they've just witnessed. The House of the Dead proved my perception completely false. The first aspect of this opera that caught me off guard was the huge cast of men.