And a weekend so different from others that i have particpated in recently. Why? The absense of any tutoring chores---meaning a have a 'deluxe" amount of free time. Ah free time. Always seems so inviting when you don't have it---but when it arrives...? Lots of choices to make---monetarily and otherwise. So where to begin?
Chioice number one: Don Giovanni this afternoon at the Met. Practially my last chance to see this new production by a director whose work I have always found interesting, and who, from the pictures and the reviews that I have read has created a very special entity and look for this opera. But will I get in and how? Even family circle, where I usually sit and enjoy sitting there has, if my last look at the seat map is accurate, almost no seats left. So can I stand? Well, that is a much cheaper alternative---right now my body feels incredibly strong (a new infusion two days ago seems to have charged my energy) so standing through act I---an act of almost an hour and a half, might be possible. Interesting, I remember the first performance of the opera that I saw---February of 66---one of the last productions in the "Old Met" which was to shut down and move to Lincoln Center in a few months. I think it was also the day that I "failed" my first army physical--a great relief at that time. Then, also i stood---in the orchestra. Siepi was the Don and Geraint Evans, a most specific Leporello. How many years have passed since that Monday evening---how many thoughts and conversations have you had about the opera since then. If I miss it? Well, that is that--one more performance this coming Friday I could try, or probably this production will be shown on the screen in the last week of August when the Met has their outdooyr screenings in the Lincoln Center Plaza. But I really want to live through the performance this afternoon. Strange, as I went out for coffee I thought--"what a great day for a walk---maybe instead of the opera I should just take the train to Brooklyn an wander down Fifth avenue in Park Slope, or walk east on Fulton to where Clinton Hill meets Bed-Stuy. Something very soothing about that fantasy--well maybe tomorrow or Monday, if I have no plans for the evening. But most weekends--- only two days---seem rushed. This weekend does not.
Time and space---yes, how to use it this weekend, that is the question. And will my body cooperate with my choices? It seems very strong this morning. Oh well,we will see. Have recently read two autobiographys ; one by Mary Rodgers and the other by Chita Rivera. Very different takes on life, but both fulfilling to read. Now, my one book for this weekend is about Martin Luther King and his partners in the Civil Rights Movement as they plan and try to break through the frightening segregation and rage of white Brirmingham in 63. Quite a different voyage from the last two, but I chose this book for my long weekend reading to move to a tougher and more focused topic. Will I finish it...? Well, will report back soon.
