We used to go to plays and operas all the time during a nine-week summer festival. The playhouse/opera house was in the Erte style. Over the stage the stone announced “art alone endures.” We “kids” laughed because it looked like art alopee epiduris and have called it that ever since.
Our family went to Vienna to produce a ballet, John Cranko’s choreographed Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev. We stayed at the infamous Sacher Hotel (Sacher Torte’s home) right behind the Staatsoper where they were performing L’elisir d’amore, elixir of love, by Gaetano Donizetti. I didn’t like the opera at all. Perhaps it was jet lag. I’ll try to see his Lucia di Lammermoor before I leave this earth.
We went for tea and sweets every afternoon and saw wonderful things. Dad wouldn’t let me go to the art museum by myself (I was 25 years old) so we saw the Lippizaner horses. Poor dudes, trained like circus animals. I’ve not seen a circus since I was a little kid. I will not go to rodeos, dog or cat shows, and certainly not pit bull frenzies unless I’m under cover. Heck, there is no way a nearly 60 year-old white woman can pull that off!!!
My husband went to his first ballet ever last year and said “that was really good.” Of course it was. My brother produced it and my father was chairman of the board. That was the week before Dad, a musician, entrepreneur and leader died. Now I have to try to get my husband to see an opera. It’s not his thing. I’m thinking La Boheme with supertitles.
Let me know what you think. Art elopee epidures to you, too! Dee
Cooking with Dee 
Why La Boheme? Favorite opera, went to Puccini’s home and because my friend guessed at her ancestry from a photo, Puccini’s granddaughter gave us the grand tour. Dad would have loved this.