I’m no great lover of opera though I can happily listen to some of the great arias when removed from their pretentious surroundings. This morning on Australian Classic FM, they were playing the final scene of Puccini’s ‘Tosca’. Unfortunately this scene contains nothing I can claim to like listening to either.
However they did relate the tale of how the late great Eve Turner somewhat annoyed the stage hands throughout the opera’s run at the Lyric in Chicago back in the early 1940’s, with the result that they took their revenge. This was accomplished at the final scene where Tosca throws herself to her death from the walls of the church when instead of the soft blankets she usually found underneath her… she landed on a trampoline.
Much to the surprise (and laughter) of the audience, Tosca reappeared several times behind the wall!
Of course it could all be apocryphal but as far as I know nobody has yet denied it and it’s a great story. 😀
The Eclectic Interweb 