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March 12, 2010 at 5:52 PM
This is a model (cross section) of the Paris Opera House (the original, not the new kid at the Bastille) that is on display at the Mus’ee d’Orsay.
March 12, 2010 at 6:09 PM
Wow. I’m impressed. Including the distinction between the two operas.
March 12, 2010 at 6:13 PM
Thanks. What do I win? Fractolli seeds for my vegetable garden?
…I have pictures of the same model around here somewhere.
March 12, 2010 at 6:14 PM
The interesting part (to me, anyway) is that the model is still on display at ye old Mus’ee…. I saw it in 2001! ….Almost sounds like a “permanent” exhibit, an endangered species in the museum world.
March 12, 2010 at 6:17 PM
Did you see the cool aerial-view model of Paris through the glass in the floor? I took some pix of those, but they didn’t turn out, except in a ghostly sort of way.
March 12, 2010 at 6:22 PM
I could tell it was a model, or rather (I thought) a series of models.
It could not be that big or it would reach to the sky (I’ve been there) or go deep underground like the Colosseum. Perhaps it is a series of cross sections in depth showing the layers of stage works and flys.
First theatre trivia question. Why do actors believe it is bad luck to whistle while on or backstage? (hint, this started in the Colosseum but continued well after) Second trivia question, why do your fellow actors tell you to “break a leg” before going on? Third trivia question, what play is thought to be always doomed to some misfortune during it’s run and won’t be mentioned by name by the most superstitious actors?
Good for a triple word score.
March 12, 2010 at 6:24 PM
Answer to No. 3: Macbeth.
Answer to No. 2: Because saying “good luck” is bad luck
Answer to No. 1: Um, because if you whistled that was proof you were a Christian and the Romans would throw you to the lions.
I didn’t quite understand the cross section, but it was a cool exhibit anyway.
March 12, 2010 at 6:27 PM
One more not so trivial question. What famous artist, (to me rather strangely and out of context) painted the ceiling of the old Opera House in Paree?
March 12, 2010 at 7:28 PM
Well folks, Jude has answered two of the three questions correctly on our show and wins Carl Castle’s voice on the answering machine of Mrs. Andrea Anderson of Duluth Minnesota!
The staging of Macbeth, often referred to as “The Scottish Play” by overly superstitious, not to say superfragilistic members of the acting profession, has often led to life threatening onstage mishaps including death or worse dismemberment of some of the players parts, which could possibly be because the script calls for the use of swords and battle axes in onstage combat.
When several prominant early actors actually broke their legs during the performance directly after being wished good luck by their peers they
used reverse superstition and wished them instead to “break a leg”.
Sadly, although she has won the prize for Mrs. Anderson she failed to answer the first question correctly, or in this case not at all.
Whistling backstage is verboten because since the earliest days of stage rigging until recent times the best riggers were gleaned from seamen who’s time on sailing ships taught them how to use ropes and pulleys.
At sea, instructions were given to raise sail or lower the boom by whistles from the deck and this form of communication continued for riggers of stage sets. Therefore if you walked onto a stage whistling a jaunty tune your revery might soon be crushed by a heavy stage set deposited swiftly on your head which was worse than breaking a leg and could put a damper on your future stage career.
The Roman Colosseum employed hundreds of sailors to rig the shades that could be adjusted to suit the climate, much like todays semi-enclosed football stadiums. Historians still can’t quite figure out exactly how they pulled this off.
Better luck next time, Jude
and we will see you all next week on “Your So Trivial!”
March 12, 2010 at 8:21 PM
Damn. So who painted the ceiling at the Paris Opera?
March 13, 2010 at 12:02 AM
This place know by many names but with one essential purpose has been known over the years as The Palaise Garnier, Opera de le Paris, Theatre National de le Opera, Acadamie National de Musique and the Acadamie de Imperial de Musique. In 1896 a member of le Union de’ Stagehand whistled a tune causing the massive central crystal chandelier to be inadvertantly released causing his death and the death of his lover the Opera ballet mistress. Many witnesses at the time questioned the official determination of what was declared at the time ” a freak accident” This event and the well known existance of hidden chambers and ancient subterranean rivers connected to the sewers of Paris inspired Gaston Leroux in 1909 to write the gothic novel “Phantom Of The Opera” since adapted by Andrew Loyd Webber into the one of the most popular musical dramas of our time. In 1964 Marc Chagall painted directly over the former beautiful ceiling mural, permanently obscuring the romantic work of the former artist. (unknown to me) to almost universal distain and viilification because of it’s seeming incongruity with the design of this magnificent monument to classical architecture and classical music.
I personally liked Chagall’s ceiling mural at the Paris Opera House. Although it was not the Fragonard or Bouchard flying cherubs I expected, it spoke to the free spirit of music and art. Chagalls dancing nymphs juxtaposed with the neo classical interior seemed so very perfect, so free and so, well, so French.
March 13, 2010 at 9:11 AM
The Chagall ceiling sounds cool. I was hoping for Lautrec, which would maybe be even cooler.