September 26, 2006
Opera for Everyone
Last night, the Metropolitan Opera's new season opened, with its usual gala at Lincoln Center and something new - broadcasting the performance of Madama Butterfly for free on different screens in Times Square as well as a free broadcast on Lincoln Center's plaza. catelinp has a nice set of pictures from Times Square on Flickr. The Post and Times have stories about hundreds people enjoying the free Times Square showing and how this marks the new era of Metropolitan Opera general manager Peter Gelb. Now, going to see the Met broadcoast in the outdoors is one things, but the Met also announced showing performances in movie theaters which somehow seems less appealing - perhaps opera seems better live or outdoors.
Anyway, we thought this part of the Times article illuminated how big a deal the Met is to the NYC economy:
The Met is a behemoth. It employs 1,500 full- and part-time workers and had a $225 million budget last year. This year it will mount 222 performances and 27 productions.The NY Times' critic Anthony Tommasini liked this Madama Butterfly production, but seemed to think it was more exciting that the Met was reinvigorated.One board member, William D. Rollnick, acknowledged that Mr. Gelb’s plans were expensive.
“Yeah, it’s going to take money, but everything takes money,” he said. “It’s raising the bar. We’ll do it.”
Did you watch the performance at Times Square, on the plaza at Lincoln Center or in the Met? Standing room tickets for Saturday's performance will be available Saturday morning. You can see a press conference about the production, directed by Oscar winning director Anthony Minghella, here. And via the Post, check out opera blog Parterre.
Photograph of Madama Butterfly on the Jumbotron in Times Square from catelinp on Flickr
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Thanks for using my photos. I went to Times Square mostly to see how the simulcast was going to work. They closed off Broadway between 43rd and 44th (in front of the GMA studio) and set up a few hundred folding chairs. They had ushers handing out programs and Met schedules, so it felt almost like being at the opera. The crowd seemed like it was mostly tourists, with a few people like me who had nothing else to do on a Monday evening. The sound was excellent for what it was: a few large speakers on a pole directly in front of the seats. The video feed on the Panasonic screen was clear and the subtitles were easy to read, so I had no problem following the action. It was a little weird sitting in the middle of the street watching an opera. My friend and I stayed for the first act, but left at intermission to go to Virgil's for dinner. When we left the restaurant the last act was just starting, and there was still a large crowd watching the performance.
I hope the Met does more events like this. I've been an Met Opera subscriber in the past, and I think that the more the public is exposed to opera, the more people will find that they like it.
i have a few friends who are musicians in the met opera. it's an amazing venue and i highly recommend it to anyone who has a deep appreciaton for music and theater; opera is, at least for me, very relaxing and takes my mind off my hectic life.
if you know someone in the opera, try to get them to give you a tour backstage durng the intermission, it's utterly fantastic back there. all the sets and pulley systems... it's amazing!
The Lincoln Center plaza screening was great. Typically I can only afford to sit where the figures on stage look like blurry tic-tacs. But for the first time, I got to see gestures, expressions, acting. And except for the odd siren or Harley going by on Broadway, the sound was great. Please, Met: May we have some more?
Eh - I don't see much difference between going to these public screenings and renting an opera DVD.
Want to really "open up" the opera? Lower ticket prices. The idea that the Met had a sales slump in the last few years (for something that is in high demand) suggests that they just priced it wrong.
That is absolutely positively the case for some of the other classical music institutions in town, anyway (NY Phil, I'm looking at you).
Watched 'Butterfly' in Lincoln Center's plaza: a marvelous time! With celeb-spotting alongside the red carpet as icing on the cake, the night's set-up was well done, with most chairs having a clear view of the video screen rigged up front. Sound was surprisingly impressive, coming from tower speakers placed in front and throughout.
(We found it funny that ushers weren't giving out programs, which we had to get ourselves from boxes!)
With Minghella's sparse staging and a minimalist set, my buddy and I didn't feel like we were missing out much by seeing the show through a feed. Actually, plebians like us may have been at an advantage, with great close-up and angle shots on the performers and on the sumptuous visuals.
My very few opera experiences have left me dumbstruck as to how simple and understandable opera plots/stories are; last night, everyone around me stayed and was riveted 'til the end.
It's a great reminder that high art needn't be so high after all. Hope Peter Gelb's populist efforts truly do wrest the Met Opera from the hands of the old and crusty.
I never knew Anthony Minghella looked like a bully tough guy.
No wonder H. Weinstein likes him. Same with Liev shrieber another tough guy.
Please, when is this hapenning again?!??