By Marion Joy and Patsy Burke
Welcome to the sixth installment of BRAVO live!
In this episode, we take you into The Music Center post office, otherwise known colloquially as the mail room.
From the day The Music Center opened to the public in December 1964, the mail room, an official United States post office branch, has served all of The Music Center's resident arts and culture organizations, including the LA Philharmonic, Center Theater Group, Los Angeles Master Chorale and, of course, LA Opera.
Lynne Mitchell, head of the Opera League's volunteer light walker team, chats up veteran post office employees Ruben and Eric. Through their lively rapport, you'll get to know the ins and outs of the mail room's day-to-day operations. Ruben and Eric invite Lynne--and us--to join them in the processing and delivering of some of the thousands of parcels that land every day at 135 North Grand Avenue. They trek and schlep the entire length of The Music Center campus, pairing each and every delivered parcel with a smile, a brief but no less precious human interaction that Ruben says is what has kept him at The Music Center over the decades.
So kick back and spend a few minutes with Lynne, Ruben and Eric, and get a look at L.A.'s crown jewel arts complex in a whole new first-class light.
About BRAVO Live!
BRAVO Live! is a relatively new series the Opera League launched in March 2021. Inspired by the League's flagship print publication, BRAVO (check out recent issues here and here), BRAVO Live!'s charter is to adapt BRAVO's interview format for the virtual space to spotlight today's brightest stars of the musical firmament, both in front of and behind the curtain.
By the way, if you missed previous episodes of BRAVO Live!, check them out on the Opera League's YouTube channel.
Without further ado, please enjoy episode six of BRAVO Live! We hope you are entertained and enlightened.