The Story of Escamillo

During the last week of Carmen, I fell in love with the baritone who sang the part of Escamillo (Scott Skiba). He’s so good-looking that it almost hurts me to look at him, and he’s also the nicest, most charming guy on the face of the planet. He has a very sweet girlfriend, but whatever. Anyway, where I was sitting in the pit I couldn’t see what was going on onstage during the show, so I hadn’t even seen any of the singers in costume. The orchestra doesn’t play for the bows, so I started standing up at the edge of the pit to watch them. I realized that, where I was standing, I would be directly in his line of vision when he bowed, so I started making faces at him, and he’d smile back. Before the last show, he told me he had something for me during his bow, so I made sure I was there waiting. He walked out with a red rose tucked in the top of his shirt, and after he bowed he pulled out the rose and tossed it to me. I couldn’t help but sigh aloud with happiness, even though there was a bunch of sand caught in the petals of the rose that showered me when I caught it. The sand was just a minor inconvenience for such a lovely, memorable, who-cares-if-it’s-cheesy gesture. Ah, L'Amour!