… and, if you ask me, scary!
Wild animals on an opera stage? No thanks.
Read it here.
The last time I saw a live animal on stage (recently, at San Francisco Opera) it cause the audience to stir. Some laughed. Some reacted in that “ahhh … cool” sort of way. Due to both reactions I just found the animal a distraction. I’m not there to see a circus. I’m there to hear great music. Really.
And then, in Florence, I guess you may now take your dog or cat to lunch. Or the theatre. Because we all know how our dogs and cats love a good show. Truly. I read it here.
Franco Zeffirelli says:
Dogs and cats are a bit like children and should be in places they enjoy. I would never take them to La Scala (opera house in Milan),’ he told Corriere della Sera newspaper. ‘It would be torture for them.
And, as an aside, bringing dogs, cats, or children to some operas can be torture for not only the dogs, cats or children, but for some other people around them, too.
I’m just sayin’ …. 🙂
(Having seen an awfully young child at Rigoletto … an odd opera to take a very young child to, don’t you think?)
Yes. If I were to take a child to an opera, perhaps Rigoletto would not be the first one I’d jump at. Maybe the Magic Flute, or Hansel and Gretel.
We attended the final show of Peter Pan for my 13-year-old’s cast last Saturday and my eight-year-old was complaining (during intermission) about the noisy babies (my sister and had been commenting on the people who, despite repeated warnings, requests and posted signs left their cell phones on – ARRGH!). I gave him a very direct look and commented that, indeed, I had often wished that babies came with an off (or at least a mute) switch…
Hard to complain about youngsters attending Peter Pan though.
There are certain jobs that nearly call for some young voices. Peter Pan would be one. Nutcracker sometimes has a crying child or two and it only makes me smile. (Of course I might want to cry while at the Nut too, but for different reasons.) I don’t mind children at appropriate productions. But Rigoletto? I want to pull the parent aside and suggest it’s not quite appropriate! We had young children at Turn of the Screw too … not good!