Opera, often a lot like girls, is something I just don't understand.

All that yelling and screeching (they call it "drama and music") is a complete mystery to me. I don't understand the story nor do I understand people who shell out big money to go and see it, in the name of "supporting the arts." I have known people who own opera season passes, which allowed them to see this stuff over and over. I confess to having seen Carmen or something like that, and while the musical scores were good they kept interrupting the fine orchestral movements with something going on, on the stage.

Anyhow, I am more of an "Operetta" guy, which I am told is a "light" opera. Well you might call them that, I call them understandable and in English. One of my favorites is The Student Prince.

In this musical (that is what an Operetta is) the crown prince of Germany is commanded by his father the king to attend Heidelberg University as a young man, probably around 20-25, to round out his education. Rather than let him get away with an easy time (who would give the crown prince an F?) he is further commanded by the king to go in disguise as a peasant from some remote Bavarian providence.

Of course he runs into Baron So and so's son, and the other elites, who do not recognize him for who he is but treat him like dirt. Calmly calling them out, he teaches them lessons in fencing and other such nobility things that they should be the masters of, not some peasant boy. Of course they reject his company, even though many are secretly willing to give him due respect for his abilities and desire to learn from him.

Thus he turns to other "common" people and comes to take part in the plight and misfortunes of those who are of the lower classes. He falls head over heels for a peasant girl who works in a tavern, and his true friends don't care about his fake past; they like him for his open honesty, wit, and good advice.

Of course this is an operetta, so someone has to die, and in this case it is the father and the romance. The king dies, and the prince is exposed for being the heir and highness of the land. The Baron's son comes to "claim him from the scum" and is suddenly trying to be his best friend. Those who were his best friends now see him for who he is - not just a young man but the king. They are no longer able or willing to be his friend. And given the chance to throw it all away and marry the girl of his dreams, the girl in question takes the matter out of his hands by claiming she doesn't love him and never did (which is obviously a lie and you are supposed to cry at the tragedy of it all)

I suspect this story was stolen, in large part, from the bible. Yes shocking isn't it? The son of God, coming to earth disguised as a man, with the power of God but commanded, instead of meeting out justice on the spot, live in such a way that we may learn from him. Along the way those who are religious do not recognize him for who he is, even though when they cross foils it is he who comes away teaching them. Some recognize him as the master of all things, yet are afraid to openly admit it. And though he would have welcomed them with open anus, he came not for those religious folks but for the common man, those of Adam's race, who live and die and are in need of a savior.

God will never die, and there is no such romance in the bible, but in the operetta we are left seeing a just king, who is now in the position to reward those who are faithful and punish those who trample others. We don't know what becomes of that human king, but our king who has been crowned and ascended. Our open consequences will be based on how we treat others, even in secret. What will our king decide?

Randy