Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Pa Pa Papageno

This is just one of the songs that was left stuck in my head after attending the opera of The Magic Flute. While my opera voice leaves much to be desired, the folks performing here in Prague know what they are doing. Be it opera, theatre, or ballet, Divadlos (or theatres) can be spotted just about everywhere you turn. I'd say the Calgary equivalent would be your local 7-Eleven. The arts scene is booming here and on any given night, you can catch a performance for a very affordable price. Take for instance the National Theatre here (Narodni Divadlo), absolutely stunning theatre, with world famous performance, offers seats in the top section of the theatre for 80 czk which is $4 dollars. Naturally you don't have the best view, but if you're catching an opera for instance, then the sounds is just as good as anywhere else in the theatre.

I've tried to catch a bunch of performances while I've been here and every time I enter one of the breath taking theatres, I'm blown away. My favorite show was Swan Lake which I caught at the National Opera House here. Everything from the dancing, to the costumes, to the music was very well done and left me dreaming of becoming a ballerina one day.

It's great seeing people in their best evening gowns or top hats, out for the ballet on a weeknight. Although I've also witnessed some rather strange outfits including a lady with a dead animal wrapped around her shoulder. If you look hard at the picture below, you can spot her in the background. This is definitely one aspect of life in Prague that I wish I had taken advantage of more while it has been so available to me.

Estates Theatre; first performing arts theatre in Prague

State Opera

Swan Lake

Every theatre has to have a fancy chandelier: this one at the National Theatre

2 Comments:

At 2:42 PM, Blogger Aibek D. said...

Blanka,
I am not a big fan of operas or balets, in fact, I watched them for the first time here. And before they seemed such a boring way of spending your time. Yet I've been welcoming any ideas of going there since I came here and always enjoyed them. In September they had a premiere of Czech Balet Symphonie and that was another great show to watch. They should be performing it this season as well.

 
At 8:32 AM, Blogger Aibek D. said...

I made it bold for you to catch it next time! ;)

 

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