I may be an opera blogger, but I was a fiction writer first, so for the purposes of this post, I have fabricated five well-intentioned but naïve followers of my blog, and engaged in a little Q&A with them. I’d be delighted to engage in dialogue with real followers of the blog. Please consider posting a response!
I’m dying to attend an a great opera, but I live in a rural area, and we don’t have an opera company here. Whatever can I do? –Sally B., not too far from Topeka
I’m so glad you asked, Sally. The Metropolitan Opera, one of the world’s great opera companies, has for more than ten years broadcast part of each season live in movie theaters all around the country and increasingly around the world. It’s simply amazing. The program, which has grown to include ten operas each year, has made opera widely accessible to such an unprecedented degree that I have to believe it’s cultivating a whole new wave of opera fans. As for me, the Met in HD experience has single-handedly fanned the flames of my love for opera from a very slow burn over a 25-year period to an inferno of passion over the past five. Check it out!
Sounds good. I’m tired of watching all the shouting and bickering on my TV, and I’m going to need somewhere to go when 2020 hopefuls start invading my state. What’s up next? –@IKeepAmericaPurple, Ames, IA.
Hey there, Keep. Thanks for your question. Do you like Hitchcock films? You’re in for a treat! The prolific young American composer Nico Muhly has created a brand new opera based on Marnie, the story of “a young woman who makes a living by embezzling from her employers, moving on, and changing her identity (Wikipedia). Though Marnie is best known based on Alfred Hitchcock’s 1964 film adaptation, Muhly based his opera not directly on the Hitchcock film but on the 1961 novel by Winston Graham. Nonetheless, the set and costuming sure have the feel of a classic film, and the actress who brought the character to the screen, Tippi Hedren, now 88, took a curtail call with her operatic counterpart on opening night on October 19.
Mulhy’s Marnie will be broadcast live on Saturday, November 10 and encored on Wednesday, November 14.
Wait a minute. Puccini died in 1924. People aren’t really writing new operas, are they? –Roberto D., San Juan, PR
Oh, Roberto, don’t be silly. Of course they are! In fact, all of the major opera companies in the US have commissioned new works over the past few years (I attended the world premiere of Bel Canto, based on the novel by Ann Patchett,at Lyric in 2015). And festivals of new opera works abound, from the Cleveland Opera Theater’s New Opera Works Festival to the Prototype Festival in NYC, and beyond. This is actually Nico Muhly’s 2nd commission for the Met. His first Two Boys opened in 2013.
What can I expect if you go to the Met in HD screening of Marnie?
–Hakim A., Pocatello, Idaho
Good question, Hakim. First of all, expect high quality performances both by world class singers and by arguably the best opera orchestra in the world. Expect close ups interesting camera angles, good sound quality, on screen subtitles just like in a foreign language film.
I haven’t seen this opera or heard this opera yet. Here are a few insights from Anthony Thomsasini’s October 21 review in the NYT:
- “ With his keen ear for unusual harmonies and eerily alluring sonorities, Mr. Muhly painstakingly tries to use his imagination — and his proven skill at orchestration — to flesh out Marnie’s inner life.”
- “Mr. Muhly opted, it would seem, to maintain mystery through whole stretches of the score, to suggest emotions rather than making everything explicit. He may have held back too much. The music sometimes seems like an accompaniment to the drama, rather than a realization of it.”
- “The best scenes in ‘Marnie’ come when Mr. Muhly, in sync with Mr. Wright, takes creative chances. Rather than providing Marnie with any sort of tell-all aria, the opera gives her short transitional ‘links,’ as Mr. Muhly calls them, disoriented soliloquy-like passages where in broken bits of restless, leaping lines she voices bitter, confused ruminations.”
But wait, there’s more. One of the best things about the Met in HD experience is a lot of cool behind-the-scenes material during intermissions. While the crowd in New York is waiting in line for the restroom or the opportunity to pay top dollar for plastic cupful of rum and coke, the evening’s host will treat the cinema audience to backstage interviews with the prinicple singers and previews of upcoming productions.
Oh, and popcorn.
Are there any downsides to seeing an opera in a movie theater as opposed to live? –Michelle O., Washington, D.C.
Sure, Michelle. Consider the analogy to watching sports in person vs. on TV. On TV you get the benefit of replays, close ups, and commentary, but you’re beholden to the camera’s eye. Usually that means following the ball or puck. In person, you can look where you want to. The same holds true at the opera. On screen, you’re stuck looking at whatever the camera wants you to see. The folks at the Met have gotten more sophistocated over the years, so you’ll get a variety of camera angles, but there are still times I’d like to be able to look elsewhere or be able to scan the entire stage at once. That said, the view of the Met stage from the Cedar Lee Theater is a lot better than it would be without the Met in HD. That’s where I’ll be next Weds at 6:30. You?
See you the at the opera!
Tim
theoperaevangelistwordpresscom 