A pleasant afternoon

Aside from working our way around the traffic, which had been nuked by a Madison yuppie-fest though to be fair, kids probably liked Ride The Drive, the day was fine and the show was fun. Unfortunately the performer playing Fiametta got laryngitis at the last minute, so she danced and lip-synced to a singer in the pit. That was a mistake--the pit singer couldn't project well enough out of the pit and the show doesn't use mikes. They should have put her just offstage or behind a screen. The Gondoliers has some very contemporary moments, and for some reason this section started me thinking of quantum mechanics:

Casilda. But which is it? There are two of them!

Duke. It is true that at present His Majesty is a double gentleman; but as soon as the circumstances of his marriage are ascertained, he will, ipso facto, boil down to a single gentleman — thus presenting a unique example of an individual who becomes a single man and a married man by the same operation.

Duchess. (severely) I have known instances in which the characteristics of both conditions existed concurrently in the same individual.

You can find plenty of performances on Youtube, but I'd suggest keeping a copy of the libretto handy to carry you through some archaic phrases here and there.