A Night At the Opera

We've been watching excepts from quite a few operas in class, and recently, a few musicals as well. While I can certainly appreciate the talent and hard work that goes into the production and performance of an opera, and I fully understand why it is an art form held in high regard, I'm just not a real fan. Sure the stories are often very good, whether they're tragic or uplifting. Sure the sets are often very ornate and real wonders to behold. However, it's the singing that ultimately turns me off. While I'm not a huge fan of musicals either, I can better tolerate them, as the singing that they feature is much more traditional. Operatic singing feels to me like it is more style than substance. It is characterized by an obligatory and unique technique (the drawing-out of syllables and direct transformation of words into vocal demonstrations). It just seems that the technique gets in the way of the performance, and causes me to lose interest quickly. I'm sure many others would completely disagree with me, telling me that it is that technique that makes opera what it is. They are probably right, but I just don't go for it. Well, that's just my two cents on opera.