The day on Feb.8th was shiny pleasure and with special expectation as it was my first time to watch a real opera. Of course, I was excited and longing to see it. The opera was played in the new opera center, named Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami downtown, built last September. My personal experiences there as transportation circumstance, parking problem, the building describing of the center and my own feeling about this opera will be stated in detail as follows.
The opera named LA SONNAMBULA, The Sleepwalker in English, started at 7:30pm in Carnival Center for the Performing Arts; audience might seat well half an hour early to wait though. If you were not able to find the right location in downtown, you could check it in detail by Mapquest.com. I got downtown by driving. It took about 25 minutes from my home where was around Florida International University. I did not like being downtown because it had been messy since it was being remodeled all the time. The path was easy to be misdirected due to the incomplete direction signs. If unlucky, accidents would happen by those. I highly recommended finding a friend or classmate who was familiar there to guide.
After I got downtown and circled around the street, finally I found the garage of Performing Arts center. The garage was convenient but not cheap. The cost was divided into two types-regular and irregular. Regular price was 6 dollars per hour while irregular price was over 20 dollars per day. Definitely I chose regular one to pay. My friend had told me that it was possible to find a free parking. I was not able to find any though because I did not familiar with the direction and was afraid to loss or miss the beginning of the opera.
When I walked out of garage and crossed two streets, I finally saw the building of playing operas-Carnival Center for the Performing Arts. It was built last September cost $446 million. "It is a big project for a big international city. One of the most complex projects ever constructed in South Florida," said Miami-Dade Country Manager George Burgess. With two large main theaters-the 2,400-seat Sanford and Dolores Ziff Ballet Opera House and the 2,200-seat Knight Concert Hall, the center was a striking piece of architecture with the two theaters bisected by Biscayne Boulevard, creating an impression of two cruise ships passing in the city's nearby turquoise waters. When I walked into one of the theaters, the gorgeous hall caught my first sight. It was spacious and prominent. The floor was paved with some kind of marble shinning the visitors. Moving into the room, the dramatic design of interiors in detail was not behind the exteriors. A reddish gold specially commissioned curtain in the opera house, the prominent use of wood throughout the concert hall. Also, the private rooms were available on each side of the room, if requested.
Waiting for over half an hour after I sat, the speech of the director had been given in the beginning; then the soft music started along with exquisitely beautiful melody. The performance was starting. Actors and Actresses all were professional. They used various color in the voice and represented a simple villager's story- a sleepwalker, named Amina acted by Leah Partridge. She completely reflected the essential meaning of this performance-simplicity. She dressed a snow white gown to sing with plentiful emotion, especially the part in the first scene when she was separating with her fiancé, Elvino acted by Bruce Sledge.
The show was really beautiful; but I could not finish it owing to two reasons. It took too long up to 3 hours. I had never seen a performance over 2 hours. I guessed I needed more time to get used to seat so long. Another reason I left early was that all singers sung Italian that I did not understand. I had to see the subtitle in English on the screen far away from my seat that made me hard to listen and enjoy.
In sum, the experience I had at first time about opera was fantastic. Everything there for me was new and fascinated-beautiful and attractive. Although there was a little noisy and messy in downtown and sort of language barrier, the style of design in Carnival Center and the charming music of the opera were really exciting. I would like to try again if I have another chance.