Music: Lulu and the Cinderella from Idaho

During rehearsals there had been more excitement than usual among the stagehands at the Metropolitan Opera. Alban Berg's classic 20th century opera Lulu was being mounted for the first time in the company's history, but that was not it: to stagehands one opera is as memorable as another. What held their eyes was a makeshift dressing room right behind the sets. No wonder. The star of the show would regularly dash into it for a series of quick costume changes, some of her garments being scantier than others. As the opening-night audience soon learned,...

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