# Do you like opening night?



## macgeek2005 (Apr 1, 2006)

Just wondering whether people generally like seeing operas on the opening night, or later in a run.

I feel like opening night is nice because it's the first time you're seeing it, and it's the first time (in a while at least) that the singers are performing it for an audience in that location, so everyone is kind of all in the same space of newness. But then later performances might be a little bit more smooth since they will have had more 'rehearsals' by the time they come.

What do you think?


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

I agree with you on both. Another good reason to book opening night if you can is when you know a performer is erratic and might drop their other performances  I saw Strauss' Ariadne twice this year, one was opening night, one was a couple of shows later. The second night had the better performance, but people applauded and laughed more on the first night...


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## guythegreg (Jun 15, 2012)

What I hate is when opera houses CHARGE more for opening night ... you're all excited about a production, you can't wait to see how it's going to go, and then they jack up the prices 15% because they know hope is high ... no bueno!


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## Adeodatus100 (May 27, 2013)

I'm sure opening night has a unique thrill to it, but if I'm going to spend £100 or more on a ticket, I'm going to wait until I've read the reviews.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

Depends if we are talking about opening night of the season or of a run of a particular opera.

I think of the season opening night like those who refer to New Year Eve as 'amateur night': an overpriced night out for those who go out (to the opera) once a year. To be clear, I'm not opposed to it in practice or principle. I recognize the fact the social aspect of opera goes hand in hand with fundraising and visibility. And heck, a night at the opera _should_ be a fun, festive occasion. I'd go too, if I had the money.

I do think there is a little more excitement to the opening night of a new production, but I don't generally go out of my way to catch them. It's more about what works for my schedule, and when the best tickets for the money are available. Here in the US, it hasn't been my experience that opening night tickets are higher priced, but they are pretty heavily sold meaning good seats are hard to come by.


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## Dongiovanni (Jul 30, 2012)

If you go for a star singer, chances are the highest she or he will sing on the opening night of the run.

Personally I plan what suits me best, as most of the opera performances I attend are abroad and involve travelling and holidays from work. I try to combine performances, but that's never easy.


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

I attend the first of each performance by our small regional opera company so that I come to each one fresh, without being influenced by any reviews in the local media, and can gain my own impressions. However, when I've traveled to attend performances, I selected the date based on my own schedule and when my favorite singer would be in the cast. Fortunately, these individuals never canceled.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

Never have any favourite singers in the cast in NZ, so that's not an influence. I prefer to go later in the run when everything has bedded down a little.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

Dongiovanni said:


> If you go for a star singer, chances are the highest she or he will sing on the opening night of the run.


This is what happened with Don Carlo from ROH. I was at the opening night & this was the only performance that Anja Harteros sang. She cancelled the rest of the run. Wouldn't have bothered me though who had sang. As far as I'm concerned the tenors & the sopranos are just there to give the basses & baritones a chance to rest their voices. 



Dongiovanni said:


> Personally I plan what suits me best, as most of the opera performances I attend are abroad and involve travelling and holidays from work. I try to combine performances, but that's never easy.


Yes, this is what I do. I try & get value for money & get the most bang (singing) for my buck.


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## Cavaradossi (Aug 2, 2012)

We do have a nice boon here in Chicago, in that the opening night of each opera of the season is broadcast live on the radio - so that you can experience a little vicarious opening night buzz, preview your upcoming tickets, or change your mind and nab a few tickets for that production you were doubting.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

I've always preferred opening night to catch the star who bails from a production early.


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## Dongiovanni (Jul 30, 2012)

tyroneslothrop said:


> I've always preferred opening night to catch the star who bails from a production early.


Yes, indeed. In May I went to Traviata to hear Poplavskaya but she sang only on the opening night. My ticket was for a later performance, where she was schedulled to sing. But she pulled out after the premiere. The reviews were not very good, still I was dissapointed to hear that she would not sing.

It was announced by a speaker that Pops was sick and would not sing that night. The irony to hear that announcement, while the doctor is already on the stage waiting for the weak Violetta (it was Decker's Traviata, where curtain is open from the beginning) !


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Dongiovanni said:


> It was announced by a speaker that Pops was sick and would not sing that night. The irony to hear that announcement, while the doctor is already on the stage waiting for the weak Violetta (it was Decker's Traviata, where curtain is open from the beginning) !


priceless! I bet Gheorghiu has pulled something similar with La Boheme


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## MAuer (Feb 6, 2011)

sospiro said:


> This is what happened with Don Carlo from ROH. I was at the opening night & this was the only performance that Anja Harteros sang. She cancelled the rest of the run. Wouldn't have bothered me though who had sang. *As far as I'm concerned the tenors & the sopranos are just there to give the basses & baritones a chance to rest their voices*.


You're on thin ice, Annie!:scold:


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

MAuer said:


> You're on thin ice, Annie!:scold:


Heehee!! I love tenors really.


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## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

As with most people, opening night is a mixed blessing. You get the new thrills and possible turmoil of a fresh production. One minor objection I have to opening nights is that you're generally expected to dress up more, and I generally attend opera in "business casual" attire. I can of course haul out my tux and get it cleaned and pressed, and wearing a tux is usually an invitation to some sort of disaster later, but sure.

I'd also like to provide my insider's glance at opening night from the aspect of a singer. As you may remember I sang in quite a few opera productions, baritone, mostly chorus and some comprimario and small roles.

