Where might you be most likely to hear an intriguing snippet of a classic opera?
"An opera house" is an excellent suggestion, and you wouldn't have to fret that your guess would be incorrect. Because, yes: Opera houses house operas.
"From a passing car" is also good, as drivers have been known to crank up an aria or two. "In a movie" is also right, as film scores often turn to lush, voice-driven stories of the stage to lend movies a certain swanky flair.
"In a train depot" or "near the rails" though, are not answers you're apt to hear, as bustling commuters and travelers are running to and fro. But that is exactly where opera will flow, fabulously and for free, on Tuesday, Jan. 17.
Union Station is partnering with the Los Angeles Opera for a night devoted to razzmatazzy Jazz Age style, Mozart's comedic timing, and the chance to hang out in the station's famous Waiting Room.
The pay-nothing to-do is called "A Night in the Seraglio," which is based on the Mozart-penned opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio."
The fizzy, light-of-heart work, which opens at The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on Saturday, Jan. 28, will get a moxie-packed preview at Union Station complete with flapper-esque dancers (straight out of the 1920s), jazz-cool flows, and "acclaimed LA Opera singers performing pieces from the upcoming show."
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You're correct if you just lodged another guess, and that guess was "the LA Opera is putting a '20s-flavored spin on the centuries-old opera." Good guess, again, if you surmised that the opera, once it opens at The Dorothy Chandler, will have something to do with trains.
Be at Union Station from 6 to 8 p.m. on Jan. 17 for all the '20s-esque, Mozart-marvelous action. Action that'll go down in a unique setting for opera, and the admission-less vibe to the night is also pretty darn unique.
Must you wear fringe or a boater or another Roaring Twenties outfit? That's up to you.
Must you ponder how Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived well before the Roaring Twenties? The legend did indeed pre-date the decade, but, as ever Mozart maven knows, his work has an uncanny way, much like Shakespeare, of melding well with different eras, fashions, and trends.
Must you assume that opera only ever takes place in an opera house? You must not.
For the arias and melding harmonies can pop up just about anywhere, even, sometimes, the shortest distance from a bustling train platform and ticket hall.
