![MOT Bliss](https://cdn.hourdetroit.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/09/MOT-Bliss.png)
On Sept. 25, the Michigan Opera Theatre will present the 12-hour performance piece Bliss at the Michigan Building, a historic space that was once home to a popular theater. Throughout the show β scheduled from noon to midnight β one group of cast and orchestra members will continuously perform the same three minutes from The Marriage of Figaro, a 1786 comedic opera composed by Mozart.Μύ
Icelandic performance artist Ragnar Kjartansson debuted Bliss in 2011. It showcases a scene from The Marriage of FigaroΜύin which the character Count Almaviva begs for and wins the forgiveness of his wife, Countess Rosina Almaviva.ΜύMOT Gary L. Wasserman Artistic Director Yuval Sharon has restaged the show for the upcoming presentation of ΅ώ±τΎ±²υ²υΜύin Detroit. Μύ
΅ώ±τΎ±²υ²υΜύis the first live show at the Michigan Building, located at 220 Bagley St. in Detroit, since the space was converted to a three-level parking garage in the β70s. According to MOT, the buildingβs theater was considered βthe greatest showplace of the middle westβ when it opened in 1926. Today, some of the original details still remain in the building.
βThe Michigan Building Theatre is a perfect, layered microcosm of Detroit history,β says Sharon in a press release. βIt was built in the exact location where Henry Ford built his first automobile, and perfectly encapsulated the optimism and excess of the cityβs rising business class before being unceremoniously and incompletely decommissioned. But elements of that hope and opulence remain. We invite the audience to find the beauty in this place β beauty that exists both in spite of and because of a problematic past β to separate it from its surroundings and, inΜύBlissβs spirit of grace and forgiveness, nurture it into something new.βΜύΜύ
Bliss is a part of MOTβs Out and About programming, which stages performances in venues throughout metro Detroit. Last fall, Sharon spoke withΜύΒιΆΉ·¬ΊΕ DetroitΜύ²Ή²ϊ΄Η³ά³ΩΜύTwilight Gods, a production he directed that took place in the Michigan Opera House parking structure.ΜύΜύ
Tickets, which locals can snag on the MOT website on a pay-what-you-wish basis, give attendees the opportunity to come and go as they please throughout the show. Guests are required to wear masks regardless of their vaccination status.Μύ
For more information, visitΜύ.Μύ
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