The Future of Opera
I hate to bash any form of High Art, but if I am going to, it may as well be Opera. Le Nozze Di Figaro is one of the top rated operas around, I cannot argue with this for two reasons. For one, the show itself is entertaining. There were times when it was hard to stay conscious, but other than that,i would say it was a night well spent. The other reason is that i have not seen any other operas.
The actual operas themselves may be entertaining, but the way i see it, there is no future for the art form. It may be because of the affiliation that is made with opera. People think that it is impossible to enjoy opera unless you are an elderly, upper class, arrogant snob. From what I saw of the audience, this theory holds some stock. It is not the opera itself that brings these people in, it’s is the environment. You have the opportunity to dress up in a suit or gown and then pay $15 for a glass of Champagne. Some people just want to show off. Besides our class, I don’t think there were any people younger than 30 in the whole Opera House. A young person would not want to associated with this crowd. It is not only these people who are killing this art form, it is the entertainment industry as a whole. People these days are bombarded with ads for action packed movies and epic stories that are only two hours long. Why bother dressing up to see four hours of people singing in a language you don’t understand about their love lives?
I enjoyed the opera, but not the opera experience. For every beautiful and moving song, there was someone yelling “bravo” from our section, thinking that the performers could actually hear them. It’s the little things that are killing opera, not the art itself.
-Jacob