So walking down there was easy. An hour was way too much time. Anyone could have worn my lanyard and got in. The security was tight around the gates and public access areas, but if you walked along the side of Opera bar you basically had no stop points and the one guy working there let me walk past without much more than a simultaneous nod.
I felt a bit out of place once I got into the opera house. It was access all areas for me so I went for a wander into the ‘media area’ - heaps of cameras and microphones and people generally looking busy. I couldn’t find a spot to stand in without feeling in the way. Everyone was wearing their lanyards which were different from mine. I was trying to spot one of our own but didn’t have much luck. My $5 shorts from Vinnies and $10 singlet from Myers didn’t make me feel any more comfortable either.
I watched a group of girls of a similar age, wider waist and definitely from the west, walk past the camera’s and chant, “OH-PRAH OH-PRAH! OH-PRAH!.” I was embarrassed for them although I too had a tingle of excitement in my belly.
I didn’t really know where I was going and I couldn’t ask anyone. Most the people there were media or apart of the Oprah entourage, I’d look silly asking them where the ‘gift shop’ was seeing as I was the one who supposedly worked for the place. I wondered up the steps into the Box office foyer. The gift shop was next to the box office, empty and slightly eerie. I was a bit unsure so I sat on the couches in the cafe, waited about 3 minutes before deciding to go for another wonder. I walked back out the way I came. Easy.
I sat and watched all the plebs line up. HA! Just kidding, they all looked pretty normal. I waited for about 15 minutes and decided it was time to go back and hang out with the other fillers. I met Jenny, who had been working for the Opera house since 1998. She was very informative about the coming and goings of people and general stuff within the whole opera house scheme of things. We talked about me getting a better job within the company, she suggested I talk to the marketing people, I didn’t think it was the right time – or outfit.
We ended up being seated with the sponsors and VIP’s. I really wanted to be knee deep in the 302-Oprah fanatics but they were right in front of the stage with the likes of Curtis Stone, Gayle Kings, Mumma and Daddy Jackman and others of significant or insignificant importance.
The Show
I walked in a sceptic and out a believer! I’m not into daytime TV. I hate it when mum watches Oprah because all of a sudden she is an expert on ‘talking about death’ or ‘dealing with a gambling addiction’ or ‘losing weight’. The thing with Oprah is that people believe anything she says.
I don’t have much to report on in regards to the show, you’ll be able to watch it on TV in January. Let me just say that this human being is the real deal. It’s the reason why so many people flip out and do things like donate their firstborns to her. She is motherly and inspiring, caring and genuine. Jesus, I sound like one of those creepy old ladies? It’s not the fact that she was just as amazed as we were that there was an ‘O’ on the bridge, or that when Hugh Jackman slammed into the lighting she was the first one to make sure he had some ice, or that during the finale the microphone was stuffing up and although encouraged by the sound crew that everything was fine for filming/recording, she insisted on a working mic for the 3000+ people who had come to see/hear her, it was the fact that she was as normal as you or I. She made a speech off camera, once the show was complete. It’s something I’ll tell my kids, ‘live your life on purpose’- that was her motto.
Anyway Olivia Newton John was boring, Oprah likes vegemite and has a small obsession with scrabble on her iPad, Hugh is an alcoholic and Keith Urban is whipped by Nicole Kidman. The “Aussie” lifestyle was definitely portrayed as being laidback, easy going, happy and dreamy. I thought it was a fairly honest portrayal.
