Bucharest National Opera House — Attraction in Bucharest

I recently attended a dress rehearsal. This was a privilege not afforded to anyone. I was grateful for this opportunity as I was invited by one of their star guest singers. The hall is very lovely, and the lobby is elegant. The seats are comfortable enough, covered in red velvet. The singers were first class. You could hear such voices at Covent Garden, the Met, or La Scala. Very impressive. Also, the choir was very good. Equally impressive was the orchestra, technically superb. The stage is not necessarily ideal for opera. The orchestra pit is a bit too open, and the maestro was not careful enough to balance the singers and the orchestra. As a consequence, many of the arias, duets, or the quartet were dominated by the orchestra. This is also due to the fact that at the back of the stage the singers sound goes up in the rafters. The staging was simple, but efficient. Equally surprising was that for a dress rehearsal everybody was wearing casual clothes, and a number of mishaps seem to happen, props forgotten backstage, conversations on stage…. Only one of the guest stars was fully dressed in costume and acted with as much emotion as in a performance. All in all, a very good experience, and by the show, probably all will be lined up. Still, some room to improve, the potential for world-class...

Good interpretation that night, I liked the artists and the overall experience. However, no subtitles during the first third of the opera, a very small space in the seats area, almost no room for legs, this must have been designed for an earlier shorter generation of Romanians. Besides that, there was no one to guide you to your place, I had to find it on my own which wouldn't have been such a problem if guiding signs had been available and provided that the seat numbers had been placed at such a level that one could easily see them (they were somewhere on the top edge of the wall that was separating the rows, which was so tall that only the people in the back row could see it since they were seated higher than us). Predictably, most of the people faced the same issue as I did, which led to a general delay in finding their seats; you could hear people moving around during the beginning of the opera. I thought they might be facing budget cuts but ... Seriously!? I almost forgot about the Christmas tree, it looked as if it was made by your five year old. Let's just say it looked like an asymmetrical Christmas light experiment with rough disco touches; the Christmas tree was playing its own beat at the party! Oh, and did I mention that the Christmas lights in the tree were turned on at the end...

I went to see two operas on successive nights. This is a neoclassical gem, marble throughout, with large public areas leading from the entrance to the theatre. The house seats 962, so will feel intimate wherever you sit. Visitors with a western wallet should head straight for the stalls-orchestra-parket, where seats are good value and comfortable. Side boxes seem problematic in terms of visibility. The balcony has a great view and acoustic, but with walls between the rows, there can be legroom issues for the six foot plus man. Negatives: It can be hot due to the heating system. Surtitles are only in Romanian, so you may lose the plot if you are not familiar with the opera. Finally, the biggest disappointment. The low quality interval food and drink, served by non-uniformed staff in very casual dress, i.e. sports tops and jeans. Plastic glasses for wine, only single measure bottles served. Donuts and pringles seemed to be the food offering. Simply embarrassing for a place representing a nation's...