Matthew C. Cataldi

Review of Lyric Opera of Chicago

Little grace and no exceptions. My wife had bough...

Little grace and no exceptions. My wife had bought tickets to the last showing of Turandot. It was a Christmas gift and I had been looking forward to attending a Lyric Opera performance for years. Having planned the evening out, we were to arrive 30 minutes early at the opera house. But through a series of unfortunate circumstances, our cab was 20 minutes late and then canceled, forcing us to reserve another. We did end up finding another and arrived at the doors at 7:32 pm only to be told that the show had already started and the next seating would be at intermission, 1 hour and 20 minutes later.

We asked if we could stand in the back to at least hear the production, and were told that was impossible. There was a television for latecomers to see the show in the lobby. Unfortunately for the approximately 50 people who arrived within that 5-minute window, there were not enough seats, the supertitles were not legible, and there was only one screen on which to view, making it impossible to follow the storyline without hindering someone else's view.

As a professional classical musician myself, I understand the appeal of starting on time, but I have never performed a concert where this has actually happened. The usual protocol is to start 5-minutes past the scheduled time to accommodate for those that arrive late. This is done to accommodate audience members having unforeseen circumstances and is usually filled with introductory material such as recognition of significant donors, informing audiences of future shows, etc..

I have heard that the show was fantastic, it is truly sad to me that great art comes at the cost of human decency and a basic lack of grace.

P.S. On further discussion with my wife, after the beginning of the production this evening, ushers were seen removing even more chairs for the latecomers, making it even more difficult for people to stay, observe the story, and enjoy the second half.