If you get the opportunity to go hear the Bulgarian National Opera on tour . . . Don't! Don't allow anyone you know to go either!

I as astonished that they are getting away with charging people for their disasterous rendition of The Marriage of Figaro. My seats were $65. I'll list some of the amazing deficiencies so you can get an idea, but I can't really do it justice. Figaro, Susanna, the Count and Countess, all sang okay. There were glaring errors at times for them all, like Figaro's inability to sing an E natural. Susanna couldn't sing above the upper passagio without thinning out terribly. The Countess often made a throaty sound, a major technic flaw which will ruin her if she doesn't get help soon and so she sang almost everything flat. The Count was covered to the point of being muffled and unheard with the too loud orchestra. Of the secondary players only Cherubino was okay. She was also covered and heavy for her role but she was young and strong and bulled her way through. Every other character was horrible! Shrieking, gargling, coughing, and rattling their way through their parts, with basically no vocal technique. One could only assume they were the stage crew in costume and thrust wide-eyed onto the stage. The chorus was worse. Both the secondary characters and the chorus were lost at times, stumbling through the music, not singing together or leaving things out. The chorus was lost for an entire section. Incredibly embarrassing. Some sang against one another, about two beats apart, while others simply stood there and listened dumbfoundedly, not knowing what to do. The orchestra was horrible beyond description. Thankfully they left many notes out for they played none in tune. Entrances by the winds were ghastly, often in differing tonalities, and the strings were only slightly better. Imagine a bad high school orchestra. These guys were worse than that at times. The leads could hardly find a tonality to sing in during some sections. The scenery! Oh my how tacky. The set was about twenty feet tall and about twenty feet wide. The stairs were unfinished and so worn from being carted around on tour that the splintered treads tugged at the ladies dresses all evening, throwing them off stride. The costumes were cheap and ill fitting. Figaro's showed off his big beer belly. The wigs were ragged and falling apart. Movement on the stage and acting were profoundly lacking. Sections that featured the secondary characters, like the gardener, the doctor, etc., were so weak that I wondered if they would get through them.

The players did not know the meaning of the words they were singing, to comic effect, as when Figaro sang about his right arm while holding out his left. I could go on for another hour. I have seen college productions at this level in some regards, but overall, this was the worst production I've seen of anything ever.

Well maybe some of the local kid productions are worse. But hey, they are kids.

At least they are getting to tour the United States.