My friend who sings the lead tenor in The Flying Dutchman invited me to the dress rehearsal, which gets taped for television. It's an outdoor performance at the Pergola adjacent to the UNESCO World Heritage site, Hala Stulechia, and there are lighted water shows happening in coordination with the opera. But in the final act, a fire started behind the Dutchman, and he kept singing. Soon, the fire extinguishers appeared, the fire was put out, and then began the clean up of the stage before the opera could continue. (The orchestra below must have wondered whether they should get out!) Drama at the opera, for sure! By the time it all ended, and I waited for my friend to be ready to leave, we went to catch the 2:00 am bus, only to have it drive past us all (about 20 of us at the bus stop). As we walked toward the city, someone asked about a taxi phone number and I said I had a card, and then we all stopped and looked at each other because we four were speaking in Japanese! And, of course, we all knew about each other because Japanese people in our city in Poland all know of the existence of the few other Japanese people. What a night of unusual happenings.
Egad!! This strikes a bit too close to home! How did you know this wasn't part of the performance??? And that must have been unnerving even for the audience. SO well captured! What a night!
