Last night I was on the freeway headed for Downtown and the Music Center
to see Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
(the
first 's' is silent). It's about a murderous, scheming woman who kills
her husband and father-in-law, and has her cake and sex too, until the
end. I love Opera anyway...(you don't have to get me to an opera just
because there is sex in it)point me in the direction of Puccini, Mozart,
Bizet and especially Verdi and I'm on my way. However I had not seen an
opera as visually graphic as this one. There was some pretty heavy sex
simulation in a couple of scenes. Once behind a diaphanous red curtain
(the Lover, Sergei looked a bit comical to me because he was going at it
like a jackrabbit, 20million times a second) and the second inside a
barrel with the poor sex harassed cook and a laborer. The music is by
Shostakovich. Name sound familiar? I have heard his work before but not
this particular Opera. The music was great and I enjoyed the entire
production which is Russian; straight from the Mariinsky Theatre in St.
Petersburg. A great experience, despite a little problem I had, brought
on by my stupidity. I arrived at our secret free place to park(Luigi
discovered it) and parked behind Luigi's car as he had arrived earlier
from work. I was running late and arrived at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
about ten minutes before curtain time. I had been rushed all day and had
not eaten anything since breakfast, except for some peanuts at 4:00 P.M.
I was starving, but the first act,although long, kept me riveted . As
soon as the curtain came down I told Luigi where I was going and rushed
out. I went to every bar and coffee stand on all three floors. "All the
sandwiches sold out already" they told me. Finally I found one place
where a plastic package of 4 of the teeniest wraps( tortilla wraps) I
had ever seen were 'the last one'. /I'll take it/ I said, giving her the
five bucks and hurrying to find a spot to sit down. I hurriedly took out
my retainers(what a pain, trying to hide this maneuver from prying eyes)
I bit into the first bird-sized wrap. The most disgusting taste settled
on my tongue. Bleech! I took the residue from my mouth with a napkin. I
ran back and told the bartender that the sandwich had been sitting out
too long and my wrap was rancid. She returned my $5 immediately. By this
time I was starting to feel weird and panicky, I was getting
hypoglycemic. How idiotic of me to come to a 3 1/2 hour opera with no
food in my stomach! I ran downstairs and asked the attendant at the
front door if there was anywhere I could get some food. Negative. Was
the restaurant open below the Music Center Complex I wanted to know. He
seemed to think so. I ran downstairs and into the establishment of
Otto's Bar and Grill. It was empty except for a couple at the Bar. /Is
the Bartender around ?/ I asked, rushing up to them like a refugee in
desperation. /He's coming right back/ I paced around at the Bar like a
moron. I had eaten there once before at the Bar where they had quickie
appetizers and such. When he came back out I pounced on him. He assured
me he could get some soup for me instantly. /Please bring bread!/ I
shouted after him. He brought me a bowl of soup that was so spicy I
practically gagged on it. /This is way too hot!/ He assured me the other
soup would be hot too. That was not what I meant I tried to explain to
him. Four more people walked into the Bar. He said he had to get someone
else to help him. He called another bartender from across the
restaurant. By this time I was about ready to crunch on the Bar. The
other Bartender ran in the kitchen to get me some Butternut Squash Soup.
I inhaled it and stuffed many slices of wonderful bread and butter into
my mouth. I also forgot to put my watch on that day so I had no idea
what time it was. After I paid, I ran out of there and back to the Music
Center. The attendant at the front door told me they hadn't started yet
but the whole bottom floor was empty. Rather than trust the elevator I
did an Olympic run up 3 flights of red carpeted stairs. Not great after
eating a huge bowl of soup and bread. I reached the Loge just as they
were closing the inside doors. I found my way down to my row , totally
out of breath. Luigi was waiting in the aisle. /Where were you!?/ I
followed him to our seats as the houselights came down. As I passed the
nice couple on the aisle , standing to let us through and whom I had
spoken to earlier , I whispered, /What an adventure!/ I settled in, out
of breath but full of food, to watch the rest of Katerina's escapades.
But I wondered if the couple I had just spoken to would have laughed if
they had known my hypoglycemia was the adventure I spoke of. Katerina's
corrupt life was much more fascinating and we all were pretty transfixed
once the curtain rose again. Peach