No Way to Kill a Tenor!
This article submitted by Anonymous on 5/23/01.
Topic: Give your tale a brief descriptive title
No Way to Kill a Tenor!
The Tale:
A performance of Puccini's "Tosca" at the old Israel National Opera in Tel Aviv in the early 1980's went without a hitch until the last moments of the final scene. The firing squad and the tenor were ready. However, disaster was in the wings in the form of the gun with blank bullets that was supposed to provide the sound of the shot. It didn't go off. There was a long pause. Finally, the conductor signalled to the tenor, the tenor fell down and the firing squad started to exit. Meanwhile, the guy with the gun backstage was frantically trying to shoot it, unaware of what was happening onstage, and the gun finally went off. The audience laughed, and Puccini's tragedy was turned into the year's best comedy!
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