Dinner on Stage ~ Prague State Opera House

The high point of the concert tour with Chanticleer last year was the dinner on stage following a marvelous concert at the State Opera House in Prague, Czech Republic.

The State Opera House has a textbook German-Greek-Revival exterior, but a fanciful Rococo interior. It was built the latter part of the 19th Century. It was used as the setting of the major opera house in the movie Amadeus, most of which was filmed in Prague because many parts of the city are reminiscent of 18th Century Vienna.

After Chanticleer put on a superb concert, we were invited to a lovely reception in an elaborately decorated salon above the main entrance. I kept wondering where the Chanticleer guys were, because there was so much food and champagne. I was sorry they were missing it.

Our Austrian tour manager had told us we could leave our coats on the bus since dinner was close by. But first he wanted us to go back into the main theatre for a short talk on its history. As we entered we heard a harpist from behind the shut curtain, which then was raised to show all the members of Chanticleer standing around several beautifully set tables on the stage. We joined them. Then the waiters from the reception entered in a grand procession. They surrounded one table at a time, and on a signal, simultaneously placed each course on the table or took the empty plates away. Altogether, it was a marvelous dinner at the end of an extraordinary day!

Images:iPhone photos by Rob Bell