Aw ... but I LOVE Cosi! You know what? Maybe if you were in the pit rather than in the audience ...??
I rarely attend opera. I just play it. And I do love playing it. It is my #1 fave; I like it better than playing symphony concerts and I definitely like it better than playing ballet. But playing ballet is sort of ... I dunno ... like prostitution or something to me. Go figure.
Anyway, I rarely meet opera snobs here with our opera company. Maybe because the Big Guys are up North of us (SF Opera) and we are "just folks" anyway.
Then again, maybe I couldn't convince you to like Cosi no matter what ...? That's okay. People have been trying to convince me to like tomatoes my whole life and I'm pretty darn old and I still don't like 'em. 
(The sender of this message attempted not to breathe while typing so that the recipient won't receive her yucky germs.)
I'm always in the opera audience, but I've never seen a musical because I'm always in the pit. Of course, this means that I'm so concentrated on changing clarinets and saxes at the right time that I know about 20% of what is happening on stage. If I knew about 20% of what was going on in Cosi, I might like it 80% more! I know I should like Cosi! It's crazy. It's fun. It's Mozart. But I just... I dunno. Maybe it's all the disguises.
I can imagine why playing for the ballet is akin to prostitution. Nobody is there to hear you guys, anyway. It's all about the flitty feet and dramatic lighting.
Get well! My teacher would always yell at me and tell me to disinfect my reeds, and he always had some new and improved way of doing it. I could never keep up. It's a good thing I didn't go into medical research!
Hmm, I've never really been able to get into opera. When I'm watching it, I get distracted by the plot and forget to listen to the music. When I just listen to the music, without seeing it performed, it just doesn't hold up very well - you know something's happening, but it's in a language you don't understand, and there are so many parts where the orchestra isn't really doing much, it's just the singers doing recitative-type stuff, which isn't that interesting to me.
Ballet music stands on its own much better, I think. You don't need to see the dancing to enjoy it.
Oh, and basketball is probably my favorite spectator sport: it's tons more exciting than baseball, and easier to follow than football. 
Jennifer,
I know what you're talking about regarding opera. It is hard to listen to an opera at home if you don't know the language, even if you know the libretto. I started really enjoying opera when:
a) I knew the stories pretty well and
b) I learned enough Latin and Spanish that I could artlessly muscle my way through most of the Italian and French I didn't get to take.
Before I got that, though, I felt kinda adrift when I was watching them on stage and way moreso when I was trying to listen to a recording.
As for the German stuff, if I know the libretto pretty well I find I get it pretty intutively. This is despite the fact that I know precisely 2 words in German: die Börse and der Tod. If I ever write a German opera it will have to be about the death of the Stock market. No verbs. Just a string of two nouns. I'm sure it will be compelling!
Basketball. I think I dislike the loudness of it. All of this bouncing, bouncing, bouncing.... or it's just because I'm short-ish.
Oh, by visiting your blog I see you have the cutest kitties ever. Sleeping in your viola case?!
Gee, I don't have to understand the words or the story or anything when I listen to opera. I just love the music! Ah well. Maybe I'm even weirder than I thought. Could be.
Cosi, in fact, is better when I'm not paying attention to the very goofy story. Now that we are in a pit that doesn't allow us to see a darn thing I enjoy the listening even more, in fact.
As to ballet ... I can't stand certain ballet composers, but, mostly, I hate that we have to ruin the music to suit the dancers' needs. We take tempi that are so wrong it hurts in my gut. In my particular ballet company we butcher the Nutcracker so that many might not even recognize it. And, of course, we really don't matter to most folks above us; they are, in fact, replacing us in several sets this year with taped music. Who needs live music anyway? So maybe it's bitterness that is speaking here. Could be.
Sports? Baseball (Giants, even this year). Football (49ers, even after these past few miserable years). I'm in the Bay Area, so there you go. (But I used to love Landry!) Basketball? Well, the squeaky shoes bug me. (Why the spitting in baseball doesn't, I haven't a clue.)
I've never used anything on my reeds. I'm lazy that way. (And many other ways as well.)
Thanks, Sarah, I think my kitties are pretty cute too. And yeah, Yo-Yo loves getting into my case. I guess it's very comfy and plush!
And Patty, I can see how it could ruin your appreciation for the music if you have to butcher it for the dancers. I've never actually played in a ballet orchestra, just ballet music in a symphonic orchestra, so I haven't had to deal with that.
Hi, I found your blog via the Carnival.
I might be the oddest gay man ever. I'm a huge, huge opera queen but I love sports too. They are often twains that don't meet.
I know what you mean about sports and opera snobs. I mean, I know A LOT about 20th century opera, but I try very hard to wear that knowledge lightly as I know it's off putting to newcomers. When I was a newcomer, the kind of attitude you describe didn't put me off--it just made me study harder. Weirdo me!
I'm baffled that people would find listening to opera at home difficult. There's plenty of librettos out there for most standard rep stuff that has the French/German/Italian/Russian right next to the English translation. The good thing about opera is that a lot of times, the text isn't being sung at a rapid pace, so it's very easy to follow the words in, say, German: "Mild und liese, wie er laechelt" and then quickly scan the translation: "Mild and softly, how he laughs" before the phrase is done. It just takes a little practice. Note: does not apply to Donizetti patter songs!
Ah, Cosi. Great first act, but my oh my is that second act deadly--it's mostly just a string of arias where nothing happens.
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