Opera offers free drinks to soften flood discomfort
mainThe Deutsch Oper Berlin is offering a free flute of sparkling wine to anyone who attends its performances this weekend, following a few days’ closure for repairs after a sprinkler malfunction over Christmas.
Ticket holders who cannot face the damp are being offered a full refund.
Message to patrons:
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren,
aller Einsatz zeigt erste Wirkungen! Das intensive Trocknen und Belüften – nach dem am 24. Dezember aufgetretenen großen Wasserschaden auf der Bühne der Deutschen Oper Berlin – führte heute dazu, dass sich erstmalig der Eiserne Vorhang wieder heben und einige Züge fahren ließen. Das heißt, alle Künstler und Mitarbeiter stehen bereit, damit ab dem 28. Dezember die ersten Vorstellungen halbszenisch für unser Publikum über die Bühne gehen können. Da der Orchestergraben unbeschadet blieb, können damit die geplanten Aufführungen von Mozarts „Die Hochzeit des Figaro“ am 28. Dezember, von Puccinis „La Boheme“ am 29. Dezember sowie Silvester um 15 und 19.30 Uhr und Rossinis „Der Barbier von Sevilla“ am 30. Dezember halbszenisch (mit Künstlern in Kostüm und Maske und in improvisiertem Bühnenlicht) stattfinden. Gleichzeitig lädt die Deutsche Oper Berlin jeden Zuschauer zu einem Glas Sekt oder einem anderen Getränk ein.
Wer diese einmalige Vorstellungsform nicht erleben möchte, erhält den Kartenpreis mittels des Formulars auf der Website www.deutscheoperberlin.de ersetzt, Informationen auch beim telefonischen Kartenservice unter 030-34384 343.
Damit wird der einstweilen ausgesetzte Vorverkauf wieder aufgenommen. Ab wann szenische Vorstellungen in gewohnter Form möglich sein werden, darüber informieren wir zu gegebener Zeit.
Wir bedanken uns für Ihr Verständnis!
Wot did Dietmar do to deserve zis?
Norman, calling it a “sprinkler malfunction” is still premature…
“Mutwillige Sachbeschädigung ist nicht auszuschließen
Unterdessen geht die Ursachenforschung weiter: Bislang ist noch unklar, ob die Sprinkleranlage durch einen Defekt ausgelöst wurde oder ob dies vorsätzlich geschah.
[…]
Am Mittwoch untersuchten Fachleute das Ausmaß und die möglichen Ursachen der Schäden. Es sei nicht auszuschließen, dass eine mutwillige Sachbeschädigung vorliege, hieß es. Die wegen des hohen Schadens prophylaktisch eingeleiteten Ermittlungen wegen Sachbeschädigung stehen laut Polizei aber ganz am Anfang.”
http://m.tagesspiegel.de/berlin/nach-wasserschaden-spielbetrieb-an-der-deutschen-oper-laeuft-wieder-an/20794764.html?utm_referrer=
Who cares??
Anyone who goes to the opera in Berlin for starters – which is a lot of people.
What’s happened to the technical equipment at DOB has been little short of a catastrophe, but they’re pulling together and making the most of it. Audiences get a little incentive, and are of course entitled to a full refund if they want (though not many have been making use of that option). There’s a thrill in seeing a company making the best of their ability to pull through with limited scenery, no machinery and limited lights – in a way, it brings the singing and dramatic talent to the fore even more – and apparently audiences have been wildly enthusiastic this week. It’s great to see a company making the best of a rotten stroke of luck.
The glass of Sekt isn’t the main story here, but it sure as hell doesn’t hurt.
Most of what is produced in Berlinnis Euro-Trash. If I want a glass of spirits, I can enjoy one at home without watching updated garbage-productions by fraud/directors. Perhaps the great Sprinkler Catastrophe was deliberately planned as a PR move. Did you ever consider that? How about a Tosca set in Hitler’s bunker?
Goodness. I know one shouldn’t engage but here goes. I’ll answer each point in turn.
1. “Most of what is produced in Berlin is Euro-Trash.”
I’d disagree – it’s probably closer to 30% – but you’re of course free to voice your opinions. Many would disagree along with me, as can be seen by the very healthy audiences in Berlin across the three houses. But what does this have to do with the story?
2. “If I want a glass of spirits, I can enjoy one at home without watching updated garbage-productions by fraud/directors.”
Yes you can. Sekt isn’t spirits, but I’ll put that down to a language issue. And the audience at DOB can enjoy a glass in the interval courtesy of the house – as a great number have. The house is dealing with this very well, I reckon.
3. “Perhaps the great Sprinkler Catastrophe was deliberately planned as a PR move. Did you ever consider that?”
No, I haven’t, for very obvious reasons. It doesn’t benefit the house one bit.
4. “How about a Tosca set in Hitler’s bunker?”
That’s quite a non-sequitur, but I’ve heard crasser ideas. Go for it.
I am thrilled you ‘engaged’. Healthy attendance doesn’t mean the opera productions are good. Let’s not get into the public’s taste. I speak five languages, and might therefore indeed have language issues. You used non-sequitur incorrectly, but so did the New York Times last year, so don’t feel bad. And I do think the DOB can benefit from their possibly deliberate act, as negative publicity is good publicity these days. And I believe that a better way of handling this would have been to foot the cleaning bills for all patrons whose clothes were ruined in the attack; to give free subscriptions to them for the next season; an apology not only from the DOB but from Angela Merkel as well; AND a new Germa-Trash production of The Daughter of the Regiment, set in NYC in the 1920s, featuring the normal, to-be-expected Nazi soldiers, prostitutes, and nudity, all hallmarks of German opera productions, and : Merkel as the Dutchess of Krackenthorp.
I was there 31st December (Boheme) and 4th January(Le Prophete). No one was being offered a ‘free’ glass of wine!!!!
Try claiming it by post…
If one has to sit through Le Prophète, the least they could do is offer you a glass of wine.
It wasn’t Le Prophete – it was the awful, poorly sung production that the orchestra seemed to be still learning!