Sitting With Wife In Top Row Of Houston Opera Is As Good As Sitting In Royal Box In Europe

Two days ago I went to the opera with my wife. Though we sat in the very top row of the opera house, the truth is that when I’m with the wife, it is as if I’m sitting in an opera box reserved for a king, a czar, or a grand duke. It makes no difference where we sit. Next to the wife I am in the best seat in the house. 

Above you see a picture of the Royal Box at the Teatro Real in Madrid. (This picture was taken by one Andreas Praefcke.) Sitting  next to the wife in the top row must be just like sitting in that royal box in Madrid. 

My wife is the best person ever.

What the wife and I saw was an operatic adaptation of A Midsummer’s Night Dream at the Wortham Center here in Houston. I told my wife this was the first time I’d ever been to the opera. Though when we were driving to the show, I recalled that I had once seen an operatic version of Voltaire’s Candide at the Dayton, Ohio opera with a former girlfriend. (Please don’t tell the wife this fact.)  

My review of this Houston Opera show is as follows—-There was a great deal of singing and the performers were all in costume. The subtitles shown at the top of the stage were of great help. The wife and I had a fine time and we may well go again.

Here is a review of this show from the Houston Chronicle.

Here is a history of opera. This history says that opera began in Italy in the early 1600’s.  

Below you see a newspaper illustration from 1888. The people in the opera box are quite sophisticated at the performance. But later in the night they get drunk and whoop it up.