Porgy and Bess opened last night in Detroit, across the street from Comerica park. Fortunately, fans were able to use technology to keep up with the game:

It was a night where everyone had a Plan A (call good friend), a Plan B (call close relative if good friend fails to answer phone) and a nuclear option (run out to the street and grab a total stranger! Run to Cheli's and beg the bouncer for an update!) for getting the game score. Some staffers opened the windows of the sixth-floor conference room and drank glasses of imported red wine while watching the game.

But far from being empty, the opera house drew a large, enthusiastic crowd.

"I'm proud of you all for being here tonight," quipped the opera general director David DiChiera from the stage before the performance started.

Instead of resisting the pull of the game, the Opera House aided and abetted, posting the score on the electronic crawl screen ordinarily used to display opera lyrics at intermission, and sending staffers to walk the donor's lounge with bright yellow, hand-written signs that displayed the score.

Cell phones were crucial links to the sporting world. Most everyone had someone on the outside who had agreed to supply frequent updates by phone or text message, from the bartenders stuck too far inside the Opera House to even see the ballpark, to John Madison, the principal viola player who wore a Detroit Tigers batting helmet while performing Saturday, and had a friend send text updates by cell phone in the orchestra pit during the show.