Ransom at the Opera (Hardcover)

The book is filled with spirit and fun, gently lampooning the conventions of the opera and theater folk in general -- BTW, about the issue of opera singers smoking and drinking--apparently some people believe the stereotypes about divas being chemically pure women perpetually spritzing their throats with atomizers. I used to do makeup at the Lyric, and believe me, some of these people smoke like chimneys (yes, backstage!) and drink like fish.

This book is a lot of fun.

Operas aren't musicals and CARMEN isn't RENT. It's highly unlikely that an opera produced by a shoestring local California opera company, no matter how innovative and no matter how well-reviewed by a major paper, would capture national attention and run nightly for months on end. Much more likely: the company would give 2 or 3 performances locally. With great opening night reviews, nearby big-city opera cognoscenti would want to check out the show and probably attend the company's next production - and that's about it!

It's also virtually unthinkable that any opera singer would smoke or drink before/during a performance. And as for a leading lady going out to dinner before her opening night performance - no way! She'd be in her dressing room drinking gallons of water or hot tea, nervously vocalizing or babying her voice, and praying that she'd have a huge success. Nor would an up-and-coming singer complain about having to sing in a major city like Chicago because she wanted a vacation - she'd be thrilled! And while I'm at it - she wouldn't be able to afford to hire a fulltime personal assistant (more likely, she'd be up to her eyeballs in debt from her very expensive voice lessons) - and if she was as unpleasant and temperamental as this one is, she would have been thrown out of the show long before opening night!

Finally - these days, singers don't worry about not being taken seriously because they're from from (gasp) Texas! And for the record - there's a big (huge, gaping!) difference in the accents of a a true Spaniard (Castilian) and a native Texan, no matter how fluent (Mexican-flavored)!

If you don't mind any of this, have fun with the book. And if you're interested in knowing more about the real backstage opera scene, check out Manuela Hoelterhoff's "Cinderella & Company" - a highly readable non-fiction book packed with amusing gossip.