opera

Under Nicholas’s reign, the Russian national anthem was “God Save the Tsar,” and the Russian national opera was A Life for the Tsar: A Patriotic Heroic-Tragic Opera.

They sat up straighter in their seats and took out their opera glasses so as not to miss any of the action.

For their big solos the principals tend to plant themselves front and center to sing—a style derided in opera as “park-and-bark.”

Fundamentally, these shows are primetime soap operas – a genre that hasn’t seen a hit on network TV in many seasons.

Caesar denigrated situation comedies as soap operas with laughs added.