My Favorite Murder

In 1792, Gustav III was murdered at the opera house at Drottningholm, Sweden's royal palace situated a few miles outside of Stockholm. The opera house was a small wooden affair, which if it remained in use probably would have burned down several times over. The murder caused it to be shut down until the 1920s. At this time the ropes in the stage machinery were replaced and electricity was installed. It is now the oldest opera theater in the world and still has the original stage machinery. At a recent tour, my daddy turned the crank, which created the weather sound effects. For the rest of the trip, he bragged about being "the wind". I would have made a few choice remarks, if I had better control of my own bodily functions. Every summer the theater stages operas from the 18th century.

This muder also inspired the Verdi opera Un Ballo in Maschera. Check out this amazing DVD version with Pavarotti. For the sake of shameless bragging, while I was in the womb, I was lucky enough to hear Pavarotti's final opera performance (Tosca at the Met). The music was great but slightly muffled. My seat was in the fifth row, but the view was completely obstructed. Before I was born, I attended six operas in New York and Berlin. Since being born, nada, not one. Holy Dirty Diapers, what is going on!