Jekyll & Opera & Hyde - Oh my!

I'm officially over the whole set-painting thing. I spent around 6 hours down at CLOCworks yesterday helping out. At least 80% was fiddly, boring black bits again and the rest of the time involved making coffee and being arty with the blue paint. The end is in sight. Finally!
So, for a change of scene (get it?) I decided to go to the opera. I am well known for my last minute decisions. Despite my lack of planning I got what I consider to be a good seat and was able to amuse myself checking out the crowd. Nabucco is not one of the more popular pieces but even so, the house was nearly full. The man on my right didn't "get" it, apart from deciding it was "about Jewish people" he couldn't follow the story. I know this because he kept telling his companion. He also got impatient when they were 5 minutes late starting and kept complaining "Come on, bounce the ball". *sigh* The lady on my left, on the other hand, enjoyed herself a lot more. I think I noticed some actual shoulder-heaving crying after Va, pensiero or maybe she was laughing? Hard to tell. Then there was the lady in the front row (3 seats away from dead centre) who had brought her binoculars. I kid you not. This made for some awkward juggling as it appeared she needed her regular glasses to read the surtitles. I always get a laugh from watching the front row switch from surtitle to stage - kind of like spectators at the tennis but vertical. A dose of culture for those with disposable income.
Today has been completely consumed by CLOC. Rehearsal all day and the crew night tonight. Even with an incomplete crew today the set moved pretty smoothly. Things are looking good. It's always a bit scary at this point when you realise there are only a few weeks left to finish and fine tune everything but at the same time it's exciting watching it all come together.