Panama Update #73
October 25, 2008
Last night (Friday) we went to the Teatro Nacional for the first time. We had been wanting to go there for some time to see what it was like inside. They have all sorts of theatrical shows there along with ballet and music. It is difficult to find out information about the shows there since they don't seem to have a website. This is strange for such an important theatre. Yesterday I saw in one of the bilingual newspapers here called The Visitor/El Visitante that there was a world-wide piano competition being held there this week. So we decided at the last minute to catch a taxi and check it out. It is pretty close to us, in the section of town called Casco Viejo. Tickets were $14 and there weren't very many people there. My guess is 5o people at the most were there and it looks like the theatre holds about 300 people. It is very fancy on the outside and inside. On the outside there are busts of famous playwrights. On the inside there are seats in the middle, which are very close to the stage, and then there are about 4 levels of private boxes behind the main section. It was built in 1907, shortly after the US took over building the canal and a few years before the canal was completed (1914). It has been completely renovated back to that time period, including ornate decorations and a detailed and colorful ceiling fresco done in the style of Michelangelo. The painter who did the ceiling was a famous Panamanian artist called Roberto Lewis. The piano competition was interesting and Nikki liked it a lot. There was one competitor from Spain who really stood out, but since this was only a preliminary round, we don't know who will end up winning.
