Outside the Drottningholms Slottsteater at intermission.
Last night, I went to the opera. Unlike the stuffy, la ti dah experience you might expect, it was bawdy and fun and full of humor. My friend Jodi had tickets and we went to the Drottningholms Slottsteater or the castle theater at Drottningholm, which is the home of the royal family.
It was a sunny evening and we had a picnic on the lawn before going in for the show. The performance was of La finta giardiniera or the pretend garden girl and it was a comedy of lies and mistaken identity set around a summer wedding. The music is by Mozart, the singing in Italian and the subtitles in Swedish, making for quite an international evening.
La finta giardiniera's conductor Mark Tatlow with Jodi after the performance.
The theater itself is gorgeous: it was built in 1766 and the original hand pulled wooden stage machinery is still used. Ushers and greeters are all dressed in period costume too, but the unfortunate side effect of keeping that authentic atmosphere is that you have to sit on some rather uncomfortable wooden seats – which is literally and figuratively hard when you are watching a 2 hour and 45 minute show! Luckily, the performers are fantastic and the show is funny and well worth the sore backside. Check out: La finta giardiniera.
Sunset outside the theater at 10.30.
{ 2 comments }
whaaattt??? can you even believe i was there on the very same night?!? how did we manage to miss each other? that is truly bizarre.
it’s a phenomenal theatre isn’t it? such a treat to be there.
Wow Susan, that is amazing!
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