Invisible Cities

I had a chance to experience this event with a couple of good friends. This was a 'headphone' opera based on the book by Italo Calvino. The book is a description by Marco Polo to Kublai Khan of various cities in his empire, however the cities he describes are not real, but fantasy places. The opera was took part in the original part of Union Station. The small orchestra was located in (and stayed at) the old restaurant space where the audience started, after picking up our wireless Senneheiser headphones. As we gathered for the start of the opera, the words from the book were being read in Italian. The language is so musical that it made me realize why they invented opera. How could they not put music to such a language.

After a brief introduction (and guidance) by the director Yuval Sharon and a short overture, the audience was then welcome to wander throughout the areas of the station where various parts of the performance were taking place. In addition to the main characters, there were 6 other singers as well as dancers from LA Dance Project. The action took place in the two courtyards on either side of the main hall, in the main hall itself, and in the old ticketing area. The station remained open and commuters and travelers navigated in between the performers and audience members (and the regular homeless people who spend time there).

The performance was a truly eye-opening and amazingly wonderous experience. At first, I followed some of the dancers and focused on them. In my initial wanderings, I would glimpse someone seated in the great hall singing and realize it was a member of the cast (sitting reading a newspaper, or typing as they are singing). Halfway through I realized that the text being projected above the entrance to the train tracks were the lyrics and that they were singing in English. Marco Polo was dressed in a hoodie and backpack and looked like he could have been any random station denizen. Kublai Khan was also dressed in regular street clothes and sitting in a wheelchair. The dancers and choreography were wonderful as were the singers and I loved the music. The opera took about 75 minutes, ending in the old ticket hall. Kublai Khan at this point is dressed in imperial splendour. Before we reentered the ticket hall, there was a giant cloud of smoke hanging in the middle of the air. It retained its shape remarkably and when I walked under it, it smelled like burnt sugar.

After the performance, as the cast did their bows, they were standing not more than 10 feet from us. I was able to talk to one of the dancers on how it felt to dance so close to the audience (challenging and intimidating at first but he became accustomed to it). I also was able to talk briefly to the director and congratulate him on an amazing achievement. My friends Kathleen and Brandi and I sat at the bar afterwards to discuss our experiences (each a little different) and I couldn't help but feel like this was a quintessentially LA experience. I can't wait to see more events by this talented crew.

I was able to take some (flashless) photos during the performance. I actually had to restrain myself from taking more, because the visuals were so striking I kept seeing photos in my mind.