Post Script

After the opera we went to the Freeport Bakery for a cup of coffee and met a couple--she is Caucasian, he is Chinese--who frequent the Chinese opera in San Francisco. Who knew there was Chinese opera in San Francisco?

We described the way everyone in The First Emperor except the Emperor died at the end. They nodded. This is normal for Chinese opera, apparently.

We described how all the dead characters returned as ghosts to describe how they had died. They nodded. Normal stuff for a Chinese opera.

Then we talked about the miraculous recovery of the princess through sex. This was new to them.

They described our opera as chop suey. We laughed.