Tosca is one of the most popular operas performed in the United States and has done much to translate the art's charms for modern audiences. Austin Lyric Opera pushed that populism a little further last January, when it produced a flash mob at Central Market North Lamar and burst forth with an aria from that very opera. The combination of pros in their street clothes, blending in with the crowd, toasting with beer as appropriate to the lyrics, enchanting children, and being presented with flowers was sweet and stirring inspiration, if one were needed, to check out the whole performance.
