travelswithalice

July 21, 2005

Otello at La Scala

MILAN

We were nearing the end of our holiday and as we headed back to Milan, we looked forward to finally experiencing one of the ultimate places to be in the world of opera, the Teatro alla Scala. We deposited our bags and car at the Hilton which turned out to be much nicer and more conveniently located than we could have hoped for in any big European city. We immediately mapped out our route for next morning’s short drive to the train station to catch our train to Zurich.

At the train station, there was a queue at the local Avis shop. People were desperate for cars and there were none available! We briefly considered selling our car to the highest bidder or maybe offering to return it a day earlier in exchange for a huge rebate. Very tacky! As it turned out, we were fortunate to still have the car to use later that evening.

We visited the soaring pink granite towers of Santa Maria Maggiore where I lit candles for our dads.

Then we paid homage to Missoni and Louis Vuitton.

We had planned on having a leisurely pre-opera dinner at the nice little bistro beside la Scala and killing time with a good bottle of wine while watching the crowds milling in the square, until it was time for the curtain to go up on “Otello.”

Totally relaxed, unhurried, very civilized. But when we went to the box-office to pick up the tickets we had booked on the internet, we were directed to another place, another box-office somewhere in the square, not anywhere near La Scala.

To our dismay, we were then told that “Otello” was not playing at the Teatro alla Scala, but at the new Teatro degli Arcimboldi, a half-hour’s drive outside the city!

We had less than an hour to get back to the hotel, grab something to eat, pick up our car- the car we nearly auctioned off earlier that day- and race through rush hour traffic to get lost in the suburbs in search of this Arcimboldi place! As it turned out, there was no traffic and it was not far; we didn't get lost and we got there in plenty of time.

But it was not a leisurely pre-opera anything and it was not La Scala.

The new off-city, in-campus theater was unbelievably stuffy, not to mention totally lacking in architectural character. And the opera was too long. There were three intermissions at which we had first champagne and dainty little canapes at the lobby bar, then ice cream at the cafe across the road, and finally just fresh air which we were all desperate for. So we hung out on the pavement outside the theater.

And what of the performance? The notoriously cantankerous La Scala audience was visibly unimpressed. We watched a number of them walk away during the intermissions.

But we loved being there anyway, the only two people wearing jeans in a sea of evening dresses and dinner jackets.

Labels: italy, milan, one long summer, opera