I dunno. I think trying to convince folks that opera is cool and hip and not stuffy by saying certain things just … I dunno … it just doesn’t work for me.
Opera is hip, young and not as stuffy as its reputation would lead you to believe.
(RTWT)
Recently I’ve read so many articles about how this soloist or that company is out to show how we aren’t stuffy. Or we aren’t snobby. Or we are accessible.
Whatever.
Maybe we should market differently, though. Maybe we should say we are only for the elite and that certain people should just skip attempting to like what we do. Maybe we should say, “You probably won’t understand it anyway. Don’t show up.” Maybe we should say, “This is only for people with high IQs.”
Maybe then more people would, in a fit of defiance, want to show up.
Okay. Maybe not. I guess it’s just that I’m really weary of hearing about how we are trying to appeal to the masses. Maybe we don’t appeal to the masses. Maybe that’s why it’s not called popular music.
NOT that I’m saying I don’t want to see new faces. And I love the idea of nixing certain things (like those tails our poor men have to suffer in!). I would like to be able to connect more directly with the audience (although I’m not the sort to get up and talk; not my style). I’m not saying we have to do everything in the same old way we’ve been doing it since I began this career in 1975.
Ramble ramble over and out.
Better idea…put a sign on the wiondow that says SOLD OUT. People will do anything to get in, and the box office will be mobbed.
=)
Great idea. We’ll have to try it. 😉
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Over the last decade, the audience for opera has been growing. I don’t have a cite offhand, but I’ve read this in reliable places. I just tell people I’m taking for the first time, “the music is beautiful, the singing is amazing, and there’s great theater too.”