DC Theatre Scene: Washington National Opera, generously sponsored by Mars, Inc, has created what may be Washington’s most terrific recent tradition – “Opera in the Outfield.” There were 10,000 people reported to have been in the National’s Park, home of the Washington Nationals, last Saturday night. Many decided, as I had with friends, to picnic on the lawn, and it felt like what opera once was and should be again – a popular family entertainment, where people can come together to laugh, clap, and go away humming the tunes.
2 comments:
What surprised me was the fact that many of the attendees had never been to an opera before, but because it was on the National's field, they came out to the event. As someone who hears a lot of groans and moans when it comes to trying to get people out to the opera, location can be everything. I think events like this should happen more frequently. The friendly, familiar atmosphere of a baseball stadium, paired with the newer (but still older than you), comedic opera is what I would consider a lovely evening. The Barber of Seville is a highly hummable opera (i.e. the iconic Figaro~) and I think that the Washington Opera did a good job in picking an opera more aimed at a family experience, if they wanted lots of people to come I don't think they would have done like La Boheme or Dead Man Walking. Lastly, I commend Washington Opera for getting out of their own building and company, and expanding the reach of opera to audiences who might not have otherwise come (it's far more risky to bring a baby to a theater than to an open air stadium). I hope that they continue with this, and that people continue to show up, allowing the partnership between opera and sports (who knew?) to thrive.
This is really nice, to allow people to experience opera in a nice casual setting, without the prohibitve cost of a ticket, or the expectation of having to be dressed in your sunday best, and not having to worry as much about the behaviour of your kids. As a consummate lover of opera, this actually warms my heart very much, to see a wider range of people have access to it in a cconvenient way. I think that one of the main obstacles people have when they think of opera in their heads is they think that it's just some posh affair with some crazy singing ladies, but they fail to realize that operas don't only share the name with soap operas, and that a great number of operas have pretty ridiculous storylines. In many ways, I also think that opera is very well suited to being filmed and rebroadcast, since, honestly the staging matters a lot less than in straight plays or musicals. And many of the most climactic moments are the singers standing in one place belting out their music.
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