Maybe I could have played the Prince! Or something…
Well, mama and papa took their little grandanthro, Margherita, to Cenerentola (Cinderella) by Rossini last night at the Rome Opera House and they can’t stop telling me what fun and how lovely it was.
Even thought they did leave at the intermission…
Margherita became interested in opera (she is 10!) when one of her other nonnas showed her the opening of La Scala in Milan on TV, and so they got tickets for this production, but poor nonna was felled by a cough and no voice and so mama and papa were lucky to go!
Mama is what is called around here Nonna Finta, which means fake nonna because she’s not related by blood, but she and the real nonna (papa’s ex) are very close, which is why she and papa were asked to take over the tickets! And mama says that everyone has always been fascinated by the story of the evil (uh oh) stepmother (mama is one, but it’s not what you think, and certainly not evil, haha) and the two horrible daughters and the sweet little sweeper of cinders.
Mama says that when she was a child, she and her friends played Cinderella and they were always looking for a perfect shoe as a prop, haha, and all they had were their mamas’ shoes, which were really big and didn’t work at all.
Another problem was to decide who was going to be the two mean sisters. So they all traded off, and mama says that being the sisters surprised them with how horrible they could actually be, haha.
Maybe working off a little aggression there, no?
Wait a minute.
Isn’t there a prince in there somewhere? Too bad they didn’t have a Marcus (or other doggy) to fit the shoe!
Mama says they tried to rope in a neighbor’s boy to be the prince but he ran like a bat outta’ hell, haha.
Mama and papa gladly went to this production, but they only realized later that the first part was ONE HOUR AND FORTY FIVE MINUTES and the second part was FORTY FIVE MINUTES!
So they all left after the first long act and were satisfied with that. Besides, mama said, Cinderella goes to the ball all dolled up in the first act and the sisters cut up and the prince is still pretending he is not the prince, having sent a fake prince in his place to case out the eligible sisters he had heard of but they turn out to be really stupid, over-the-top exhibitionists and meanwhile he has run into the cinder-cleaning-girl, who actually is an heiress whose money was stolen by the father of the idiot sisters, and on and on and on…
Mama sort of wished they had cut the production by about an hour and used a fairy godmother instead of the professor/teacher (to the prince) who gave her a coach and new clothes and more.
Hey, it’s over. THAT’S the good news. But anything is fun with grandanthros, mama says.
Like the ones who can’t help but cuddle ME!
*****
And happy, happy birthday to Mya’s mama, Anne!!!
We think that production of Cinderella was a little mixed up. 🙂
Well, it was, and who wants the punch line in the first act?
awwww – Merci Loulou!! I got a little something out of Mama’s birthday yesterday – but it didn’t last long. They went to lunch at Bacchinales and mama was sneaking me food – but a HUGE doggie (the owner’s) wanted his share and I did my ferocious act, so that ended the food-sharing! But an OPERA! WOW!!! Loulou, you and I would have to be Cinderella twins. Not evil stepsisters. Our neighbor, Marie-Claude had a little yorkie and she took him EVERYWHERE when she lived in Lyon. Even to the opera, hidden in her jacket! But they knew he was there, and just pretended not to notice. You think we could get away with that!?
Hey, unless he joined in on the aria, he was probably safe, but your mama sent me the singing doggy video and I think you would be a SINGER, HIDDEN OR NOT!
Sounds like a pretty grand time and Happy Birthday to Anne!
Oh, thank you. We’re so glad she was born!
Mama may understand this story, since we are close in age . When we were in college, a friend and I went to see the movie “Ulysses” (the one with Milo O’Shea.) Afterwards my friend asked why they left the boat out.. (She was an art major. I was English/ journalism)
Uh, oh, mama has to look this one up. She knows there was a boat but…I’ll get back to you, Mary. And I’m not sure you are as old as mama, haha.