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Re: RAT SUPERBOWL INTERVAL HIJINKS
I too must leap in. First, there is indeed a huge resurgence in opera
attendance. We don't hear about it because in America, the opera houses
are nonprofits, and therefore Entertainment Weekly and the conglomerate
newspapers, who are owned by corporate interests directly competing for
those entertainment dollars, naturally sweep it under the rug since they
themselves don't get to cash in on the extra publicity (sound familiar?).
Opera "elitist?" Maybe it seems that way in the always-gets-it-wrong
U.S. So what. Go almost anywhere in Europe and see if you can hurl
without some of it splashing against a busy, thriving, fun, popular opera
house. There are tons of places in the world where fights break out in
the pubs over this week's opera (I saw this in Sydney, a jock town if
ever there was one). Not a sign of "out of touch" to be seen. Leave it
to us to turn a fabulous art form into a snobs-only furfest -- but as
Allison points out, even that ground is shifting radically as we speak.
As is the nature of opera itself -- it pops up in many guises besides the
one we think of.
Opera "high art?" Heavens. Nearly all operas, famous and forgotten,
are potboilers written for a mass audience. Most are claptrap. Most are
glorious. Opera is the Evel Knievel of concert music. The singers,
players, and conductors are all performing awesome feats of athletic
prowess, or failing spectacularly at same. Some operas go the
Shakespeare route and manage to also be high art, and some are hermetic
and only try to appeal to connoisseurs. But most were written to be
nothing more or less than rip-roaring crowd pleasers, and they still
would be if we didn't all settle for the party line that what we're
watching or performing is important, and serious, and boring.
By the way, what Peter Sellars does with opera is the tip of the iceberg
if you ask me. His takes are fresh, and funny, and sometimes big eye
openers -- and he does long rehearsal periods, which is refreshing -- but
it's still the same package, with all the same trappings. It only looks
like the cutting edge if your reference point is creaky old Met stagings.
The real advance guard is taking it out of the Met, way out. But that
aside, I'd rather see even a same-old-same-old opera production than most
"theatre." As the kids say.
C
>Subject: Re: RAT SUPERBOWL INTERVAL HIJINKS
>Sent: 2/6/1920 2:53 AM
>Received: 2/2/2000 7:12 PM
>From: mego1911@gte.net
>Reply-To: RAT List, rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>To: RAT List, rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>
>was not aware of the big opera craze sweeping the nation (would seem the
>under 35 set has cought on to eliteism)...my point being that the lofty
>ideals of creating high art often leave one out of touch with the audience.
>
>m.e. <------product of public education - forgive
>----------
>>From: Allison Narver <anarver@yahoo.com>
>>To: rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com
>>Subject: Re: RAT SUPERBOWL INTERVAL HIJINKS
>>Date: Wed, Feb 2, 2000, 11:58 AM
>>
>
>>
>>Wow. I gotta beg to differ. I think that Opera is
>>far from being a dinosaur today. It in fact far
>>outsells theater (particularly in younger ticket
>>buyers -- under 35).
>>
>>Just putting my two cents in.
>>XOXO
>>A
>>--- mego1911@gte.net wrote:
>>> Really Mr. Houts I think it's our responsibility to
>>> differentiate between
>>> >Mass Popular Culture and High Art.
>>>
>>>
>>> ....um, isn't that what made opera the dinosaur it
>>> is today?
>>> m.e.
>>>
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>