By JAMES D. WATTS JR. Scene Writer on Jun 3, 2009, at 12:24 PM Updated on 6/03 at 12:24 PM
ARTS
A great many things must work together properly for an airplane is ever going to leave the ground.
The same thing is ...
Tulsa Ballet’s “Off the Floor: Creations in Studio K” continues through this weekend at the company’s headquarters, 1212 ...
As far as the Tulsa Artists Coalition is concerned, today is May 5.
The TAC has traditionally opened its most popular ...
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An interesting Trans-Atlantic debate is going on between writers at the Washington Post and the Telegraph in Great Britain, over the idea of opera being an art form for people of "a certain age."
Read the story: Opera: young at art
What matters -- and what makes opera matter to audiences of any age -- is the emotional authenticity with which is it presented. Opera stories can be complete nonsense, but if every aspect of the production is focused on making the emotions of the characters on stage -- however exaggerated -- seem real and vital to an audience, then that opera is going to appeal to people of any age.
That is often the problem with highly stylized productions -- they exist to display the director's cleverness or make some superfluous comment on society or politics, rather than make the audience care about what's going on. Opera then becomes less an emotional experience and more of an intellectual one.
Opera needs to aim for the head, the heart and the gut. And sometimes, getting two out of those three means a pretty good show.
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