Sunday, February 13, 2011
Los Angeles Opera faces a modern-day dilemma
latimes.com: "Los Angeles Opera's quandary: How to stay fresh and creative without turning off its core fans? 'The Turk in Italy' is just such a challenge.
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4 comments:
During grad school orientation we had a conversation about keeping relevant and "employed" in a 15 minute society. The tone was that theatre is essential and necessary but horribly underfunded and unappreciated. Therefore we are always trying to reinvent ourselves to be appealing to a modern audience. I cannot imaging the dilemma that an opera would have when the classic look is revered and yet they are trying to attract a new audience. I admire the opera and there traditional ways but I have never actually been to an opera so the new audience that they are trying to reach is me.
Opera needs to be treated as a living breathing form. It's so vibrant and beautiful that I haven't really ever been able to understand the idea of "stasis" that some opera fanatics want. It's almost as if the challenge for Opera Managers now is trying to produce new shows that can live up to the level of the old gems that people enjoy.
I also have to wonder how much tinsel town affects the LA Opera season selection.
While I know this article pertains specifically to Opera, its content reminds me of a conversation I had the other day with my sister. She was in a recent production of The Glass Menagerie at Southern Utah University. One of her professors kept going on about how he didn't like the production because it wasn't "traditional". She pointed out the fact that theshow was meant for a 2011 audience, and that the audience received it very well. She noted that a lot of people who typically don't enjoy the play loved this production of it. It just goes to show that it may be time for new traditions to be put into place. I do understand, though, the way that Opera managers face a challenge because they need to hold on to their core audience while growing and reaching out to new communities. Maybe it's time for such traditionalists to embrace new ideas and realize that changes in the field are for the greater good, because they will bring in new supporters of the art.
As the world changes, so does everything we create. I think presenting a piece as it has traditionally been presented is wonderful. If it can be done and if someone wants to do it that way, go ahead.
But I don't see anything wrong in the idea of setting old productions in different settings than how they were traditionally done. If it helps tell the story in a way that serves it, then do it. Unfortunately what oftentimes happens is that a piece is attempted to be "updated" but in the process becomes more about it's "updating" than the piece itself. That might be why many people are so against updating pieces: because artists have proved that it very often-times does not work.
That does not mean, however, that we should not update pieces. It does mean that if we are going to do it we must do it because it serves a story--not because we just have a cool, new idea. So updating is fine--but make sure there's a real purpose, not self-indulgence.
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