I saw the opera "La damnation de Faust" by Berlioz on Thursday. I read the review afterwards, 'Faust' triumphs with or without orgy, and agreed with the reviewer that I couldn't hear the singing of the lead playing Faust.

I was up in the cheap seats, in the balcony and thinking, isn't this guy miked up? I've never had that experience before, and it was very annoying. I could hear the choir fine, and the other singers, but not Faust.

Then I felt bad because the last opera I'd seen was Laz Buhrmann's "La Boheme", and a big deal was made about the singers being miked in that production.

Oh well. When I saw "Turandot", I could hear the the prince perfectly, so it was definitely the fault of the opera singer playing Faust.

And yes, there was an S&M San Francisco style orgy going on, and one point a woman in the choir took off her her blouse revealing her black bra. Some guy in the choir also took off his tux shirt, but the choir chick in the black bra got the most attention, especially when she started kissing the woman next to her.

Now there's a way to pack people in to see the opera, especially the men of both persuasions not to mention the young ones, lesbian sex scenes, S&M threesomes, lots of black leather S&M get ups, and men in black leather jock straps with their hairy butts hanging out.

Plus there was that one scene in that men only tavern where two nuns and two priests come out, and then strip their clothes off to reveal themselves as men wearing fake breasts and jock straps (and yes more hairy butts) who then are groped by the men in the tavern.

But the singing was divine, except for that darned lead tenor! And the opera was short; two hours with no break.

There were many references to easter, and at the end children came out with the girls dressed like they were at their first communion and the boys were carrying crosses. It added a nice counter balance to all the sex scenes, I think.

Oh, and did I mention that the girl singer had short hair, which kind of made her look like a young boy, if you know what I mean. Or maybe she was supposed to have that Julie Andrews nun look from "The Sound of Music".

It was all very questionable, I think. But then this is San Francisco and you're going to have to play to all types of desires I think. A young boy, a young girl, what does it matter, because in the end Faust goes to hell and the young boy/girl, led astray by desire, is redeemed.