CHICAGO — Amid the fresh produce, meats and cheeses last weekend at a West Loop grocery store, an opera broke out.
As a crowd of people shopped at Mariano's Fresh Market at 40 S. Halsted St. last Saturday, a bunch of performers from the West Rogers Park-based da Corneto Opera company, clad in uniforms similar to other workers, pretended to work.
Then, with no announcement, they broke out into a surprise rendition of "The Drinking Song" from Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata."
In a video of the performance posted online, many shoppers appear pleasantly surprised by the three-minute afternoon musical performance. One man even going so far as to "conduct" the singers.
But a little girl holding a baguette, however, appeared taken aback by the performance.
The flash mob performance was part of the chain's three-year anniversary celebration and an effort by the opera company to promote its upcoming season, which will feature another Verdi opera "Nabucco," that begins in October.