Final Opera Performance at HPAC (Confetti Mysteries)

Today was our last performance of the Barber of Seville.....at HPAC.  We still have 4 more performances on two small tours of Hyogo Prefecture in the coming week, but it's always different being away from our home space.  Bento boxes and convenient store food.  Hotel televisions and breakfast buffets and a new space to get situated every time.  Each time there will likely need to be a number of changes to the routine and the space, but I do have one overriding curiosity.

In the last number of the opera, everyone is rejoicing heartily–it's one of those operas.  And rejoicing often seems to be augmented by confetti, which is liberally dropped from above and falls into the pit.  My stand partner and I have had a great time with it, hiding it in places for the librarians to find, but he pointed out to me a very interesting fact after one of the performances:  The next day when we arrive to the pit, all the confetti is cleared from the floor, but the floor itself is still dirty.  Unswept, unvacuumed.  How do they do it?  Do they pick it up one piece at a time?  Perhaps they account for each one and return them to the buckets above to once again be joyfully dumped.  We since started to feel bad about ruining the system by removing confetti pieces from the rotation and only took a few home for our own personal parties as needed (I think he has a yellow one).  I wonder if it will be the same on tour, but then we never get to return to the same pit again to find out.  The mystery will live on until the next rejoicing end of an opera.

But as a farewell to this conundrum and our time with the Barber of Seville at HPAC, there is a tradition of having the entire orchestra appear onstage for the second curtain call of the last performance.  And of course, there was confetti for us.  It was really beautiful to see the audience on the other side of this curtain of falling paper, hearing their applause.

From the stage
(photo thanks to a friend)