点评:Well, the tour started well enough. We put our ear pieces in, turned on our little receivers and assembled with our guide. She was about three minutes into her introduction when she broke the news. The tour would not be including the auditorium today. No brilliant gold balconies, no rich red seats, no Marc Chagall ceiling, no chandelier. Sorry. You see, for those of you who just fell off the turnip truck, this is a REAL OPERA HOUSE, not a pretend one. And what that means is, occasionally the auditorium is closed for tours because our dancers are rehearsing. You know, those dancers who will be performing in front of 2,000 people will be disturbed, distracted, disrupted, dis-somethinged by 40 people quietly entering the balcony and taking in the most famous, spectacular, and promised space in the building. Sorry Dorothy, Emerald City is closed because the Munchkins are working on that big Yellow Brick Road number for the Wizard. Sorry pilgrims, Mecca is being painted today. Sorry London, the Changing of the Guard is happening in the locker room. Sorry New York, Niagara Falls has been turned off for repairs. Sooooo, here’s what you get in return. An endless explanation of the ceiling in the first room, elongated stories in every space, the audacity to do show and tell with the guide’s iPad what we can’t see in person. And for the cherry on top, when the tour is over (last tour of the day) we are rudely rushed out of the building like it’s on fire. Maybe a quick trip to the Gift Shop to buy a postcard of the auditorium that we did’t see? That’s closed too. In a perfect world, myopic managers of cultural institutions don’t make these kinds of mistakes, but even in this world, when they do, they make a concession to the patrons like a partial refund, a free unique souvenir, a personal apology from management or all of the above. An institution at this level should know better. I now know why the Phantom hid his face.
翻译:嗯,旅程开始得还不错。我们戴上耳机,打开小型接收器,和导游集合。导游介绍了大概三分钟,她就宣布了消息:今天的旅程不包括礼堂。没有耀眼的金色楼厅,没有浓郁的红色座椅,没有马克·夏加尔的天花板,也没有枝形吊灯。抱歉。你们看,对于那些刚从萝卜车上摔下来的人来说,这可是真正的歌剧院,不是假的。这意味着,礼堂偶尔会关闭,因为我们的舞者正在排练。要知道,那些将在两千名观众面前表演的舞者们,会被四十个人悄悄溜进楼厅,占据这栋建筑中最著名、最壮观、最有希望的空间,打扰、分心、扰乱,甚至感到不安。抱歉,多萝西,翡翠城关闭了,因为芒奇金人正在为《巫师》排练那首大型的《黄砖路》歌剧。抱歉,朝圣者们,今天麦加正在被粉刷。对不起,伦敦,换岗仪式在更衣室里举行。对不起,纽约,尼亚加拉大瀑布因维修而关闭。所以,这就是你得到的回报:第一个房间里天花板的无休止的解释,每个空间里冗长的故事,还有导游的大胆举动,用iPad展示和讲述我们无法亲眼看到的东西。更糟糕的是,当参观结束时(当天最后一次参观),我们被粗鲁地赶出了大楼,就像大楼着火了一样。或许可以去礼品店买一张我们没看到的礼堂的明信片?那里也关门了。在理想的世界里,目光短浅的文化机构管理者不会犯这种错误,但即使在这个世界里,当他们犯错时,他们也会向顾客做出让步,比如部分退款、免费赠送独特的纪念品、管理层亲自道歉,或者以上所有。这种级别的机构应该更了解情况。我现在知道为什么幽灵隐藏了他的脸。