A night at the opera
I'm no snob and really don't know much about opera except it's supposed to be boring and “you have to wait until the fat lady sings” – a reference to an interminable Wagner opera that ends with a fat lady wearing horns giving the much-awaited finale. That's where the saying comes from. So it was with mixed feelings I put on my best clothes and headed for the La Scala Opera House. It's not every day you get free tickets to opening night at the world-famous venue. We had to pass through a phalanx of security – with the Milan Expo opening, an anarchist group called Black Bloc is plotting mayhem – to mingle with mighty and their mates. But I think maybe half of the dark-suited men the lobby crowd were personal bodyguards for people such as Georgio Armani and the President of the Republic. I was seated next to a Chinese guy who told me his boss from Shanghai in the row ahead was the sponsor of the season opening for Turadot, Puccini's final, unfinis...