.
Happy happy joy joy. Yesterday was opening night for Opera Theatre of St Louis. We've been subscribers for more than 30 years. STL doesn't have a grand opera company like New York, Chicago or San Francisco. What we do have is the most pleasant experience possible. A thousand seat theater with a thrust stage, so everyone is near the performers. It is on a leafy college campus and patrons have a picnic supper on the lawn before the show. Four works done in repertory in May and June, all sung in English. The opener was one of the crowning achievements of Western art, Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, in a flawless, sparkling performance. I came home humming Piu Non Andrai.