The Met at the movies
Puccini opera comes to metro Detroit cineplexes live via satellite
February 16, 2008
By MARK STRYKER
FREE PRESS MUSIC WRITER
Now playing at the multiplex -- a three-hanky tragedy about a beautiful but doomed young woman torn between a rich suitor and a life of luxury or a penniless existence with her true love. The holes in the plot are so big you could drive a Hummer through them, but the intense passion and limpid beauty of the musical score redeems all.
That's opera, folks.
The Metropolitan Opera's production of Puccini's "Manon Lescaut," starring dynamic singing actress Karita Mattila, will be beamed live this afternoon from the company's New York stage into 600 movie theaters worldwide -- including four in metro Detroit and six throughout the rest of Michigan. The Met's popular high-definition digital broadcasts, transmitted via satellite, have reached the midpoint of their second season. Four more Saturday broadcasts are scheduled through April with a top ticket price of $22.
"For $22 you're able to be right up front and see this clear and wonderful-sounding production with top-of-the-rung casts and the variety of operas that the Met puts on that you don't get to see elsewhere," said Max Lepler, a retired librarian living in Royal Oak. "It's really a true bargain."
Lepler, 63, who, along with his partner, has seen four or five of the broadcasts at the Commerce Township Stadium 14 in Walled Lake, said the operas have gotten so crowded that they buy tickets in advance and arrive 45 minutes to an hour early to get a good seat. A ticket to see the Met in New York ranges from $27 for a balcony seat with an obstructed view to more than $300 for a box seat.
"The films are a true bargain," said Lepler.
Since the Met's high-definition transmissions began in 2006, the series has become a runaway hit. More than 600,000 people worldwide have seen the broadcasts, including 97,000 who watched Gounod's "Roméo et Juliette" in December, starring the sexy Russian soprano Anna Netrebko and the dashing tenor Roberto Alagna. The broadcasts were the brainchild of the Met's new general manager Peter Gelb, a crusader for reaching out to new audiences via 21st-Century technology.
The broadcasts have been so successful that other companies are beginning to imitate them. La Scala in Milan recently started broadcasting taped performances in theaters, and San Francisco Opera and London's Royal Opera are plotting their own projects.
The Met has been broadcasting Saturday matinee performances on the radio since the 1930s. Opera on television on has been around since the 1950s. But the scale, scope and technological magic of the Met's live high-definition broadcasts, which include Hollywood-standard camera work and intermission features like backstage interviews, are unprecedented.
"It's always exciting when a classical art form in today's culture, which is so pop-oriented, can have greater exposure," said David DiChiera, general director of Michigan Opera Theatre.
MOT has also experimented with multimedia distribution. As far back as 1999, the company distributed streaming Internet audio and video of "Werther" starring pop-tenor Andrea Bocelli. Last fall, MOT also broadcast online audio-only of a performance of "Cyrano," composed by DiChiera.
But given the huge expense of beaming an opera live into theaters -- the Met spends about $1 million per broadcast -- MOT is unlikely to follow suit soon. Still, DiChiera said MOT was committed to experimenting with new media and that the entire industry was clearly moving in that direction.
The big unanswered question is whether audiences introduced to opera at the multiplex will make the transition to buying tickets for live performances. DiChiera said there's been no carryover at MOT yet. "That's the challenge, but I don't think it negates the value of what the Met is doing, because the more people that are aware of opera, the better it is for all of us," he said.
MOT wanted to set up booths at the theaters to hand out brochures and aggressively pursue new patrons, but cinema owners have balked. Lepler said the audiences he's seen at the broadcasts are "mature" -- in their 40s, 50s and 60s -- but the potential for reaching younger viewers is tremendous.
"The hope is certainly over time to reach out and widen the audience for opera, but that's the challenge for all of the arts."
Contact MARK STRYKER at 313-222-6459 or
stryker@freepress.com.
'Manon Lescaut'
Today's live Met broadcast begins at 1 p.m. at the theaters listed below. An encore presentation will be shown at 3 p.m. Sunday at all theaters except Commerce Township Stadium.
$22, adults; $20, seniors; $15, children. Tickets available at theaters, online at
www.metopera.org/hdlive or 800-638-6737.
Metro Detroit
Quality 16, 3686 Jackson Road, Ann Arbor.
Livonia 20, 19500 Haggerty, Livonia
Commerce Township Stadium 14, 3033 Springvale Drive, Walled Lake
Ann Arbor Showcase Cinemas. 4100 Carpenter Road, Ypsilanti
Outstate
Flint West Showcase Cinemas, 1595 S. Graham, Flint Township
Saginaw 8/Quad, 3250 Kabobel, Saginaw
Celebration! Cinema North, 2121 Celebration Drive NE, Grand Rapids
Jackson 10, 1501 N. Wisner, Jackson
Kalamazoo 10, 820 Maple Hill Drive, Kalamazoo
State Theatre, 233 E. Front St., Traverse City
The story behind the opera
Premiered in 1893, "Manon Lescaut" was Puccini's third opera, his first hit and early indication of the genius that would flower in "La Bohème" and "Madame Butterfly." The opera is based on the play that also inspired Massenet's earlier opera "Manon." Puccini worked with five librettists before he was satisfied, and the plot still has issues.
Manon is on her way to a convent when she falls for a poor student named Des Grieux, but by the second act she has left him for the wealthier Geronte. When Des Grieux and Manon rekindle their romance, Geronte has her arrested and deported (don't ask). By the end, Manon and Des Grieux are reunited on a desert near New Orleans (I told you not to ask). She dies in his arms.
Musically, the opera rushes forward with passion, momentum and remarkably lyrical love duets. The A-list cast for today's Metropolitan Opera broadcast includes the riveting Finnish soprano Karita Mattila and Marcello Giordani, an Italian tenor born to sing Puccini.
Mark Stryker
On the schedule
Here are the upcoming Metropolitan Opera: "Live in High Definition" broadcasts. Operas begin at 1:30 p.m. unless noted.
March 15: Britten's "Peter Grimes." Starring Anthony Dean Griffey and Patricia Racette. New production directed by John Doyle and conducted by Donald Runnicles.
March 22: Richard Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde." (12:30 p.m.) Starring Deborah Voigt and Ben Heppner, conducted by James Levine.
April 5: Giacomo Puccini's "La Bohème." Starring Angela Gheorghiu and Ramón Vargas. Conducted by Nicola Luisotti.
April 26: Gaetano Donizetti's "The Daughter of the Regiment." Starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez. Conducted by Marco Armiliato.
Those dates are obviously all for 2008.
If you do not live in Michigan, check the MET website to see if this is at a cinema near you!
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