Now playing at Odesa’s opera house: Renewal and hope
Everyone is here.
Overnight strikes by Russian missiles and attack drones on the Black Sea port city of Odesa have just killed three people, wounded others, destroyed apartments and businesses, and forced the closure of major traffic arteries.
But this very next morning, at the jewel box of an opera house in the city’s historic center, dancers, musicians, choreographers, set designers, stagehands, and youth dance instructors and their diminutive charges – all are present for a full day of rehearsals for the children’s ballet “Thumbelina,” which is set to open in 48 hours.
It’s been this way at the Odesa Opera – officially, the Odesa National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre – since shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion of
