10.19.04 - 12:09 a.m.

La Traviata - such a great opera. So, Violetta is a lady of the evening, a little bit, and she has a circle of frends and lives her life in a 'whirlwind of pleasure' that she believes will never stop. The company sings about how great it is to stay up all night and sleep all day to get ready for the next night, and Violetta learns that the Baron (da-da-dum) is interested in her. She goes off to the side and has a coughing fit, which makes her weak, and her friend, Alfredo, comes along and comforts her while she's sick, and confesses his love for her. She says, at first, that she can never love one person, but eventually relents and agrees that she loves him, too. Then, Violetta see-saws back and forth about whether she can give up her life of pleasure. Eventually, she decides that (just maybe) she can give up her life of pleasure. More singing and stuff, but them's the first act plot points.

The second act opens in the country, three months later. Alfredo intercepts Annina, Violetta's lady's maid, who confesses that Violetta sent her off to sell everything she owns in order to pay for the interlude in the country. I suppose Alfredo doesn't have any money from his family/isn't spending it. Annina agrees, and Afredo sings around about how great it is to be in love, how he doesn't miss his old life at all, et cetera. He leaves, and Violetta comes around and SHE sings about how great love is, but she needs to get ready to meet an important person.

Enter Germont, Alfredo's father, the baritone. He is not happy with their liason, and tells Violetta that his daughter's fiancee will leave her if Violetta and Alfredo remain together, their relationship is shaming the family and ruining his daughter's chances for marriage and true love. He decides that he believes Violetta is reformed of her old ways, and really loves his son, but that doesn't matter to society. He asks Violetta to help him, and she agrees to "leave Alfredo for a little while" and then come back. That's not enough, according to Germont. She has to leave him forever. They can't be together, she will find someone else and live a happy life, and so will his son. Violetta eventually agrees, but only if Germont agrees that, when she dies, he will tell Alfredo the truth so that Alfredo will not spend his time cursing her memory. Germont says: you're not going to die! you are young and lovely, you'll find someone else and live a long and happy life. Germont leaves, and Violetta stays to write a note to Alfredo. Aldredo comes in while she's writing the note, and asks her what she's doing. She demurs, asks him if he still really loves her, and then leaves.

Some butler comes to tell Alfredo that Violetta and Annina have gone off, but Alfredo tells him it's okay; she's probably just going off to the city to sell off her belongings, but Annina knows and won't let her do it, on instruction from Alfredo. A few moments later, someone else brings along a note from Violetta to Alfredo, telling him that she is leaving him for the baron.

Act 2, Scene 2: a party, a bar, somewhere. The whole company is out on stage, and the plexiglass columns have be rearranged and refilled with new confetti, gold, lit with orange lights. The company sings some song about being gypsies (...now I wonder, a 19th century version of gypsies, tramps and thieves?) while the women steal even the shirts off the men's backs. The group of friend with whom Violetta and Alfredo first entered, Act 1, Scene 1, enters. More singing.

The important stuff! - happens when Alfredo shows up. He goes off to play cards, and is doing quite well. "Unlucky in love, lucky at cards," he tells his fellow players. Then, the Baron (da-da-dum) and Violetta appear. The Baron cautions Violetta that she isn't to talk to Alfredo. Eventually, the Baron goes off and bets Alfredo once about the cut of cards. Alfredo wins and they double the bet - an awful lot of money now - and Alfredo wins again Someone asks him what he's going to do with the money, and Alfredo says he is going to - I don't remember whether he claims he is going to win Violetta back with it or not, but there it is.

Violetta and Alfredo meet secretly. She weepily apologizes, and assures him that she has her reasons for what she's done, but she doesn't tell him anything about his father. Instead, eventually, she is backed into a corner and admits that she did it for love. He asks her if she loves the Baron (da-da-dum) and she lies and says yes. He yells more about how faithless she is, and she doesn't defend herself because dude, she's sleeping with pimp-daddy the Baron (da-da-dum).(Meanwhile, imagine the strange set, the chorus in fishnets and miniskirts, the Baron et al looking like mega Russian pimp-daddies, with colorful too-long sport jackets, slicked back hair and sleezy goatees.)

Alfredo snaps and calls EVERYONE back in. Once everyone is in, he takes all the money that he has won and THROWS it at Violetta. He tells her that he is paying her back for all the money she spent in the country. The company roundly condemns his actions, and - weirdly - Alfredo's father Germont shows up to... wonder what sort of man his son has turned into.

- that was such a great scene, too. It was so damn dramatic, the combination of the music and the staging, and the fury, as he FLINGS down the cash, man. So -

- anyway, Act 3. Violetta is confirmed to her bed and has been for some time. She is attended to by Annina, and listens to the partygoers at Carnivale having a good time in the distance. The doctor comes to see her, but apparently no one else. He tells Violetta that she will live for a long time, but tells Annina that Violetta only has hours to live. Violetta sends Annina off to give 10 of her remaining 20 louis to the poor (how they must suffer), and stays behind to sing about her life, how awful it is to die so young. She reveals that she has received a letter from Germont regretting his actions. Germont says that he has told his son everything, and they are both coming to her, but she worries that it is taking them too long.

Poof! Poor Alfredo shows up, they get mushy, she tries to put on a brave face and pretend that she is not sick, but dude - she's DYING because the opera has to end soon. Germont shows up next, bringing the doctor - Violetta says she wants to see the doctor again because now she WANTS to live, but it's too late, and despite a burst of last-minute energy after laying around on her death bed and singing for a while, Violetta dies. Curtain!

Okay, that took forever to type. It's so going in my diary. Anyway, it was also POURING RAIN here, and during the first and third acts, it was raining so hard that the drumbeat of the rain was echoing through the Keith-Albee. I thought - especially in the first act - that that was deliberate on the part of the company, something atmospheric, but it wasn't, it was simply fortuitous. It worked though, especially in the first and third acts, when there was a watery atmosphere. Don't all lovely young maidens die in the midst of storms?

I can suspend all disbelief for productions like this. It was exactly what I needed.