Palais Garnier… is there anything like it? A rhetorical question. I caught a cold in Paris, but still was certain to catch my first opera. “Only the Sound Remains”… An opera catered to the younger populations (under forty years old) to get a new generation into the arts. Perhaps it was just the night catered in general to a group under forty? I digress. In torture…my sinuses drained, tickling my throat, soft music played, rivers ran from my eyes, but not by way of sadness, by way of restraining the coughs out of respect. My kind neighbor offered a tissue. After an hour we finally learn a man is in love with another man. I felt I was in torture trying to get the answer, struggling to be polite. The music winds down prior to intermission. A Frenchman from the balconies ends with the exclamation of, “ACHOO!”. Tiny giggles sprinkle across the crowds.

It was the best part of that opera in my opinion. Are all operas this slow, or was it me?

-K.K. Powell