Taking Grams to the Opera

Last Saturday I took my grandma to a performance by the New York Chinese Opera Society. It wasn't my idea, in fact it was my first time at the opera! My grandmother's obviously a fan, but she admits that it's because she took a class on the symbolic intricacies of the performer's movements, pitch and inflection. Luckily the stage had a projector with the Chinese subtitles and English translation, otherwise there would have been no way that I'd be able to understand the plot. I was straining my ears to catch the words. Even native Chinese have a difficult time understanding the performers' words because they deliver the lyrics in such a high sing-song style! 

An example (cover your ears):

Getting ready!!!

There were three separate acts, the first was a playful romance between a maiden and a shepherd, the second was a terrible slaughter by Cao Cao (from Three Kingdoms), and the last was an adaption of the seduction of Bathsheba by King David. I found the last one very interesting everything about it was Chinese except for the fact that the characters were named 巴士巴 and 大卫王 -- the idea of forbidden love (with or without its Biblical origins) is a tempting recurring theme in drama!

I thoroughly enjoyed taking my grandma to the opera... it's not very often that we get to spend time one-on-one, and I'm sure I'll cherish this memory for years to come.