Opening night has exactly the same good and bad for performers as for audience. It's opening night when the wheels usually come off some hastily-prepared special effect or scene change or some staging that requires lots of singers and supers getting on and offstage. People are understandably nervous and so there's more bumping and tripping and such to endure.

A good stage director of course knows this and builds some downtime into scene changes and intermissions such that kinks that develop in progress may be alleviated prior to disaster (the entire stage left wall of the Countess' bedroom falling over in Act 2 of Nozze, for example, which happened to us!) No singers were killed or injured during this embarrassment however, only a couple of supers, and who cares about them? (ha ha, just kidding)

Coming onstage via the stairs from the orchestra pit instead of the wings (this is often done in small theater venues) is tricky. My then-girlfriend tripped on her big fluffy skirt (she was Manon's friend) and fell flat on her nose, really skinning her knee and causing her to limp for the rest of the opera. My glib aside to her during intermission that "break a leg" was just a figure of speech didn't go over well, as you can realize. I was in the doghouse and deserved it.

During Giovanni when the Don and Leporello are in the cemetery and are confronted by the Commendatore's statue, which answers "Si!", the stage crew (some highschool kids) who were supposed to make the jaws open and close were outside having a smoke, and the guy who sung the role had taken off for a beer at a local tavern (as you know, the Commendatore appears early in Act 1 and then at the end of the opera as the statue, but not in between, only singing his cemetery lines offstage). Well the singer was canned for arriving drunk for the finale but in the meantime, no bass to sing "Si!" during the opening night performance.

Two of our terrifically fine chorus mezzos volunteered quickly and they together intoned the needed syllables, deep and manly as possible, while also standing offstage and pulling the cord that worked the statue jaws, and they were our heroes for the evening!

So opening night has its rewards and hazards for those onstage as well.


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## mamascarlatti (Sep 23, 2009)

^^^ And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I wait for a few performances before attending.


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## macgeek2005 (Apr 1, 2006)

Well, the reason I asked is because I'm subscribed to opening nights for the upcoming season here in Seattle. They charge the most for Saturdays, but there's no difference in price between opening nights and the consecutive Saturdays. So I can always exchange opera by opera throughout the season.

I haven't really decided whether I want to do that though. I like dressing up, and I like excitement.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Socially, it can be quite a hoot. Musically, I'd prefer the run after they worked all the bugs out.

Footnote: I will not follow, or respect much, a singer known to bail from productions after the first performance. They should stick to concert-singing and recitals, clearly lacking the most base requirement of theater - full commitment and be a trooper.


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## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

mamascarlatti said:


> ^^^ And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I wait for a few performances before attending.


Aw, you're no fun any more!


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## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

PetrB said:


> Socially, it can be quite a hoot. Musically, I'd prefer the run after they worked all the bugs out.
> 
> Footnote: I will not follow, or respect much, a singer known to bail from productions after the first performance. They should stick to concert-singing and recitals, clearly lacking the most base requirement of theater - full commitment and be a trooper.


There are reasons and there are reasons. Sometimes the singer is dealt a shady blow by the director or producer and is submarined without warning as he or she steps onstage for Act 1, and has no choice but to bail after one performance for reasons of personal integrity. So it's not always a whim or huff by the artist that causes such departure.


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## tyroneslothrop (Sep 5, 2012)

katdad said:


> There are reasons and there are reasons. Sometimes the singer is dealt a shady blow by the director or producer and is submarined without warning as he or she steps onstage for Act 1, and has no choice but to bail after one performance for reasons of personal integrity. So it's not always a whim or huff by the artist that causes such departure.


That is not what Pappano thinks.

But be that as it may, if you are right, it makes me respect those who stick out their engagements for their audiences even more. I respect the ones that keep a black list like Beczała, but don't leave their fans disappointed. Just as the artist is booked long in advance, the fans often have to book long in advance and travel quite a distance to see their favorite artist.


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## sospiro (Apr 3, 2010)

katdad said:


> As with most people, opening night is a mixed blessing. You get the new thrills and possible turmoil of a fresh production. One minor objection I have to opening nights is that you're generally expected to dress up more, and I generally attend opera in "business casual" attire. I can of course haul out my tux and get it cleaned and pressed, and wearing a tux is usually an invitation to some sort of disaster later, but sure.
> 
> I'd also like to provide my insider's glance at opening night from the aspect of a singer. As you may remember I sang in quite a few opera productions, baritone, mostly chorus and some comprimario and small roles.
> 
> ...


^^^^ and to steal Natalie's line, that ladies and gentlemen is why opera singers deserve the applause & why I would have loved to work backstage.

:lol: :lol:


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## katdad (Jan 1, 2009)

mamascarlatti said:


> ^^^ And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why I wait for a few performances before attending.


Checking back in my performance logbook of Giovanni, our Commendatore was actually drunk for 2 consecutive performance, opening night (Friday) and the subsequent Saturday matinee. He therefore missed his cemetery scene both times, once I was recruited to sing the "Si!" as I've got a fairly deep bass/baritone range.

It was after the 2nd performance that the company found another bass who knew the part and was more reliable. Sad, because the original guy was a nice fella, just too deep into his cups. He soon thereafter lost his day job as a CPA and I eventually lost track of him, he also getting banned from the pubs where we originally hung out.

It happens to plenty of people, dependence on alcohol or drugs, some famous people and some regular folks. I understand that Bojerling [sp?] had a drinking problem.


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