There was a day, closer to the dawn of moviemaking than right this second, where cars, real, actual cars were routinely brought indoors for filmmaking purposes.
Automobiles and the indoors and the arts aren't a trio that lasted -- directors actually film out on actual streets now -- but cars have a way of popping up in the quirkiest of locations.
Say, like the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. To say the regally appointed 1921 Chrysler that pulls onto the stage during the LA Opera's "La Traviata" is a highlight of the show is true, but the Art Deco envisioning of the Giuseppe Verdi masterwork is a production that's a-glitter with gorgeous and detailed treats.
The performances are the pinnacle of the opera, which swans in Gatsby-esque grandeur on select nights through Sunday, Sept. 28. Plácido Domingo is Giorgio Germont, the concerned father of Alfredo, who is madly in love with the courtesan Violetta (roles filled by the acclaimed Arturo Chacón-Cruz and Nino Machaidze).
It's one of the icons of the stage, andoften referenced and tributed, for fine reason: "La Traviata" stirs up all of the roiling passions, familial complications, wealth issues, and love-above-all drama we desire from our baritones and our sopranos and our grand classic operas.
And that Verdi's juicy jewel of a tale has been given an opulent '20s styling? It's sumptuous stuff, courtesy of production designer Marta Domingo. Snow shall fall, and a mirrorball reflect, and, indeed, a beauty of a 1921 automobile shall move across the stage of the Dorothy Chandler via the magic of wires.
Never should an Angeleno complain that life has grown duller and art lacks a certain heart-big, over-the-toppery when the LA Opera is in the opera business. We mean, a truly classic car on stage, and not a mere picture or suggestion of a car.
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It's Dream-making 101, down at the Music Center.
