We started our day back in Chinatown. It was raining lightly. We went back to Paddy’s market to pick up a few items and then over to the Maritime Museum. We plan to do this museum next week but we had some time so we did some of it this morning. It reminded me of the military museum in Turkey. Not because of what it looked like but because it emphasized what I lacked in historical knowledge.
Australia was involved in most of the wars of the 20th century that the United States was involved in. The Vietnam war saw the same kind of protests over military conscription. This was all news to me.
At 25 million, Australia is less the 1/10 the population of the USA over a landmass of similar size. Its’ military, likewise, is much smaller. There is a battleship and a submarine that is part of the museum. I will check these out next week. We spent over an hour here. It was really my thing. Terri would just as soon shop. Tuesday will be the day for that. Shopping for Terri, battleships for Jeff.
We came back to the apartment for rest before dinner and the performance at the Opera House.
Dinner was at 6 pm in the Opera House. We decided to take an Uber over at 5:30. Best to be early.
The area around the Opera House can hold massive amounts of people as the building can have 3 shows running at the same time.
The inside of the Opera House was not what I imagined. The non-theater areas reminded me of the old silverdome. Lots of exposed concrete.
Picking up tickets from will call would not have been an issue. It felt like there were very few people in the building. Carmen was being performed in the Joan Sutherland Theater. Dinner was in the Joan Sutherland foyer. Very easy to find.
Nha waited until exactly 6 pm before letting us go up the stairs.
Dinner was here.
The menu was limited. Choose one or the other. Our table offered views of the Harbour Bridge.
The food was very good. No disappointment here. Judging by the number of people in the lobby and by the number at dinner, I expected quite a bit less than a full house at the performance. Business casual is as dressed up as they get here. No suits, no ties, nothing special. We knew that before we left home and packed accordingly.
At 7:10 or so we made our way into the theater. a full 30 second walk. Our seats were in the middle, about 5 rows from the back.
Good thing I can keep an eye on the pit orchestra.
Beautiful theater. This is what I expected. There was a teleprompter device above the stage. This would translate the French into English or Chinese. Here it is advertising Mazda.
No photos or recordings allowed during performance. I did manage a shot of the cast during the final bow. The theater was full. Very few empty seats.
The performance was flawless. Definitely world class quality. The orchestra nailed everything.
I was surprised when Macaela first made her entrance. I expected a suitcase or heavy bag. She had a rollerbag! I now expected all of the performance to be up to date. Soldiers were in marine camouflage, street people looked like they were pulled off the streets outside. Where I expected a wagon pulled by horses, there was instead a VW bus. Larger supply wagon? Flat bed truck. This really helped bring the story up to date. The words above the stage were of tremendous help to the story. No more guessing what the cast was singing about.
The show was 5 acts. The first two took 90 mins and then 20 minute break. Last 3 took 60 mins.
This is something everyone should experience. It is a long way here but the performance makes it well worth it. Give yourself a few days to recover from the 20 hr flight and time zone change. Sydney is 16 hours ahead of Detroit.
The Entr’acte III is my absolute favorite.
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