coup de theatre!

had been given a ticket to the last general rehearsal of the new Don Pasquale production. had spent the whole day driving and sitting in the sun, so i thought i might have trouble surviving over 2 hours of opera, but no.

the set was amazing, as were the costumes. the third act had just started when the main character, who was supposed to 'fall' on the sofa, fell on the floor. the music then stopped, as did the singing. total silence for about 10 seconds until he said 'sorry'. the curtain dropped and the director came out to tell us that the guy'd been doing out for X-rays, that the choir would be practising what was left of the opera and we were welcome to stay. half the people left but we decided to stay. and were rewarded, because it turned out the main character had decided to continue rehearsing no matter what. i couldn't help hope he'd be ok and wouldn't hurt himself. but as it turned out later, it was apparently all for show. or so said my friend the soprano, who couldn't believe he'd once again put on a show. he was such a prima dona!