Opera day and night

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Last night I had a terrible night’s sleep. I needed some rest after several busy days but I can’t say my roommates were cooperative. Around 12:30 am, some girl just arrived and flipped on the light switch while a few of us were sleeping, including a guy that just had a long flight from London. Ever hear of carrying a small flashlight in your bag, you ditz? When I looked at her incredulously, she stared back with a deer in the headlights look and squeaked out a “sorry”. What’s worse is with the blinds open and some light shining in, you could see perfectly well even without a flashlight.

Around 1:00, the London guy, a heavyset fellow that was out cold, began a heavy snore. But not just any snore. It was a very strange one - loud and annoying. My onomatopoeia is a bit weak so the best simile I could use to describe it is an avian mating call. After about 15 minutes with no end in sight, I got up and gave him a nudge. Five minutes later, he was back at it. One more nudge. Ahhh, peace and quiet.

At 2:23 am, the remaining roommates, two guys and two girls, burst in, with some chap I hadn’t seen before. The chap found his way to the floor aside of one of the guys’ beds where he was given a blanket. One of his buddies thought this to be amusing and turned on the light to take a picture of his fallen lad. As he giggled his way over to his buddy on the floor, he was treated to an expletive-laced tirade and informed of the hour by yours truly. I had had it with these buffoons and was not about to tolerate this incredibly rude and inconsiderate behavior. I received no apology but the light quickly went out and the room went quiet.

I still managed to wake up early to go out on my run. It was a very hot and humid morning so it wasn’t a quick one. But the scenery was nice as I cut my way down to the Botanical Gardens and back. Along the way I ran past dozens of large, white cockatoos that were having their breakfast under a tree in Hyde Park.

Today’s big activity was going to do a tour of the Sydney Opera House. As I discovered on my tour, the Opera House is one of the most famous buildings in the world, with an estimated 4 billion people, or two-thirds of the population, able to identify it correctly in a photograph.

The Opera House was designed by a Danish architect named Jorn Utzon. Utzon submitted his designs, which were far less than elaborate, as part of a contest. They were originally dismissed, until a Finnish American judge, who was late to the judging, asked to review the ones he had missed. He pulled Utzon’s design out for further review, liking the side by side design of the two main buildings, rather than front to back, and it was named the winner.

Construction commenced on the Opera House in 1957. It was expected to take three years and cost $7 million. Due to the complexity of the engineering work, the transition from paper to reality resulted in countless man hours, a 16 year construction process and a final cost of about $103 million. In 1973, it finally opened formally by Queen Elizabeth II.

The Opera House is actually not just an opera theatre; it also includes a larger concert hall, a playhouse, drama theatre and recording studio, along with foyers, restaurants and cafés. The tour commenced in the recording studio, which is now used for both recordings and smaller live performances (up to 400 spectators).

It continued in the nearby Playhouse, with its white birch wood seats with Australian fabric, both used to enhance acoustics. We were told a story about a messenger that was supposed to deliver a package to someone at the Opera House. He came in and got turned around in the labyrinth backstage and eventually walked right out onto the Playhouse stage, to his surprise. He stared blankly at the audience until one of the performers shouted “so there’s that package” as she coyly nodded and winked at the audience.

We then moved to one of the large foyers which had a very regal looking purple carpet. The room looked majestic, though it didn’t work out that way. Apparently, in Italian opera, purple is thought to bring bad luck. When Luciano Pavarotti was brought in to perform at the Opera House, a big reception was planned in the foyer. As he started down the stairs and noticed the purple carpet, he immediately turned around and left the room. The party was moved to another room in 20 minutes and all turned out well.

Next, was the Concert Hall. Much like the Playhouse, the Concert Hall had the white birch and Australian fabric seats. But this fabric is much less subdued than the dark blue in the Playhouse. Under the light, this fabric is a hot pink.

The rest of the Concert Hall features 2,678 seats and the Grand Organ - a pipe organ with 138 exposed pipes and 10,000 pipes in wall. It is the largest mechanical tracker action organ (as opposed to an electric organ) in the world. I would love to hear this someday.

We then proceeded outside where we got a glimpse of the tiled roof. The roof contains 1+ million tiles, which are a mix of white and cream. The cream tiles keep the roof from becoming blinding in direct sunlight. The mix allows the roof to take on the shade of its surroundings. Apparently it becomes a light shade of red around sunset.

Our second to last stop was by the Opera Theatre itself. Unfortunately, a rehearsal for A Midsummer Night’s Dream was in process so we were not able to go into the theatre itself. Instead we saw it on a screen outside in the foyer, the same screen which those arriving too late have to use until intermission.

