By Robyn Walker
The lights dim and the audience in the South Keys Cineplex Odeon goes silent. But instead of the usual movie previews, the theatre is filled with the sounds of an orchestra warming up with a little Tchaikovsky and the rustling of an entirely different audience at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.
These patrons haven’t come to see a typical Hollywood movie. They’re here to see the Met’s production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, which was broadcast in movie theatres around the world as part of the Met’s new series, Met Opera: Live in HD.
Last December, the Met launched the series with a live satellite transmission of The Magic Flute in more than 150 movie theatres in the United States, Australia, Europe, Japan and Canada, including one theatre in Ottawa.
Since then, the number of theatres transmitting the operas has grown to almost 300 worldwide and the broadcasts now reach an audience of more than 60,000 people. Ottawa residents can see the operas at the South Keys Cineplex Odeon, the Famous Players Coliseum theatre in Nepean, and Silvercity theatre in Gloucester.
“It’s really a way to extend the impact of what is going on live on the Met stage to opera lovers around the world using satellite technology and high definition theatre projectors,” says Julie Borchard-Young, the Met’s marketing director. “In effect we’re creating a huge virtual community.”
The Met started this six-opera series with the goal of uniting fans around the world and introducing more people to the art form.
“The advantage is that you reach people in a very casual environment,” says Borchard-Young. “We hope that we’re communicating with people who are opera lovers, but also are enticing those who might just be curious to check it out. If they love it then they’ll want to come back for more, either at the movie theatre or in their local opera companies.”
Jim Warrington and Richard Warrington went to see the encore presentation of Eugene Onegin at South Keys Cinema on Saturday, and say they would definitely go again.
“This is a great thing, because it introduces opera to a wider audience,” says Jim Warrington. “People who might not go to the opera might come to see it in a theatre. I heard about it from my wife, and it sounded like something I’d like to do.”
Karl Balisch, marketing and communications director of Ottawa’s opera company, Opera Lyra, says he’s happy with the broadcasts because they are attracting more Ottawa residents to the city’s local opera scene.
“It has done a tremendous amount in raising awareness for opera and giving opera a little bit more of a profile in all cities across North America and internationally,” he says. “Our tickets sales for our current production of Otello have been very, very strong and I think that part of that can be attributed to this sort of increased opportunity to see opera. People are a little bit more aware.”
Borchard-Young says the Met has heard nothing but positive feedback from global audiences, which continue to grow with every broadcast.
“If we were tracked like a movie, we would have been the number 18 movie with The Barber of Seville in the United States for the weekend of March 24 and 25,” she says, pointing out that there was only one show time for the opera while other movies had multiple showings on multiple screens. “It just shows us that there’s demand for our programming.”
These broadcasts also offersomething to theatre audiences that the Met’s audience does not get to experience. During the live opera’s intermission, the cameras go behind the curtains, allowing movie audiences to see exactly what it takes to stage such a large production. There are also interviews with the actors, musicians and stage crew.
But Borchard-Young says avid opera fans may not enjoy the movie theatre experience quite as much as seeing a live opera, which allows them to choose which part of the action to watch.
“The problem with filming the opera is you’re watching what the director wants to show you. It’s like a sporting event, the director wants to cut to the action,” she says. “So if you’re a purist and you want to want to have your own choice of what you’re watching, the movie theatre environment is probably not the best.”
But Borchard-Young says the response from global audiences has been phenomenal, and they are expecting an even bigger audience for the series’ sixth and final opera, Puccini’s Il Trittico, which will be broadcast on April 28.
The Met is also planning for next year’s series which will feature eight operas instead of six. Borchard-Young says she hopes the Met continues to bring its operas to a global audience in the future.
“We had really high and lofty expectations of what this series might achieve and it’s exceeded all our expectations,” she says. “It’s our goal that this becomes part of the audience outreach and extension of the Met experience for many years to come.”