I went to see an opera last night -- Nixon In China (coc.ca/PerformancesAndTickets/1011Season/NixonInChina.aspx), at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts of the Canadian Opera Company/COC.

Verdict? The second act dragged on a bit much for me and that Act II, scene iii dialogue was a tad convoluted for me, but no matter. All in all it was a tight show.

Allen Moyer's set design was just sensational. Director James Robinson made clever use of technology: on-stage TVs displayed archived footage of Dick Nixon's original groundbreaking October 1972 PRC trip to greet Mao, bringing East and West closer together in the interminable Cold War struggle of the previous century. It provided a great counterpoint to the action taking place on-stage. I think the audience liked it.

As for the historical backdrop, most of Nixon and Mao's dialogues were lifted almost verbatim from their original transcripts available in Margaret McMillian's seminal work, Nixon In China (amazon.com/gp/product/0812970578?ie=UTF8&tag=adadanmez-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0812970578) -- I didn't mean to call her "Heather" or "Helen" in the video.

Here are some of my reflections from the experience.