Julius Caesar - Handel

So last Tues I went with Kyrie to see Julius Caesar at the Lyric. The one time I don't read the synopsis beforehand b/c, of course, I KNOW JC, I'm totally wrong. Brutus didn't even make a showing. That being said, it was a pretty good story (and fit rather nicely with my recent reading of Anthony and Cleopatra). Caesar was a counter-tenor - not my favorite although I remember liking him in Orpheus last year. Cleopatra could wail, and Ptolemy was awesome (I actually thought he was a woman for a while). Of course, the total show time was just under 5 h - which is a bit long for me in my knocked up state - but I made it through without napping. The entire second act was unnecessary for plot development, but I enjoyed the music. The most interesting thing about this performance, however, was the production. Think Monty Python meets Laugh In. The curtains in Cleopatra's chambers just screamed for a 'sock it to me' and the hand of God came down during the kid's vengence aria. I guess you have to lighten it up when the show's so long (and it's not Wagner). Anyway, definitely worth the tix.