For your viewing pleasure this holiday season, the opening of Act II of Puccini's La bohème, filmed in 2003 at La Scala.
From the libretto:
ACT II: IN THE LATIN QUARTER
CHRISTMAS EVE
A conflux of streets; where they meet, a square, flanked by shops of all sorts; on one side the Café Momus.
Aloof from the crowd, RUDOLPH and MIMI; COLLINE is near a rag-shop, SCHAUNARD stands outside a tinker's, buying a pipe and a horn, MARCEL is being hustled hither and thither.
A vast, motley crowd; soldiers, serving maids, boys, girls, children, students, work girls, gendarmes, etc. It is evening. The shops are decked with tiny lamps; a huge lantern lights up the entrance to the Café Momus. The café is so crowded that some of the customers are obliged to seat themselves outside.
(Content from Puccini's La bohème © Ricordi and Sons)
And you thought the streets of New York were crowded at Christmas.
