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Has English Opera Lost Its Sense With Scratch-and-Sniff Production?

From Associated Press

The English National Opera, hoping to dazzle the senses of its audiences, has added something new to the sights and sounds of its latest production--smells.

Opera buffs who turn out for Serge Prokofiev’s “Love for Three Oranges” get a little scratch-and-sniff card with six different odors of varying degrees of pleasantness.

A kitchen scene offers the smell of rotten meat. Another is the aroma of orange blossoms, and another the fragrance of exotic perfume.

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When a foul-breathed demon appears, audience members scratch a section that smells like a cross between rotten eggs and, well, body odor.

An opening-night audience of 2,400 got their first whiff of the show on Wednesday.

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