[SML] Etymology of Passarale (Sp?)

[Dorian Kelly]

Could you mean Passarella?

That is the piece of the stage which is essentially a strengthened orchestra rail, allowing a performer in Variety shows or light opera to approach the audience.

<<By having a passarella built for the performance, Sher revived a feature of Italian theatre architecture. The passarella is a catwalk, extending from both ends of the stage over the orchestra pit and arching over the auditorium, allowing the action taken forward into an intimate closeness with the audience. A passarella was always the crowning finale of that very old Italian artform, the rivista, a lighthearted and often sleazy musical 
farrago, when the stars and the chorus girls paraded up and down the passarella allowing patrons sitting in more expensive stalls a privileged view of what was hidden to the average theatregoer. I myself experienced the magic of the passarella in war-torn Italy, where in the wake of destruction the many rivista companies brought the first signs of life starting again.>>
http://www.musicalcriticism.com/opera/baden-barbiere-1008.shtml



> On 26 Mar 2015, at 13:54, Herrick Goldman via Stagecraft <stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
> 
> the word Passarale came up in a design conference.  While I inherently know what it is, I’m wondering where the word came from?  Sounds like Italian Opera to me.  
> 
> Thoughts? 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Herrick Goldman
> Lighting Designer, NYC
> www.HGLightingDesign.com
> 917-797-3624
> 
> We work in the dark - We do what we can- We give what we have. Our doubt is our passion and our passion is our task. The rest is the madness of our art.  -Henry James
> 
> 
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