The 412 - March 2016: Kevin Glavin dreamt of Vegas, cigars and comedy. He found it on the opera stage. The Pittsburgh native now is a major opera singer, renowned for his work in ‘opera buffa,’ meaning comic operas. Glavin has appeared in operas all over the world, but he’s returning to the Pittsburgh stage beginning this weekend with a modern take on the classic opera buffa, “The Barber of Seville.” We talked to Glavin about his Pittsburgh roots and his upcoming role as Dr. Bartolo.
3 comments:
Growing up, although there was plenty of opportunity for me to see plays and musicals and even symphonies, I really was never opportunities for me to see operas. Even in choir, we sang oral music and never took trips to see operas. This article did a great job of getting the reader excited about the opera that is coming up. Before reading this article I had no idea that operas had a whole subsection for comedy (opera buffa). I really enjoyed what the article mentioned about how the production is set in the 50s with many references to bugs bunny, making the show very relatable to the current audiences. I really like how art can do that, change the outside appearance of the show in order to help the audience better understand the deeper meaning. A question that the interviewer asked that really interested me was the one about how Galvin has seen opera change and how he expects it to change in the future. The answer that he gave is kind of upsetting. The fact that opera is being forced to be more like musical theatre is quite sad to me because opera seems to offer something that musical theatre can't. I think that if people knew more about opera and how it can be adapted for today's audience like that of this current production of "The Barber of Seville" then I think a lot more people would be interested! I know if I were to have the opportunity to learn more about the possibility with opera I would.
This is great proof of the universality of comedy, and how humor can connect us regardless of language. Everyone has this impression of opera being a stuffy, stagnant thing that people pretend to enjoy to seem more cultured-- kind of like golf. It's cool to see that someone has realized that it can stay true to its historical roots and still appeal to more people than just old ladies and Bruce Wayne's parents. This article made me think critically about why we have this stereotype of the opera. Does something magical happen when the amount of sung dialogue eclipses the amount of spoken words and it automatically becomes boring? Whatever the reason is for this irrational recoiling at the "O" word, the rise in humorous opera seems to be a good way to combat it. Like I mentioned before, humor has the power to bring people together like nothing else. Although no every finds the same things funny, laughter is still contagious
Sometimes, I feel like Opera is the forgotten cousin of theatre. It’s considered an older and more classical art form, and it isn’t known for appealing to the modern audience. But I’ve always enjoyed Opera, and to me it seems like the only reason there’s a disconnect with the ‘younger’ crowd is because Opera hasn’t done much updating in the past few decades. But hearing about productions like The Barber of Seville gives me a lot of hope. Opera Buffa is definitely the place to start when attracting a new audience, because everyone loves a good comedy. I really enjoyed what Glavin said about this being the beginning of a new era, that the art form is ‘morphing’. And while he expressed concerns of the loss of tradition, which I do understand, sometimes traditions are lost in the name of progress. And just because it’s a tradition doesn’t mean it’s right. Overall, this article was a very interesting read and I hope to hear more about Opera in the future.
Post a Comment