February 26, 2023
“Love takes off the masks we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”
- James Baldwin
“It is so startlingly familiar….”
- Bill Bryson
You really cannot take your eyes off of it. The Sydney Opera House is the dominant icon of an already stunning harbor. It seems to constantly change as you look at it from different angles and with different light. It is astonishingly beautiful.
In the 1950’s it is hard to overstate what a backwater Sydney was and especially in the shadow of Melbourne. Where the Opera House now stands, as lovely a spot of land as any in the harbor, was amazingly a dilapidated train garage. The now impressive skyline could only be described as mediocre despite the famous bridge.
Sir Eugene Goossens, the head of the fledgling Sydney orchestra was agitating for a new performance space. So a plan was made to tear down the ramshackle garage and build there.
A competition was held for a design but they could not agree on one. In frustration they turned to Finnish born American architect Eero Saarinen. He reviewed the rejected designs and selected this one.
John Gunther wrote, “The plan was bold, unique, brilliantly chosen, - and trouble - from its inception”
It was the design of a 37 year old Danish architect named Joern Utzon.
The problem was from the beginning the unique roof. Nothing so inclined and top heavy had ever been done before. Since there was some haste in trying to complete the project, the momentum ultimately saved it. The final cost when it was completed in 1973 was 102 million dollars. (Over 60 billion in today's dollars!) - 14 times the original estimate.
Oddly Utzon would never see the final building. He left the project in 1966 over cost disputes and returned to Denmark. For the rest of his career he never designed anything so bold and innovative.
We managed to secure tickets to the Opera for the evening. So before we left for the show on a tip from a fellow traveler, we went to Hyde Park in the city for the afternoon. As I mentioned yesterday, it is World Pride Day here. Cities from around the world compete for this honor in a manner similar to the Olympic games.
Here on the corner of the park, they were preparing for a huge parade of over 200 floats. 250,000 will attend. That is 1/3 of the entire population of Indianapolis. Since we were due at the opera later in the evening we would be unable to see the actual parade, but clearly the festivities were already well underway.
Pride flags festooned every building in the city. Men, women , and children many decked out in gloriously bright and outrageous costumes were jockeying for a good position hours before the parade. The general mood was one of celebration and buoyant joy. It felt life affirming and the scene was energetic and moving.
So many young people. Tons of sequins. So much glitter.
Rod Dreher, an American conservative writer and orthodox Christian has written that the right, particularly in America, seems unaware that the “Culture War” is already lost. He continues that it is best for the Right to strategically retreat or face irrelavance.
Strolling here among all this celebration and the swelling crowd it is clear that he is correct. There is no way these happy people are going back to the darkness of the past. They are now standing in the light and they fully intend to stay. They deserve a place in the world as much as anyone else. Tony Kushner famously wrote, “The world only spins forward”
It was a privilege to walk among them.
We left for the harbor and dinner before the performance. The Opera complex is actually 5 performance spaces, the opera venue is only the 2nd largest. There are also 3 restaurants, underground parking and various gift shops shops.
This extravagant wedding was being photographed at the complex. The beautiful bride was sporting a rather edgy dress. We observed several bridal couples getting photos done.
The opera house seats 5,134 people. Again, it is the 2nd biggest venue behind the concert hall next door. It is huge.
We were scheduled to see Puccini’s classic La Boheme. If you are at all familiar with Jonathan Larson 1996 hit Rent or Moulin Rouge by Baz Luhrmann. Then you essentially know La Boheme. Interestingly, Luhrmann used to direct operas here.
Even from the pictures you can see the influence Puccini had on the Broadway hit Rent.
Puccini was a very popular Italian 19th century operatic composer whose works feature common people against the backdrop of crisis. Lush scores with memorable melodies are his trademark. Ten of his works are still routinely performed around the world.
Despite the songs in Italian, you understood what was going on. Boy gets girl (big song), Boy brings to girl into his bohemian world (Bigger song), and boy loses girl (really big song). The girls’s deathbed scene alone ran 30 minutes! She could sing pretty well for someone dying of pneumonia.
But it is the spectacle that you go to opera for, not the complexity of the plot. Barrel chested tenors whose voices ring out like clear trumpets and sopranos whose glittery notes reach impossible heights fill the theatre with music. Huge, vastly over the top stage numbers with dozens of extras. It is a little like watching a Bollywood movie live. So extravagant.
When the performance was over we walked out into the cool air. Across the darkened harbor the waves glowed with pink, blue, green and red lights. It was the colors of the Pride flag.
The entire enormous bridge was lined with LED lights that were putting on a huge display. People were everywhere looking on at the spectacle. The egg white shells of the roof glowed in the lights.
It was all so…whats the word? Oh yes…
Fabulous. Just fabulous.
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