So we are told that the governor is attending YOA's opening performance in Xalapa. Apparently is it customary to wait until the governor arrives to start the concert, and it would be extremely inappropriate for the orchestra to start until he arrives... (Do you sense where this is going?) They would also like remarks to be made at intermission thanking the governor for coming, and they would provide those remarks for us to give... Not talking about a simple "thank you for coming..." Fine. We're not exactly happy about this, as YOA does not side with any political party, but as it is so important, we are prepared to make some remarks thanking the governor for his kindness and support, etc.
Anywho... The orchestra goes out onstage to warm up, and everyone is ready for the 8:30 pm concert. The audience is seated, and contentedly waiting for the concertmaster to come out and tune the orchestra.
...10 minutes... Still haven't started, but hey, it's Latin America, 10 minutes late is normal.
...20 minutes... Getting a bit restless and the audience is now talking loudly amongst themselves.
...30 minutes... Now everyone is downright rowdy. The audience starts clapping in time, and the musicians too are obviously restless now, and join in with the audience by stomping their feet along with them.
...40 minutes... Not only is the audience alternating between clapping in time, whistling loudly, and talking loudly amongst themselves, but now we have people yelling things. Luckily, because it is so typical to wait for the governor to arrive, everyone apparently knew exactly why the concert was late, and that it had nothing to do with YOA. They started yelling things about the governor being disrespectful, and that they didn't want to wait anymore, and other loud (but maybe not uncalled for) comments.
...50 minutes... The press is all swarming around the entrance taking pictures, and the governor is arriving. The audience erupts in loud boos and yells very rude and unrepeatable things right at the governor. The governor, his two children, and the huge possy of maybe 30 government officials all hustle to their seats, looking down at the ground as they walk in.
The concert finally starts, and the musicians sound fantastic. I don't know how they were able to stay fresh and ready to go for that long, but the challenging repertoire and long concert sounded fabulous all the way to the end.
All talk of podium remarks is withdrawn, and the governor skipped the post-concert reception, even though the whole thing was centered around the fact that he was coming...
What a night.
No comments:
Post a Comment