Peter Gelb's Leadership Of The Met: New York City Opera

I understand how difficult it is not to portray certain elements in a opera that were meant to be conveyed through story. Things like the ocean were portrayed on a projection screen and the shore of the captains home was also the same as the the setting for the ship. This for me, made it a little harder to interpret what was going on from act to act. I did enjoy the music performance, but I felt that the performance took what would have happened in two short conversations and turned it into a three hour opera. I don’t think it is fair to assume that this opera represents all operas, and I believe I will attend another opera potentially in English so I do not feel that I am watching a teleprompter for the majority of the performance instead of absorbing the

Ginger Adams Otis a writer for the NYC Daily News, has written about the contribution of Broadway to New York Culture and the Economy. However obvious, it is extremely relevant to discuss Broadway as a contribution to defining the culture within New York City and we will touch upon just that plus the contribution to the economy. Tickets: According to statistics from the New York City Daily News, Ginger Adams Otis writes that, there are 50,000 tickets sold each day- 100,000 on a Saturday matinee, 365 days a year. This is a phenomenal amount of tickets to be had all of 50,000 audience members which will fill Broadway. However, does New York City benefit from this in terms of the money spent? Let’s talk about the amount of dollars pumped back

At the age of eight, my mother took me on a trip to New York City. On it, I saw the Lin Manuel-Miranda show In the Heights. Unlike my eight-year-old self, my mother loved performing arts, and she occasionally played CD’s from musicals in the car, which I groaned about. Given this, it is not hard to imagine I was less excited than the average person to see a broadway show; however, when my mother mentioned, “Chad from High School Musical is in it,” I perked up. As I walked into the theatre, my attitude improved again from the astonishingly vast house, filled with endless rows of red, velvet chairs leading towards an expansive stage trimmed with gold. Nevertheless, I still did not appreciate the opportunity to witness a Tony Award-winning musical, as I would in three hours. When the lights dimmed, the whole theatre fell silent, yet still buzzed with anticipation.

In the 1980s, the cost of staging a Broadway show soared so high that major shows have to run for more than two years to break even (showtime, 604). The strong-willed individualistic producers were replaced by “artistic director, a general manager and various multi-producers.(showtime 604)” The latter were made up by businessman and theater owners whose priority is to sell tickets rather than create art. What’s more, the producers were less willing to take risks both financially and artistically, which made Broadway productions bleaker(showtime 604). As for the production of Rent and The Phantom of the Opera, the producers used different tactics to cope with the staggering cost. The rent cut cost on stage setting and location.They abandoned the expensive curtains and fancy settings and used sculptures of “junk, wire and Christmas-tree lights” to symbolize different sites(Wollman, 170).

During the 1900’s Broadway was viewed by mainly middle class people who were searching for a date night, some excitement, and some soothing music. Since it wasn’t taken so seriously by the public, the best seats in the theatre valued from $1.50 to $2.00. Compared to the prices of today, back then they practically paid a penny. This all is due to the cost of maintenance that they had now in comparison to the price of

The reaction that I got from the Opera performance was surprised and exciting. I had never experiences a performance like that and was surprised. The voices of the singers/ actors was amazing and they took me back because it was not what I expected. The play had a story behind it and I was expecting a male or female standing on the stage singing, but this was much more. The meaning behind the performance was very intriguing. I would recommend this performance to anyone that would want to go to

Although big-hit Broadway musicals have always been popular with the masses and generated tons of money, the changing political weather on the United States has slowly affected the population’s view of their purpose in society. Stacey Wolfe addresses the changing political climate in the musical theatre form in her article, The 2003-2004 Season and Broadway Musical Theatre as a Political Controversy, as a subtle but impactful way to convey public issues after the events on September 11th, 2001. Musicals have a reputation of being over the top and cheesy with the old classics like Oklahoma! and The Music Man. Although the old musicals address issues like marriage and telling the truth, they lack the intellectual depth of the new millennium. However, singing and dancing are still effective ways of conveying the problems to a society where interest is easily lost. Wolfe adamantly points out that producing a musical takes years of work and funding, thus affecting the response time to modern events. The musicals Avenue Q, Wicked, and Caroline, Or Change, all discussed in her article, did not make their debut until years after 9/11. Nonetheless, the lag time allows for critical adjustments and full understanding of the events to be evaluated before they premiere on the big stage. Wolfe argues that despite the slow response time, modern musicals are still an effective way to show important issues to the public and especially inspire reflective change in the target audiences of the

