Restoration
The restoration of City Hall seemed particularly cozy in the March-like weather of an unseasonably warm January in Milwaukee. The spire was still covered in scaffolding. From the window high above Water Street, the wire frame of the spire was clearly visible. They'd taken off all of the metal paneling . . . apparently to be replaced later on. It was late in the morning. You could see people scurrying about working on the restoration. On the other side of the window, an entirely different kind of restoration was being done on my teeth.The woman cleaning them was telling me about her experience rehearsing with the Florentine Opera for its upcoming production of Macbeth. The woman who cleans my teeth will play one of the witches. The Artistic Director of Milwaukee Shakespeare will be directing the Florentne’s production. Apparently the woman cleaning my teeth had briefly served as her yoga instructor some time ago during pregnancy. The production has been mixing theatre people with opera people who are unfamiliar with the superstition surrounding a production of The Scottish Play. They apparently spent some time discussing the specifics of when it was superstitiously ethical to mention the name of the opera. Some of this had apparently been quite new to performers with the Florentine. One woman (A Born Again Christian) spoke quite eloquently about how the production had nothing to fear for various pious Christian reasons. It had been explained to her and the rest of the cast that certain superstitious standards must be maintained just by way of respect for those who WERE superstitious about the bad luck surrounding Macbeth. They were actually being taught superstition in the service of etiquette. Strange.
The woman cleaning my teeth continued, gently scraping calculus away from the edges of my teeth as lines of workmen moved about various levels of scaffolding outside the window near the top of city hall. Apparently, a substantial chunk of the opera has been edited down "for Milwaukee Audiences." This turns an extremely long opera into one that is only reasonably long. Certainly there have been some rather tasty bits of music that have been tossed out in the process. The yoga instructor/opera singer commented on how much better my gums looked this time than the last time I was in. No cavities. I still need to deal with my wisdom teeth. They’re still working on City Hall.
Posted by rfindley on 01/05 at 12:48 PM