O, Dio! Not At the Opera!!

Dear readers, followers, rabbi, parents, grandparents, relatives and friends,

(oops! Sorry, I got caught up in the rhythm of the ubiquitous bar mitzvah speech salutation)

At any rate... today's installment comes as a result of my long overdue night at the opera just last night.
Now, some of you know about my background in the world of opera - I maintain that I 'impersonated an opera singer' for many years before my career in the theatre so I still retain a love for the art form. I just feel no outrageous need to DO it anymore. I have the greatest respect for the huge amount of work and dedication it takes to be a professional opera singer and there, I guess, is from where this blog posting springs.
As I mentioned, this visit to the Metropolitan Opera last night was the first in far too long. Opera is a costly indulgence and one I haven't been able to afford as often as I'd like so it's been a few years since I actually sat in that magnificent space and witnessed live music making at some of its very best.

Now when I say "live music making" I want to be clear. I've said it more than once - frankly, I've said it to anyone who will listen - there is nothing on earth as grand as Grand Opera.
A large orchestra pit filled with some of the world's best instrumentalists and conductors, a truly gigantic stage with sets that can be up to three stories tall, sometimes hundreds of singers and supernumeraries (those are the non-singing or -speaking spear carriers and such), elephants, dancers...anything you can imagine and many things you can't.

"Live music making" also means we are NOT in your living room, we are NOT out on the street, we are NOT in a restaurant and we are definitely NOT in your office.

This, to the initiated and uninitiated alike, should make it clear that there should be NO talking, NO scratching things or rubbing things, NO eating or drinking and absolutely no texting during a performance. Not only that but I find that it is the ultimate in disrespect and disregard of the singers et al onstage to be taking flash photos - or any photos for that matter - of the stage.

What's that you say? The show is over and it's only the curtain call?

Well, let me tell you something from actual experience...when a flash goes off in the audience it has the potential of blinding those onstage for a second or two and, trust me when I say this, that's all it takes to trip during a curtain call and fall on one's face or into the orchestra pit. And, YES, it does happen.

Also, the curtain call is your opportunity to express how much you appreciate the combined hundreds of years of preparation, practice and work involved to have produced the evening for which you have just paid a hefty sum. Take some time to applaud. Not just for the performers but in acknowledgement of the long hard hours YOU have worked to afford your tickets, YOUR patronage of the arts and for being able to pay for the triple espresso that you purchased just to be able to stay awake in a darkened opera house with beautiful music playing after having to do all that you did during the day before you came.

What you should NOT do is, take a picture with your cell phone, check your messages and mail while trying to get out of the theater while the cast is still on stage bowing so that you can get to your car faster than the next person.

Keep supporting the arts but please do it with a modicum of style, grace and manners. You'll be surprised at how your GOOD behaviour might influence others' bad behavior.

And in the words of Mimi......"Addio....senza rancor"

 - SSG