A killer opera

I never thought I'd be worried about getting killed at the opera.

Monday some faculty invited A. and I to go with them to an opera on Tuesday. Another couple going with them had had a family situation and was unable to use their tickets. We agreed to go, thinking it would be interesting to see an opera in Europe.

It was VERY interesting. First of all, we learned on the way to the opera that it was going to be in Bregenz, Austria (which is only 90 minutes drive away, ha ha)! Bregenz is on the tip of Lake Constance on the far east side where just a tiny little tip of Austria touches it. The lake shares borders with Switzerland, Germany and Austria. There was an annual opera festival going on in Bregenz.

The second thing we found out when we got there was that the audience seating AND the opera stage were actually ON the lake. In fact, the actresses and actors splashed around in the water, swam in the lake, and rowed boats around as part of the action. It was amazing to see how they incorporated the lake into the opera.

A third interesting thing was the set itself. It was completely anachronistic. It was designed to look similar to the part of Planet of the Apes where the Statue of Liberty is in ruins on the beach. They had Statue of Liberty ruins, lifesize, all around the stage. And part of the set was two GIGANTIC cranes which were constantly lifting and carrying enormous objects across the set throughout the performance. For instance, during one big musical piece both cranes carried the two metal parts of the face of the Statue of Liberty through the air to hang suspended over the set and fit together like two humongous puzzle pieces. In another scene, a crane lifted a lifesize boat out of the water and carried it and its occupants through the air and away as if they were sailing to heaven. Also, sometimes the "slave people," who were constantly doing little things in the background of the action, were actually cleaning the cranes. So they really made the set part of the set, if you know what I mean.

Our seats were in the very front -- in Europe, the cheapest seats are often the closest ones for some reason -- and so the cranes were swinging massive welded metal objects right over us throughout the opera. The recent spate of crane accidents in the States was forefront in my mind as I warily eyed all the multi-ton objects swung over my head. Later spouts of fire went up out of the water right near us. I was faintly hoping for no accidents this night.

All in all it was an amazing experience, a killer opera.