Onward and Upward

Amahl and the Night Visitors Opera

We liked the Opera last night. It was at The Historic Musuem in town. Good thing we left a little early. We had missed the place the first time we passed it. Well, it was this big old red brick building that also said National School Supply Co. on the side so I guess that threw us off. On making a u-turn, we had to wait for a long train to pass. That was a lonnnggg train. We were still there early enough to get front seats and listen to the hapist. The girl did well.

We did a little walk-through of the small musuem before we tried to get our seats. It mainly showed post-war Montana and what the fashion was about back in the days.

Now going to the opera, the setting and venue really gave off that old school, traditional Opera houses. Nothing too grand. Audience were in the almost same level as the stage. They had the Great Falls Symphony play. The conductor was flown from Italy. His name is Guiseppe something. He's a year younger than I am but he's conducted around the world, a performer himself, producer and director as well. The cast was good too. My favorite was Amahl himself, the crippled little boy. He was raw talent. He's discovered in Havre, a small town in MT. He never lost his character in the play. That boy can be great as he progresses!

Now an interesting part of the night is an older gentleman approached me and the hubby as we were leaving. He asked how we felt about the performance and asked for our names. So we exchanged names and what not. Chatted a little bit. The guy was Dwight Smith! As soon as I heard his name, I uttered First Command. He acted as if he recognized my name as well. I have never met this guy but as I tell the hubby that I was almost starstruck. This guy is a retired Financial Advisor at First Command where I work at. He's been retired for quite awhile now but some of our clients still ask about him and love this guy. The people who knew him spoke highly of him. So to me, he's sort of become this legend. Then I finally met him! He said he's one of the board directors of the museum. He was sitting behind me the whole time. He must have been a retired Air Force Officer too, you can just tell.

After the show. the hubby and I went to Chili's to grab dinner. We walked in at 8:48pm and then close at 9. We are so glad they still took us in. Because we were hungry! I had the Chicken Crispers and he had the soup and salad. Good dinner.

I loved what he wore last night. He had his black turtleneck sweater, blue jeans and black shoes. And then his long gray coat and scarf. And then the black pinstriped "Neyo" hat. He looked very handsome and very Mafia. I thought it was hot. By the way, we took another pregnant picture of me. 132 lbs with a 38 in waistline! Woohoo!

posted by abi @ 9:08 AM