Royal Opera House productions join rush to cinemas
Last Updated: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 | 12:31 PM ET
CBC News
Following in the footsteps of New York's Metropolitan Opera, Milan's La Scala and the San Francisco Opera, the U.K.'s Royal Opera House has unveiled a series of high-definition broadcasts to be shown in North American cinemas this spring.
The inaugural performance series will feature one opera and four ballet performances:
- The Royal Ballet's Sylvia, starring English ballerina Darcey Bussell, who retired from the Covent Garden stage in 2007 (March 30).
- The Royal Opera's production of Carmen, starring Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci as the doomed heroine (April 19).
- The Royal Ballet's Romeo & Juliet, starring Montreal-born, Spanish ballerina Tamara Rojo and Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta as the lovers (May 24).
- The Royal Ballet's The Tales of Beatrix Potter (June 7).
- The Royal Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty, featuring Romanian ballerina Alina Cojocaru and Italian dancer Federico Bonelli (June 21).
Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta, seen here during a dress rehearsal of The Sleeping Beauty, will perform in a version of Romeo and Juliet to be shown in cinemas in high definition.
(John D. McHugh/AFP/Getty Images)
Unlike the Met's live simulcasts, however, the U.K. series features performances pre-recorded at London's Royal Opera House.
Canadian cinema chain Empire Theatres and independent venues will carry the ROH high-definition broadcasts across the country.
The Manhattan-based Met first announced a series of movie theatre simulcasts of some of its Saturday matinee operas in 2006. The program was wildly successful and packed theatres across North America and around the globe.
It also spawned attempts by other companies to test the waters with cinema broadcasts — seen as a way to reach wider audiences by giving an inexpensive taste of lavish productions to newcomers as well as to connect with fans who are unable to take in a performance in person.
Each year since, Met general director Peter Gelb has added more of the company's operas to the high-definition lineup and discussed additional distribution methods, including pay-per-view to home audiences.
