Living Single

It struck me a few weeks ago that I'd never been to the opera. After spending half my life living in a town where culture meant a tour stop by Jeff Foxworthy, I decided to take advantage of the more highbrow offerings afforded by big-city livin' and bought a couple tickets to the opera. I’m envisioning a Pretty Woman scenario (without the prostitution, mind you): I will dazzle my boyfriend in my Forever 21 finery and then sit enthralled by the arias. Afterward, we'll clean up all of our contraband Miller Lite bottles and have an impassioned discussion about Verdi. We should all take a night off from re-runs of Two and a Half Men to build up our cultural résumé, and tonight's offering of The Merry Widow gives us light-hearted comedy with none of the Charlie Sheen and all of the whimsy missing from our day-to-day lives. Lehar's buoyant operetta features a plot worthy of a soap opera, but with enough sophistication that you won't be embarrassed to recount the plot over the water cooler. It's culture, see? Get all erudite at The Merry Widow, playing at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at The Music Hall at Fair Park, 909 First Ave. Visit dallasopera.org.
Fri., Nov. 30, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Dec. 2, 2 p.m.; Wed., Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., Dec. 8, 7:30 p.m., 2007