I have a somewhat schizophrenic view on this. As an audience member, I would
never go to an opera or concert without a suit on. It helps make the event
special,
and with the trouble the performers have gone to to prepare the performance,
it dorsn't hurt to go to the trouble of dressing up a bit. On the other hand,
I'm a performer,
and looking down from the stage, you would rather see people in jeans than empty
seats.
And on the opera stage, because of the stage lights, you can't see past the
first couple of
rows anyway.
Besides, how can you tell WHY someone isn't dressed up? Perhaps he (she
understood as well, of course) is a tourist, or
just in town for the day without anything else to wear, and saw a performance
advertised that
he didn't want to miss? Maybe something unforeseen help him up at work, and he
didn't have time to
go home and change? The trouble comes when the two groups start to feel superior
to each other....
the dressing crowd looking down at the great unwashed, thinking "How dare they
came looking like that? What
an affront to culture!" And the gruffy crowd thinking "Look at the snobs, they
aren't here to see the opera, only
to show off their Armani outfits."
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