Opera, defined

[gothgeekgirl]

For asimovberlioz, who can probably use a smile or two right now.

Serious opera- the good guy(s) die.
Light opera- the bad guy(s) die.
Comic opera- the audience dies laughing.

Comments

[asimovberlioz]

Thanks! And the bad guys don't necessarily have to die, just be thwarted -- have their wishes die, in other words.

Then there's this one, that I used to have in my .sig line many years ago:

"Opera is where a guy gets stabbed in the back, and instead of dying, he sings."

I've seen this attributed to Robert Benchley, but also to the less well-known Ed Gardner, so I suspect it's Gardner. Benchley has his own Famous Line, so let somebody else take the credit for this one!