Spectacular Marionette Opera

Written by an anonymous Temple Member

I think most all of us are having a great time -- Prague’s nightlife is just wonderful – so many things to choose from. Looking for something indigenous to Prague, we decided on what was a ‘spectacular Marionette show’ according to our guides and friends back home. So six of us set off for dinner and to see the Marionette Opera, Don Giovani. We were led by our esteemed Rabbi Dinner.

After wandering around charming cobbled streets, that became less and less charming as we traveled a ‘few’ more than necessary, we found a restaurant that was deemed ‘acceptable’ by all six of us – a miracle in itself! And it turned out to be better than acceptable. A few dishes were five-star with two dishes -- a roast chicken liver dish in gravy and a cabbage salad – that by themselves were worth the cost of the TBO trip!

So with our bellies full, once again we set off with our esteemed Rabbi at the helm, all the while assuring us she knew the route to the show and it was ‘just a few blocks.’ We should have questioned her navigational capabilities by this time, but she IS the Rabbi, after all. ‘A few blocks (maybe a few hundred) and roughly 20 minutes later, with ‘a bit’ of help along the way from two policemen, the maitre ‘d of a sidewalk café, and a cab driver, we finally spied overhead a 5’ x 8’ banner with a rather scary looking marionette Don Giovani . And lo and behold just to the left was the – only slightly larger than the banner – entrance to the theatre. Two of our party who already had tickets in hand went ahead to begin the trek up a daunting looking flight of stairs while we got our tickets.

We joined the other two at the top of the stairs only to find we had a little surprise. OOPS! Seems there were TWO marionette theatres, and the two of our group (who shall remain anonymous lest they try to sue for leading them astray) who pre-purchased tickets were tickets for THE OTHER theatre. Exhausted from the trek around the city, those two decided this was the last straw and returned to the hotel – ahhh! they were the smart ones – if only we’d known. After climbing another staircase, this a winding one as long as the first, we reached our. .. er .. rather rock hard bench seats, looked around and noticed we were the only four old enough to buy liquor. Hmmm, interesting we thought. The curtain opened and out popped sor ely-in-need-of-new-paint-and-new-wigs marionettes. We managed to sit for 40 minutes of puppets knocking each other down, performing other acts we chastise five-year-olds for, and finally engage in some quite unsavory x-rated activities with the ladies. I’d like to say we behaved as the model of decorum, but we left the theatre and barely got out the door before we were overcome with laughter. I think the memories of our night will be much sweeter and far more memorable for our laughter than the memory of even a wonderful Don Giovani would have been.

So the moral of this story is always trust your rabbi to take you in the right direction even if it takes a little longer than you expected!