I really enjoyed Operamania at the Great Hall last November so I was rather looking forward to Operamania II at The Parkdale Hall on Friday evening. Basically it was the same folks; Opera Revue augmented by Greg Finney, Ryan Downey and Queen Hezumuryanga plus the four wrestlers of Junction City Wrestling and much of it was the same fun material so it should have been a blast.

Unfortunately the venue made a huge difference and not in a good way. The Parkdale Hall has a nice ceiling but it’s very big and all the seating is at floor level. Whoever was in charge of lighting had decided to put on a light show rather than light the show so there were all kinds of interesting lighting effects but they left the action on stage in a murky haze most of the time. The sound was problematic too. It was muddy with frequent screechy feedback loops. It felt like the techs thought they were doing a rock concert rather than a stage show; and not doing it very well.

It’s a shame because there was some good singing and everyone threw themselves around with gay abandon. I’m sure if I could have seen and heard it properly I’d be saying it was great! Final beef, one of the Opera Revue taglines is “the more you drink, the better we sound”. I actually doubt that would have been true on Friday but at $16 plus tip for a can of beer it wasn’t likely to happen, though the wrestling crowd (more prominent than at the first show) seemed well oiled enough.

Bottom line, I’d go see Operamania again but wild horses wouldn’t drag me to The Parkdale Hall.