life in subtitles

ok, so i won tickets to go to the opera at the liceau, which is this amazingly beautiful opera house here in barcelona. it is supposed to be considered among the best opera houses in europe, not that i would really know the difference. but there were some problems. i don't have opera worthy clothes with me, i don't speak italian, and it was a 6 hour long opera! but in the end it turned out perfect. the ticket was for a wednesday night, so nobody was all that dressed up. we had amazing seats (in the box seats on the side, very close to the stage), and i sat next to a russian guy that was in barcelona for a cellphone conference that took over the city for a week. seriously, it took over the city. the russian guy thought we were funny, and laughed at us during intermission when we were talking. i probably shouldn't assume people don't speak spanish anymore.

anyway, a few minutes into the opera i discovered that theatre had subtitle machines built into the seats! they were beautiful, and once i figured that out, and could actually understand what was going on, i fell in love. the show was amazing. they had some really bizarre entreacts. once was completely silent slapstick skit. suddenly all the actors were in clothes from the 1950's and doing all this ridiculous physical acting. and then at the end of intermission they did this whole piece with the house lights on and the actors walking through the audience. they didnt even warn the audience that everything was beginning. they had camera's set up in the lobby and other places in the theatre, and projected the images onto the stage. i didnt completely understand what was going on, as the subtitles were not yet turned on, but i was still impressed. i didnt want to, but we ended up leaving before the show ended so that we could catch the last metro. i had to wikipedia the ending.