There were no star singers but rather fresh talent. The first music heard was the national anthem, sung by the audience through masks, which gave it a moving, muted mellowness. This was not a normal opening night in several ways. No smoke-filled air from fires blackening singers’ lungs.īut what the pandemic has ultimately wrought for L.A. Even climate-changed nature appeared to be, momentarily at any rate, an opera fan. Because of the backup of container ships off San Pedro, new sets had to be built from scratch in 10 days, re-creating a similar feat 19 years ago when a labor strike hit the Port of Los Angeles.įrom all appearances, the first-night performance went ahead without a hitch (which isn’t always the case with any production, any year). The sets for the production, shipped from Europe, didn’t arrive in time. It is a pandemic survivor, overcoming obstacles and not only the usual ones. There was potboiler Verdi.Ī toast, then to L.A. There was an orchestra sounding so rich and strong and colorful, even in the pit of an acoustically challenged hall, providing pleasure. For the vast, mostly vaxxed, mostly masked audience, this was the first trip in a very long time to a theater to experience live opera fully staged. 20, 2021 In an earlier version of this review, the photo caption misidentified Raehann Bryce-Davis as Tiffany Townsend.

La opera il trovatore