My New Vocabulary Word

Main Entry: zar·zue·la
Pronunciation: "zär-z&-'wA-l&, "zär-'zwA-
Function: noun
Etymology: Spanish, probably from La Zarzuela, royal residence near Madrid where it was first performed
: a usually comic Spanish operetta

My friend, Stacey, won some L.A. Opera tickets and invited me to attend a show on Tuesday night -- Placido Domingo and Maria Jose Montiel headlining in Luisa Fernanda, which, I learned, is a zarzuela.

The seats (valued at $180 apiece!) were amazing, as was the opportunity to spend a pre-summer evening at the Music Center in not-quite-balmy downtown L.A.

Sure, the plot was a little thin and convoluted (as storylines in operas usually are), and yes, it was a bit of a downer that the supertitles weren't as thorough or accurate as they could've been (only people with Spanish comprehension skills "got" the jokes that weren't translated), but the sets/staging were interesting and innovative and the costuming/dance was, in a word, pretty.

Alas, no matter how fabulous or celebrated a particular ballet or opera is, I usually find myself nodding off at some point (yes, I even fell asleep a couple seasons ago at the Baz Luhrmann version of La Boheme. I know ... blasphemy!). This show was no different. I just nodded, though. No actual sleeping occurred.

The performance was enjoyable, as was the after-theatre snack we had at Kendall's Brasserie on Grand Ave., which is the post-performance destination of choice for performers and theatre-goers alike. I had a yummy shrimp and avocado salad, and spied Placido Domingo and his posse getting seated as I wolfed down my order of pommes frites.

I'm hoping to make a trip back to the Music Center soon -- I've been jonesin' to see Jersey Boys since before it won the Tony, and it's playing at the Ahmanson through August 5.

On an entirely unrelated note: I was up working at my computer from about 3 a.m. to 7:30ish, and when I was done, I collapsed into bed to get some sleep. Of course, by that time, my room was very bright, so I found an old sleeping mask I'd received on a Virgin Atlantic flight, put it on and hit the hay. A few hours later, when I woke up and took it off, my vision was seriously blurry. An hour after that, I still couldn't focus; when I sat at my computer to do my email, I reminded myself of my old post-college roommate. (Jane was legally blind, used the largest computer monitor I'd ever seen, and her eyes were always just inches away from it.)

This sleep-mask blindness (most likely just extremely dry eyes) scared the bejesus out of me, and seriously came at a bad time -- as I had to drive to an interview that afternoon. Luckily, this tale has a happy ending: I survived the drive to/from the interview (and it went well!), was able to read the supertitles at the opera without squinting, and after a few hours of shut-eye last night, I have my vision back. Whew!