A Christmas Promise Kept

Our grandson, Brian, has always wanted to see a professional production of The Phantom of the Opera.  So, his Christmas gift from us was a white mask and, under it, tickets to The Phantom for July 4, 2014 at the Boston Opera House.

Over the winter, it seemed as if the big day would never get here...but it finally did. On Friday, we boarded the 8:00 a.m. Amtrak Downeaster in Portland and headed for Boston. Since we ended up with an extra ticket to The Phantom, our friend, "Aunt Carolyn" joined us when the train stopped in Wells, Maine on its way south.

Neither Brain nor Carolyn had seen The Phantom before so part of our enjoyment was watching them experience it for the first time. DH and I have been lucky. . . this was our 4th time! This version of the show lacked some of the special effects we had seen in New York and London due to the limited size of the Opera House stage (and the area above and below it). But the vocals were wonderful, music as haunting as always, and the acting excellent.

And the chandelier was there, of course.

The little boy seated behind us was really in the spirit of the Phantom...he even had opera glasses!

After the show, we had dinner at La Cantina Italiana, a favorite restaurant of ours in Boston's North End. The decor is really a little dated but the food is very traditional and absolutely fantastic. Our waiter was from Florence and was quite the conversationalist, adding to the fun of the evening. If you go to La Cantina, try their homemade Sangria, which ferments in a huge fruit-filled glass jar on the corner of the bar.

After a quick stop at Mike's Pastry for cannoli, we boarded the 7:30 Downeaster for the sleepy, cannoli-stuffed, trip back to Maine. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy, windy, Hurricane Arthur-is-coming, 4th of July

Christmas in July...what could be better?

Think we'll do this every year!