Operatic bicycle anachronism
01-24-23, 03:26 PM
#26
Senior Member
Originally Posted by jonwvara
No, they just walked the bikes offstage. The stage itself is sloped toward the audience--something like a low-slope roof--for visibility. So it would be really risky to try to ride a bike across it. You'd be likely to lose control and end up in the orchestra pit, possibly impaled on a cello bow.
01-24-23, 03:33 PM
#27
Senior Member
Originally Posted by squirtdad
OT but for those that say opera = ick..... personally i never appreciated opera until I went to one live
Just listening does give the true experience, .... so if you have chance, go to one
it can be almost as life changing as learning about opera from bugs bunny
Just listening does give the true experience, .... so if you have chance, go to one
it can be almost as life changing as learning about opera from bugs bunny
I second Squirtdad!
01-24-23, 03:41 PM
#28
Senior Member
Originally Posted by tcs
1880-1892: Penny farthings (highwheelers)
1885-today:'safeties', chain drive with equal-sized wheels, however, what we would recognize as a 'diamond frame' was rare before the early 1890s.
RBR (Rideable Bicycle Replicas) builds a reproduction 1891 New Mail which would have been appropriate for the opera:
1885-today:'safeties', chain drive with equal-sized wheels, however, what we would recognize as a 'diamond frame' was rare before the early 1890s.
RBR (Rideable Bicycle Replicas) builds a reproduction 1891 New Mail which would have been appropriate for the opera:
01-24-23, 07:01 PM
#29
Bikes are okay, I guess.
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Originally Posted by tcs
Watch for these on stage:
Il Postino - Scarpelli
Il Postino - Scarpelli
01-24-23, 07:25 PM
#30
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Well, the world is full of nerds. We're bike nerds, so naturally we're all over any improper uses of bicycle in opera (okay, some of us are). But everything else goes over our heads. Somewhere, there's a bunch of upholstery nerds who couldn't care less about the bikes, but are waving their arms around and shouting to one another about a button pattern on a sofa in Act I that the best authorities all agree was not used until at least 1920.
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01-25-23, 06:30 PM
#31
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Had to roll through this shot a few times back in 87 when The Last Emporer came out. There's a brief shot of Peter Otoole rolling this Hirondelle up the to palace. It was a fixed wheel too. I always wondered how period accurate that bike was. It looks freakin amazing.
