At the Vienna Opera, a foul odor during a representation of the Seville barber

Viennese lyric art lovers can be reassured: the opera management has emerged a odorless decor for the representation of Friday, February 21 of the Seville barber. Several people in the audience complained about unpleasant chips of cheese during a performance last week. Some had even taken their legs around their necks, fleeing the room before the epilogue of the masterpiece of Gioachino Rossini.

“It looked like old Gorgonzola”summed up one of them, without revealing his identity, in tabloid Krone Zeitung. Contacted by AFP, the Venerable Austrian institution confirmed to having “Received of complaints” while saying that “Little in the audience” had left before the end. The culprits? The smell actually came from large plastic canvases suspended from the ceiling that were stored in the closet. “The material altered during the storage period, causing a very unpleasant odor”explained the opera, of which “The technical management works with the manufacturer to remedy this defect”.

In the meantime, a decor dating from 1966, used in the previous staging, served as a rescue solution this week and will be shown again on Friday evening. Despite his old age, no one has complained about a rancid odor.