L'Enfant et les Sortilèges

Last night J and I went to see a one-act opera by Ravel called L'Enfant et les Sortilèges. It was by far the strangest opera I have ever witnessed. It was also the rudest opera audience ever.

For example, people brought their children and didn't immediately take them to the lobby when they started acting up. Grown people whispered to each other constantly. The young couple next to me must have had ADD or something - the guy put his head in his arms on the back of the (luckily empty) chair in front of him, and she relentlessly flipped through her program and at one point held it up in an attempt to read the ads. A-nnoy-ing.

The music was very nice. The story, though, was simply odd. It's about a young boy who apparently has psychotic tendencies as he enjoys cutting off squirrel's tails, pinning dragonflies to things, killing bats, locking up small animals, destroying property, etc.

The best part about the production was the animal costumes. There were frogs and bats and bugs - pretty interesting parts to see played at an opera.

Spoiler Alert: In the end the little boy learns his lesson. The End.