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.
