The second time is no harm

For the first 41 1/2 years of my life, I never attended an opera (unless you count The Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, which I would rather not). This month, I've attended two, and I can't decide if this means I'm more mature, more open-minded, or just looking to bide time until the Red Sox start playing again.

Truth is, if there was ever a time for me to delve into the opera, doing so while living in Prague and visiting other places in central Europe is as good a time as any. Germany, Austria, Hungary and the Czech Republic all boast state opera houses, and Prague in particular is a hotbed of classical music with world-class artists visiting from around the world.

So last Friday, I took the plunge by attending a performance of Carmen, which is also known as "The World's Only Famous French Opera" and "The Opera With The Music From The Bad News Bears." For those of you unfamiliar with the story, an officer falls in love with a gypsy, who in turn falls for a bullfighter, which leads to the dramatic climax where the officer is thrown out at home plate trying to score the tying run against the Yankees. And then everyone pours beer all over each other.

The venue was the Narodni Divadlo, or National Theater. This building took 13 years to build, and slightly more than two to rebuild; a fire destroyed the place two months after it opened in 1881, was ready for business again in November 1883, and has been open ever since. The gold lettering above the stage reads "NAROD SOBE" -- "The nation for itself," a motto used as a rallying cry while collecting enough money to rebuild the theater so quickly.

National Theater, right, as seen from Petrin Hill.

The night began with the Special Assistant to the Blogger and I eating dinner across the street from the theater at Cafe Slavia, the historic haunt of former president Vaclav Havel and other intellectuals and artists who once dined there and discussed intellectual things, artsy things, and intellectually artsy things. (By going here, the SAB and I violated our rule of going to places that advertised "Traditional Czech Cuisine" in English. You know where else they serve traditional Czech cuisine? Other places in the Czech Republic that don't have to advertise as such in English.)

The theater itself, as you might imagine, is immaculate. Lots of red, lots of gold, compact circular layout, and a lovely ornate roof. You know how I know about the latter? Because our seats were a handful of meters below it. Despite my best efforts to put my fear of heights aside and stop sweating, I left my seat after 15 minutes out of fear that I would otherwise cramp up and interrupt a stirring rendition of "Habanera." So I spent the first two acts against the back wall of the second gallery, and the final two acts sitting on the stairs so I could stretch my legs.

Nonetheless, I shall return. Lord knows there will be plenty of other opportunities.