An aria with your pint? London pub gives opera a new look
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LONDON — “Figaro, Figaro, Figaro!” sang the baritone in the opening scene of The Barber of Seville, as the 120-strong audience looked on rapt, sipping their beers.
A new English translation of Rossini’s comic opera opened this week in an unlikely venue — the back room of a north London pub, which has become the British capital’s first new opera house in more than 40 years.
It is at the vanguard of a drive to make opera more accessible to those who think it is stuffy and only for the rich, by staging shows in intimate venues for a fraction of the price charged in the palatial theaters of Covent Garden.
“Opera still has a serious image problem,” said Robin Norton-Hale, director of the Barber, which is showing at the King’s Head Theatre in north London for 15 pounds (17 euros, $24) a ticket.
“The reason we want operas in these kind of venues is so that people can experience opera in a completely different way.”.... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101013com3.html
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