Chronicles of Romania--Episode 8: in which our fearless heroines brave Romanian musical theater

On a lark, F & R decide to attend the evening’s production of “My Fair Lady.” R, although not keen on the story to begin with and uncertain of attending a play in a language she doesn’t even want to try to learn, agrees to attend for the “spectacle.” She is not disappointed. The theatre would be beautiful, with red brocade (uncomfortable) seats and pretensions to grandness but sadly is marred by the ugliest ceiling mural either R or F has ever seen. The orchestra is impressive, as is the singing ability of the three leads. In fact, when F and R close their eyes and listen to the music they almost feel they are at a professional performance in respected theatre in the states. Unfortunately, F guesses, the director must have quit half-way through rehearsals and left the cast to choreograph, block and direct the show for themselves. It is a disaster. R and F watch in disbelief as men stand in rows, snapping and swaying. The sets reminds F of her high school play production days and R is annoyed by the fully audible chatter of the light board operator sitting in a booth a few rows behind them. But the worst by far is the costuming. The costumes reflect 150 years worth of clothing styles from at least two continents. It is as if the women have picked out two or three outfits that would have been their ideal dress-up clothes when they were 7. Shiny with sequins, bows, velvet, and boas, the only way to describe the effect is to say that it “blows.” One of the actors wears blue plastic shoes. Luckily, there are many ugly shoes to distract us.