Opera In Screen One, Two and Three
May 28th, 2007
New Yorkers are flocking to the cinema to see opera. In a novice move the Metropolitan Opera (Met) is simulcasting live opera performances into movie theatres.
In screen one while Spider Man wrestles with his identity and the layers of evil enveloping New York, over in screen four Figaro is busy espousing himself as a man's man in The Barber of Seville. If it seems an unlikely pairing it certainly wasn't with the public.
This season the Met simulcasted six live performances in theatres as far flung as Clapham to Japan, screening to a domestic and worldwide audience of 324,000.
Next season the Met expects the number of people who watch all 225 of their live performances to match those watching screened performances: around 880,000 - all munching on popcorn, no doubt.
The Met deemed the first season, which just finished, so successful that they expanded the programme. Initially the announcement to simulcast sent murmurs of shock through the world of sopranos and falsettos, but Peter Gelb, the Met's managing director told The New York Times it was a resounding success, one which they are keen to build on.
Of all the arts opera is one that persists as a high art form. For much of the public, opera is a cultural bridge too far. Up until now opera has rarely made appearances outside of opera theatres but in an attempt to broaden its appeal, moving in with the likes of Shrek and Superman is quite a marketing surprise.
Critics were not shy in singing their approval. Peter Conrad from The Observer said: "Watching it in the cinema was like having not just the best seat at the Met but all the best seats simultaneously."
Will this down-market move to meet the people diminish opera of its elitism? The operas themselves are no different - they simply have a far wider audience. Critics and purists undoubtedly will attest that watching opera in the cinema is far different than in the theatre.
Picturehouse Cinemas in London screened all of last season's performances at its venues in Notting Hill and Clapham. A spokesperson for Picture House said the operas were very well attended. Even in the cinema opera is not cheap; tickets for the events were twenty and twenty-five pounds.
