CircOpera and Grotesk

The Finnish National Opera has done some interesting things recently, the latest of which is CircOpera, a combination of circus arts and opera. Of course I had to check it out.

The opera entrance had a circus sign on it and bright lights hung from the balconies. 

The performance was amazing. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's going to see the show, but the singers totally embraced the circus side of things with stunts of their own and members of the orchestra got a chance to shine on stage. Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumblebee" and the runaway piano were most memorable. Best of all, everyone seemed to be having a blast, especially the singers. 

The circus performances were awesome, Cirque du Soleil quality, but more fun. The Wheel of Death act had me holding my breath the whole time, and the acrobats and ballet performances were eerily beautiful.  Even the Phantom of the Opera made an appearance! This was hands down the most fun I've had at the opera. 

They're only doing eight performances, so you'll have to hurry if you want tickets.  Click  here to go to the National Opera website to check availability.

We also had dinner at restaurant Grotesk. It's carnivore's paradise, but there was something for the vegetarians, too. Best mushroom pasta and sweet potato fries I've ever eaten. (Yup, I stole half of Hubby's fries. Not sorry.)

The decor was nice, but the bar looked even cooler. Just look at the cocktail menu!

And yes, there was time to do a bit of book shopping. Here's the catch of the day, minus a birthday present for my nephew, because spoilers. I've never read Murakami before, so I picked Norwegian Wood because a friend recommended it to me. To my surprise I also noticed I've missed a Night Watch book, The New Watch. They didn't have that one, except in Finnish, and I've read all the others in English and don't want to swap languages at this point, so I'll have to order it from Amazon or just download it on my Kindle before reading The Sixth Watch. Oh, and if you haven't heard about the Goth Girl Nemi comics, you need to, they're fantastic. You can read some of them in English on the Metro site.