Friday night we went to SF Opera's annual Opera at the Ballpark at the Giant's AT;&T Park. It's a free event. All you need to do to get tickets is to register online. My company is one of the major sponsors, so we had didn't have to sit with the hoi polloi (we did anyway).

Our luxury box was the 3rd base dugout. That's the Giants dugout in case you're scoring at home. There was a bar with beer, wine and soft drinks and an appetizer table with cheese, empanadas and other little bites. We got to sit and enjoy fine food and the opera in the same place Barry Bonds used to spit sunflower seed shells (and around the corner from he used to shoot up).

The opera was Lucia di Lammermoor by Gaetano Donizetti which was being performed over at the SF Opera house and simulcast on the stadium's Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Vision scoreboard. Here's the setup courtesy of the SF opera website:

In a feud between the Scottish families of Ravenswood and Lammermoor, Enrico Ashton of Lammermoor wrongfully holds the estates of Edgardo Ravenswood. In addition, Enrico's political activity against the king has placed him in a perilous situation, and he has resolved to reestablish his family's position by marrying his sister Lucia to Lord Arturo Bucklaw.

The plot follows familiar themes. Lucia is in love with some dude, but her brother, Enrico, wants to marry this other dude. Lucia goes crazy. She kills her arranged husband. She dies. Then the first dude kills himself expecting to be reunited with Lucia in heaven (won't he be disappointed.)

A couple of observations:

• I know the opera was written by an Italian, but it's about Scotland, so there should have at least been one Hamish among all the Enrico's, Edgardo's and Arturo's.
• The video on the stadium's 3200-square-foot HD TV was impressive, but the sound wasn't synched so it was kind of like watching a badly dubbed kung fu movie.
• It was strange watching the opera while people all around us were eating garlic fries and corn dogs. Just didn't seem right.
• Even with all this death, there just wasn't enough blood for my tastes. I need more gore in my opera
• The opera makes for great people watching
• The government needs to start a program to provide full length mirrors for the stylistically challenged.

It was supposed to be a freezing night (as many are at this ballpark) and we were warned repeatedly to bring heavy jackets and blankets, but it was a perfect night, I'd say in the mid-70s. It was just perfect for enjoying the opera.