Bonnie O’Neil could hardly contain her enthusiasm Saturday afternoon at the Colorado Mills Stadium 16.
“We’re so excited they’re doing this,” she said. “It’s so awesome.”
She, her husband, Perry, and their 12- and 17-year-old sons, weren’t at the theater for a movie. Instead, they came to see opera.
The Cold Creek Canyon family were among the first Denver-area residents to see a live, high-definition broadcast of a production beamed by satellite from New York’s Metropolitan Opera across the United States and to such countries as Great Britain, Norway and Japan.
Saturday’s presentation of “Il Puritani” was the second in a series of six broadcasts designed to take the celebrated company’s reach beyond its Lincoln Center home and make opera more accessible. So far, the effort seems to be working.
According to Julie Borchard-Young, the Met’s acting marketing director who oversees the initiative, the series’ first broadcast of “The Magic Flute” (not shown in Denver) drew about 13,650 people in the United States – 91 percent of the venues’ capacity.
With the addition of more venues, the turnout increased to around 16,415 for Saturday’s presentation of “Il Puritani” – about 67 percent of capacity. The theater at Colorado Mills – one of two Denver cinemas showing the broadcast – was about half full.
“From the beginning, we were very ambitious with what we thought we would be able to achieve with this series,” Borchard-Young said. “And I can tell you that the response from the customers, the attendance, the attention of the media, just the overall buzz that this has created has far exceeded all of our high and lofty expectations. So we’re thrilled with this.”
With an increasing focus on believable acting and casts that fit the age and look of their characters, opera has done a great deal in recent decades to counter musty stereotypes associated with the centuries-old art form.
This latest effort goes even further, demolishing more of the barriers that discourage some people from enjoying the art form, such as expensive tickets, cramped seats and fancy clothes.
“It’s a lot different than seeing something at the Ellie Caulkins (Opera House),” said Christa Bentley of Littleton, a freshman vocal student at Texas Christian University who was snacking on movie candy during one of the intermissions.
“It’s even more comfortable. And you don’t have to get all dressed up or go to a fancy dinner.”
Athough already in the works before Peter Gelb took over as the Met’s general manager in August, the project epitomizes his new populist approach. The former producer and recording executive made it clear with his first press conference that he wanted to shake up the venerable company, which has seen a fall-off in attendance in recent seasons.
“From the time he did his first press salvo about ‘These are the things I feel are important in terms of dragging and kicking the Metropolitan Opera into the 21st century,’ my first reaction was hallelujah,” said Peter Russell, former director of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program and now Opera Colorado’s general director.
“The man has just gotten every single thing on the checklist that any person from the sidelines, especially someone who worked there, would say really desperately needs to be done if the Metropolitan Opera is to survive as an institution and the art form is to survive for another century.”
Borchard-Young said the Met spent a year assembling the latest digital technology and setting up partnerships with movie chains. In addition, the opera company reached agreements with its unions that make the venture financially feasible.
“We’re the first-ever artistic institution anywhere in the world to produce a high-definition series of events,” she said. “The Met is groundbreaking in many respects and, hopefully, paving the way for others to follow suit.”
It’s a dramatic breakthrough for a field that has lagged in its use of technology, convincingly demonstrating that classical music can keep up with other art forms and even take a place at the forefront of innovation.
The broadcast’s approach mirrors coverage of a football game. Soprano Renée Fleming reports from the sidelines and locker room. Host Margaret Juntwait and retired soprano Beverly Sills provide play-by-play and color commentary in the booth. (No, the diva does not get a barrel of Gatorade dumped over her head at performance’s end.)
Besides the sophisticated filming, with close-ups and ever-changing views from at least 10 cameras, the productions are especially notable for their glimpses backstage. Viewers see performers exiting the stage, watch stagehands prepare for the next act and enjoy dressing-room interviews.
“That’s really cool,” Bentley said. “I didn’t know they were going to do that.”
Gayle Constanzo of Parker, an administrator at Lockheed Martin and opera fan, plans to forgo a few trips to her cabin in southern Colorado so she can attend the remaining broadcasts.
“I’m actually going to give up my three-day weekends to see these, and that’a real statement,” she said.
“Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD”
OPERA|Live, high-definition satellite broadcasts to Front Range movie theaters; schedule includes “The First Emperor,” 11:30 a.m. Saturday; “Eugene Onegin,” 11:30 a.m. Feb. 24; “The Barber of Seville,” 11:30 a.m. March 24; “Il Trittico,” 11:30 a.m. April 28; Tinseltown, 1545 E. Cheyenne Mountain Blvd., Colorado Springs; Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, 500 16th St.; Greenwood Plaza Stadium 12, 8141 E. Arapahoe Road; Colorado Mills Stadium 16, 14500 W. Colfax Ave. “The Magic Flute,” (re-broadcast, not live), 7:30 p.m. Jan. 23, at Denver Pavilions, Colorado Mills and Continental 6, 3635 S. Monaco Parkway.|$18 adults, $15 children | metoperafamily.org/hdlive
