Giuseppe Verdi's rapidly complicated, frequently histrionic, infrequently performed opera Ernani plays like a telenovela on fast-forward with the volume turned up. Opera Boston's production, which opened Friday night at the Majestic Theatre, is exactly what you think opera looks like: there's candelabra, and wigs, or hair carefully styled to look like wigs, and more red velvet than David Lynch could shake a stick at. The labyrinthine plot—a story of imperial intrigue overshadowed by a......

Upstairs was the teeming Cambridge Common; outside, the usual smokers' conversations. "Dude, you spit on my nachos." "No, I spit next to your nachos." And downstairs, Opera Boston Underground had returned to the Lizard Lounge for another well-attended performance. Proximity has a way of making up for bar-basement acoustics. Lacking any substantial musical education, this particular Bostonist has always enjoyed hearing such oversized sounds coming from human mouths, and this was the first time......

Opera Boston Underground "Quickies" Tonight, doors at 7:00 p.m. (Bostonist suggests getting in line early), show at 7:30 p.m. Lizard Lounge (1667 Mass. Ave., Cambridge) $8 cover, 21+ Opera Boston Underground is the casual, subterranean branch of Opera Boston (whose smart, cute Semele we enjoyed earlier this month) and tonight they return to the Lizard Lounge for a handful of semi-staged mini-operas, with three libretti (and one score) by the late Gian Carlo Menotti. A......

Awkward Lectures Cory Arcangel's best known artwork Super Mario Clouds turns the world's first scrolling video game into a digital environment of placid repetition. It percolated on the internet and spilled into the Whitney's Biennial, making Arcangel a digital art superstar. But his true calling may have been as a lecturer. Whether the topic is hacking old electronics or copyright; his willful ignorance of art history or his place in it, Arcangel always entertains.......

Women ended up on tables, a lot: in rapture, in protest, in flagrante delicto, and asleep. As the Cutler Majestic's red velvet curtain rose last night, we saw the heroine in a heap of wedding dress on a dining table, an image that echoed throughout the opera. Semele, the reluctant bride, is the best-developed character in the work, foolish, but sympathetic, but so petulant, even before she leaves the groom at the altar and runs......

Music --Haven't you always wanted to go to an event called HARVAPALOOZA? Well, now you can. Local band The Franklin Kite bring a special combination of musical prowess and astrophysics knowledge to Tommy Doyle's, where they'll play alongside Maya and The Trolleys to commemorate the palooza that is Harvard. Or something like that? Anyway, the show starts at 9 and it's totally free. A dance party will follow, so put your best foot forward. Hopefully......

Bostonist loves ourselves some opera, but sometimes theaters and and concert halls and opera houses all seem too obvious. In a city where you can get it with your oysters, or your popcorn, you should be able to get it with your beer: this is why Opera Boston Underground is inevitable. Combining a cozy subterranean venue (the Lizard Lounge, under the Cambridge Common restaurant at 1667 Mass. Ave.), a negligible cover ($8), and an impeccably-curated......

The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny will open at the Cutler Majestic Theatre tonight, February 23, 2007 7:30 pm. Other showtimes include Sunday, February 25, 2007, at 3:00 pm and Tuesday, February 27, 2007, 7:30 pm. For more information, visit Opera Boston's website. In the city of Mahagonny, you can do anything you want - but you better make sure you pay your bar tab! Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht unleashed The......

The state of the sidewalks around Boston kept us on our asses this weekend. Not so much of the figurative kind where we sat at home and skipped a show because it was too hard to get around. No, more the literal kind where we kept falling down because of that damn 2" layer of ice that was pretty much everywhere. This week they tell us that the temperature is rising by week's end.......

In case you haven't heard the next week promises to show us the winter we've been missing out – only minus the snow. Cold temperatures (below freezing every day!) will be the rule according to the current outlook. Perfect time to head out to your favorite music venue. There's no better way we can think of to stay warm. This week you'll find the old, the new, the nerd, and some classical among the......

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for us to claim that all shows should be played outside over the summer. Lucky for us no one listens to our suggestions on venue – so we're heading back inside where the temperature with the AC on is only about five degrees cooler than it is outside. A welcome five degrees, with a tiny bit lower humidity. This week's list hits a variety of shows, something......

Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter. Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here. What's better than Bostonist ripping off lines of Beatles songs on a Monday? Checking out the Boy Least Likely To show at TT's. What's better than Bostonist ripping off Beatles lyrics on a Tuesday? The Aaron Goldberg Trio's Boston CD release party. What's better…oh you get the point. Check out this week's music picks for......