travelswithalice

Romeo & Juliette onstage at Arena di Verona

I just overheard somebody say that the Verona Arena is cheesy.

I don't claim to know all that much about this.  But I've been to a few opera houses, seen a number of operas, and been to the Arena often enough. (Notice the judiciously selected words few and a number and often.)

I think the Arena is fantastic. Never mind that most of the people you find there are really not there for the opera. I suspect very few people actually go to the opera just for the opera anyway.

But I wish people didn't  take children there. (They expect children to keep awake, not to mention behave, until the final death scene?) I wish people didn't take pictures all the time. It is so irritating on several levels. The flash, the click, the monitor light, the constantly moving arm. Some people hum the tunes.

And then there's the performance. There are frequent substitutions. There are few big names. They used to say there are no microphones, so the singers have to be of a certain calibre to be invited to perform here. Not anymore. There are microphones now.

So what?  The music is always great, the stage unique, the architecture timeless.

I love the sheer size of it. I love that the stage occupies almost half of the ampitheater, all the way up the steps on both sides of it and all the way up the back. (The theatrical trick of players showing up in the aisles up and down theaters make infinitely more sense here.)

I love that the stars and the moon form part of the backdrop.

I love hearing the drone of airplanes flying above and thinking how wonderful it must be to look down from a plane window at the scene below.

I love the lighting of the candles in the cheap seats.

I love the gong-person calling the time.

I love the fact that performances can be interrupted by rain.  No rain checks, no refunds.

I love the sound the empty plastic bottles make as they roll down the stone steps.

I love the uncomfortable seats. (The red velvet cushions on the front seats are gone, replaced by thin waterproof ones.) They keep me awake throughout the performance.

I love the bar on the side in front selling over-priced prosecco served in cheap souvenir flutes.

It's all part of the charm of the Arena. The being there.

Opera is meant to be bigger than life. In the arena, it is.

Besides, people who really go for the opera are there too. And most importantly, so are some of the best performers in the business.