While this book begins by defining stage money as “Imitation money used in theatrical production, in film, and by magicians,” the next seven chapters are not spent describing these fake dollar bills (v). Donahue and Patterson step away from analyzing the aesthetic value of theatre and analyze what it costs. As corporations of today take steps into the 21st century, Broadway is forced to evolve with them. Due to the lack of ability of performers to increase productivity, the environment is high-risk. Investors can put in millions of dollars into a project and lose it all, simply because audiences were not drawn to the show. However, investing the same amount in a successful show can make millions. This “survival of the fittest” mantra describes

On Wednesday, May 27, 2015, DePaul Symphony Orchestra held their 39th Annual Spring concert at Orchestra Hall of Chicago Symphony Orchestra center from 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM. When I arrived, I noticed that most of the audiences were formally dressed, including kids, students, adults, and elders. It was really crowded in the room; I estimated that there were over 300 attendees. After taking my seat, I looked around the stage and saw a huge orchestra. All the musicians were dressed in black, and they were still practicing even when their performance was about to start. A woman welcomed the audiences and thanked them for attending the concert. The concert finally begun with a short performance to welcome conductor Cliff Colnot. The instruments that

When I took my first bow on a stage, I knew that wanted to peruse the performing arts as a permanent career. I was so pleased with myself that I finally found a place where I belong. As I have grown as a performer, I have learned that performing is not just reciting lines in front of an audience but creating a picture with words. There is a technique behind acting and many have come to known this as “method”, “method acting”, or the “Stanislavski method”.

There were many instruments playing during the performances. I noticed saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and several instruments such as the guitar and piano that kept the rhythm going. There was a conductor during the performance leading all the performers on when to play. It was apparent that he did a great job since all the instruments were in sync and played at all the right times. Overall the audience was extremely respectful. Everyone seemed to enjoy the performance and it set a great mood in the opera house.

There was still a lot of time to fill in the day so I wanted to go to the Sydney Opera House. Unfortunately, nothing was playing during my vacation. However, I decided to go and look anyway because I may not get to have this experience again. When I got to the opera house, I admired its beauty and architectural style. It looks

On Monday, November 23,the Metropolitan Opera House performed the world’s most popular opera, La Bohème. I was very anxious and excited to attend the concert because it was the first time that I watched a opera.

There appears to be various expenses contributing to the total cost arising from the activities of an orchestra. The most considerable, contributing to such costs, involves artistic personnel and along with this come production expenses such as stage expenses, hall rentals, and other operating costs, all of which have been consistently rising. Figure 5 illustrates the fact that personnel costs have contributed a large amount to total expenses of orchestras over the years 1930 to the mid-1960s. One might note, though, that this percentage of total expenditure has in fact been falling. This is said to be due to rises in fringe benefits over the years. Nevertheless, increases in total costs of performance still consist largely of personnel costs.

As I had no idea of what to expect when entering this concert I went in with an extremely open mind. Even leading up to the intermission I wasn’t convinced that I was understanding the structure of opera. However, even with my very limited knowledge of opera I could come to a few conclusions. Fortuna and Townsend evidently worked well together, they were always in sync and fed off of each others talent. As well it seemed as if Fortuna was using an aspect of call and response to enhance her production. Her call would be in the form of a story and she would then answer her call with her singing. The show was slightly disrupted in the first half with a large group of people that had been late for the performance, I couldn’t visually see any signs of fault on Fortuna’s behalf when this occurred. An interesting aspect of Fortuna’s style was unlike anything I had ever seen before. Fortuna would make stable eye contact with specific sections in the audience, this portrayed the feeling that she was singing for the crowd and not herself.