Entering La Gran Gran Teatre de Liceu is an experience in itself, amazing architecture, high celings, red carpets and an air of class that one can expect from such venues. Packed in like canned sardines in a horseshoe-shaped structure the Gran Teatre de Liceu holds approximately 2,300 people across 6 floors. I could go into more detail but that's what Google's for if you want to look into more specific detail. Anyway to the night in question, we bought relatively cheap tickets for €30 for Anna Bolena which was virtually sold out (ticket office is actually in the street to the right side of the Theatre). The next option was €130 then I heard the €300 figure mentioned and I switched off. I hate to imagine what the cost of the plateau level (first floor) was. The opera started at 8pm, we arrived at 7.30 for a glass of vino blanco and assurance that we could find our seats. After inspecting the tickets I found we were on planta 6, fila 1, asiento 86-89 which basically meant row Z! I am not going to write much about my experience at the Opera as I think it will do it an unjustice save to say the Opera lasted an hour an half. we were told 65 minutes, I was bored and fidgety by the 45th and my view was blocked by an ornamental Dragon. I had neck ache from having to arch myself over the iron railing and it was bloody hot as we were in the rafters. The Opera was in Italian with Catalan subtitles and apart from briefly reading the Opera Synopsis (below) I didn't really understand what was going on. Final comment, worth a visit if you can get better seating (book early) and English/Castellano subtitles (assuming you speak Castellano!)....
Opera Synopsis:
Anna Bolena is based on the short-lived marriage of King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, the second of Henry's six wives.
ACT I: The story takes place in 1536 in England. Act One opens at Windsor Castle. Anne Boleyn is now Henry's wife, but she's unhappy. The King has been ignoring her and seems to have his eye on another woman, Anne's lady-in-waiting, Jane Seymour.
Anne's brother Rochefort makes an appearance at court, and he's amazed to see that Percy, Anne's first love, has returned from exile. It turns out that Henry himself has arranged Percy's return. It's a ploy, aimed at building a case for Anne's infidelity, and the king takes a kind of perverse pleasure in watching Anne and Percy meet again.
We then meet Smeton, a household musician who is in love with Anne. He has a miniature portrait of Anne and doesn't want to be caught with it. But when he tries to return it to her, Rochefort appears unexpectedly and Smeton is forced to hide.
Rochefort tries to persuade Anne to meet with Percy. She agrees, against her better judgment, and Percy tells Anne he's still in love with her. When Anne begs him to find someone else, Percy draws his sword and threatens to commit suicide. At that moment, everything comes tumbling down around Anne. Smeton rushes out from hiding and at the same moment, Henry bursts into the room. Finding Anne in a compromising position with two men, one of them a former lover, he orders all three of them arrested. Smeton pleads Anne's innocence, but inadvertently drops the miniature portrait at the king's feet. Henry is enraged and the act ends with a spectacular sextet as Percy, Anne and Smeton are all led away.
ACT II: As the second act begins, Jane comes to Anne and tells her that the king has agreed to spare her life if she'll admit to her relationship with Percy. Jane also has more news. The king, she says, is in love with another woman. Anne demands to know who it is and the confrontation develops in a powerful duet. Torn between her love for Henry and her loyalty to Anne, Jane confesses that she is the King's latest lover.
At Anne's trial, Smeton lies and says he, not Percy, has been pursuing Anne. He's hoping to save her but actually seals her fate. Anne is condemned. Percy and Rochefort are offered clemency but they both refuse it when they learn it does not extend to Anne.
Alone in her cell, Anne wistfully recalls her girlhood love for Percy and slowly loses control of her emotions. Cannons and bells sound, announcing the king's new marriage. That jolts Anne back to her senses. She calls on heaven to forgive her persecutors as she's taken to the executioner.
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