tosca is very good. it's short on the long drawn out let-me-share-my-undying-love-for-you songs and big on the action. after almost getting raped in an indecent proposal type situation tosca stabs scarpia and says/screams/sings, "die in damnation!" she goes back to tell her lover, mario, that she's saved him and that his execution will be faked so they can run away together. but it turns out the bullets were real and the evil scarpia has managed to ruin their lives from beyond the grave. tosca can't take this and throws herself off the cliff. end scene. it's quite dramatic. i think if there was an opera you could convince a boy to go to, it may actually be this one.

my mom talks to me about things when we go to the opera that she never talks about anywhere else. tonight she told me stories about this old evil pinkhaired landlord they had when they lived in lafayette. she apparently had to consult her cats on whether or not my mom was a good choice for a tenant. i think my mom is having so much fun when we go that she just bursts out of her introvert shell in ways i never see otherwise. this is about 60% of what makes going to the opera so much fun.