Acts of violence alleged in a French opera house
mainA stagehand in Toulouse has been charged with sabotage over the failure of a piece of machinery that put an American tenor’s life at risk.
The employee, named as Nicolas S., is accused of obstructing the operation of an automated data system and fraudulent modification of data.
The incident was rather more graphic than described.
During the finale of Tristan und Isolde in 2015 the tenor Robert Dean Smith was meant to lie prone on stage beneath an overhanging rock that weighed 212 kg.
One night, the rock came crashing down. The tenor saw it fall just in time and managed to roll away.
A police investigation found that the computer controls of the machinery had been tampered with.
Smith did not press charges and it has taken more than five years for the case to be prosecuted.
In Italy, the stagehands don’t even need to bear a grudge!
“A stagehand in Toulouse has been charged with sabotage over the failure of a piece of machinery that put an American tenor’s life at risk.”
Surely if the machinery put an American tenor’s life at risk, then it should have been sabotaged!
Beware of dangling participles…
Yes, this sentence was very unclear. Funny you receive more dislikes for this comment…clearly, anti-intellectualists are dwelling in this comments section…
Poor readers, more likely.
Please Norman read the article again. It’s not with the tenor that the stagehand allegedly “came to blows” but with another stagehand colleague. And your title “Acts of violence” is inappropriate.
Oh that’s nothing. Happens that one stage hand took a nap in the bed Beverly Sills was to sing in, who always roaming around with her arms (maybe it was someone else, don’t know exactly) happened upon his teeth, false ones fortunately. And came off stage asking: “What’s this!?” Where upon another stage hand responded that it was only appropriate given her talent for gabbing and finding the result of discarded oral procedures to come off of about. Beverly (or whoever it was) looked rather absconded with, and then replied:
“That maybe true, but sir this IS an OPERA, write that down: “Beverly Sill likes word salad, and is better at it than Superman without his teeth.”
Mr. Lebrecht,
I would like to correct a statement in your article. I have never at any point, either before, during, or after the Tristan, had conflict with anyone in Toulouse.
Thank you. I was relying on French reports and will adjust the post immediately.
Please, Mr. Lebrecht, show us those “french reports” you were relying on, saying or writing that M. Dean Smith had any conflict with anyone in Toulouse or even had anything to do with that (I mean anything else that lying under the rock)…
Where upon the stage hand said: “It gets better you get to stick your thumb in your mouth.”
The 3rd act of Tristan has often provoked all kinds of furious reactions since its premiere in Munich on the 10th of June 1865.
Now, an opportunistic person would turn this into an Opera! Nothing more fascinating than intrigue behind the curtain!
where’s Morse when we need him ???????????