Our last stop was in the Utzon Room. This is a smaller room but is the only one that was designed as Jorn Utzon intended it. For as the government grew discontent over the time and cost overrun, it eventually removed Utzon from the project. He returned to Denmark and, upset over the ordeal, never returned to see his creation in person, even though he lived until 2008.

While on the tour, I had noticed on one of the brochures that came with my tour ticket that there were AU$50 tickets available for tonight’s performance of Manon. I had never heard of Manon and the description wasn’t extremely appealing but for AU$55 (with ticket fee) it seemed like a great opportunity to see an opera here, something I wanted to do someday.

I checked in at the ticket booth, asked about appropriate dress (my khaki pants and polo with sandals was fine). There were still tickets available and, as a single, I was actually able to have my choice of several towards the front. I went with one in row K, about a quarter of the way between the left and right side of the theatre.

My plans set for tonight, I had to hustle back to the hostel to do some laundry. I was almost out of fresh (well, fresh in backpacker terms, meaning used a few times) clothes and a couple of the shirts and socks I wore for my outdoor adventures in Queenstown smelled a bit funky.

I wrapped up my laundry and caught a train down to Circular Quay, near the Opera House. I passed the crowded Opera Bar, apparently the place to go beforehand, and grabbed some dinner and wine at the adjacent Sidewalk Café. Sushi and some white wine seemed fitting for the warm weather and festivities.

Since seeing my first opera, Carmen, in New York City in 2006, I have become quite the fan. In Italy in 2007, I was lucky to have Miriam, the conductor of the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, on my tour. A few of us on the tour joined her to see a portion of The Barber of Seville in an old mansion overlooking the Grand Canal in Venice and Turandot (I believe), outdoors at Teatro dell'Opera in Roma (again, I think this was the site; and this is why I now keep a travel journal). I also saw La Boheme in Vienna last fall and thoroughly enjoyed it, too.

To synopsize the synopsis of Manon, provided by the theatre - the show begins in 1720 with a soldier waiting for his cousin, Manon, to arrive by coach on her way to the convent. She is a beautiful young woman who is approached by several French gentlemen, including Guillot de Morfontaoine (as an aside, the performer who played Guillot de Morfontaoine could not have looked anymore like what one would expect someone named Guillot de Morfontaoine to look like). Manon rejects his proposal.

She later becomes interested in a gentleman named Chevalier Des Grieux, and he her. As expected, they fall madly in love through the use of song and run away together.

A wealthy gent, who has also fallen for her, and her cousin, later track them down in Paris and abduct her lover. They do not see one another for years.

Eventually they reunite just in time before he takes his holy orders to become an abbé. Naturally, more tragedy ensues, caused mainly by Guillot de Morfontaoine and Des Grieux’s meddling father, leading eventually to Manon dying in Des Grieux’s arms.

Like most operas, the plot is very simple, with the bulk of the musical lyrics comprised of redundancy. But no one really goes to the opera to see a three hour performance for the plot. It’s all about the emotional rollercoaster that the blend of orchestral and oratorical music takes you on. And Manon was not short in that department at all.

Unlike with most well known operas, I didn’t recognize any of the music. But that clearly didn’t matter, as what I did hear was spectacular. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The show had a single intermission, which occurred after the third of five acts. During intermission, I stepped outside with many others and took in the beautiful evening by overlooking the harbour. As a crisp breeze blew off the water, I couldn’t help but see everything with astonished eyes, as I thought about where I was tonight and where I’ve been over the last year and throughout my life. As people gathered round and discussed their frivolous plans for after the event, I wondered what I could have done to deserve this; to have been given the gift to pursue my dream of discovery, to see some of the finest spectacles in the world, to grasp their significance and become a small part of their glory. And certainly a level of gratitude to my parents for their support while I’m home that could never be returned.

Tomorrow is my last day in Sydney. I’m meeting up with Kelly Rollason for lunch then catching an overnight bus to Byron Bay tomorrow night.

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Photos

Sydney Opera House
The steps leading up to the world famous opera house. And world famous is no exaggeration - an estimated 4 billion people (two-thirds of the world) can identify the opera house in a photograph.

Harbour Bridge
The Opera House has fine views all around, like this one of the Harbour Bridge.

Purple carpet
The purple carpeting in one section of the opera house was meant to display a sense of regality. Instead, it struck fear in the hearts of Italian performers, including Luciano Pavarotti, who believed the color to be bad luck.

Roof
The roof contains a mix of white and cream tiles, which allows it to take on the color of its surroundings.

Utzon Room
The room dedicated to the Opera House's architect, Jorn Utzon.