CommentFeb06 - Page: 1 of 1

The good news is: there is a large worldwide audience that enjoys opera. The bad news is: it seems the audience is never large enough to cover the cost of actually producing opera, even when seats are sold out.
In Europe, while state subsidy plays a large part in maintaining the fiscal viability of companies, even state subsidy doesn’t ensure success. Just look at the financial dilemmas faced by English National Opera and the Scottish Opera. Big and small companies, they’re all affected—both foreign and domestic.
For example: just recently the Met received an unrestricted $25 million gift that, according to the New York Times, “comes at a time of increasing financial troubles for the house.” Smaller companies, especially, feel the pinch. Oregon’s Rogue Opera recently had to cancel shows and refund ticket sales because the cost of producing two lesser known operas just didn’t generate the interest hoped for. Boston Lyric Opera had to cancel its much anticipated opera on the Boston Common this year because it couldn’t find enough backers. In the latter case the concert was free and BLO depended entirely on contributions to carry the show.
The dilemma faced by many opera companies is this: how can they close the gap between what ticket sales generate and dwindling subsidies provide and still put on a good production?
Rogue Opera’s artistic director summed up the dilemma faced by many when he said future productions may have “no sets and minimal staging” A number of smaller companies such as Opera Providence have relied entirely on a variation of concert opera and some companies like Cape Cod Opera will stage a full show with minimal sets to piano accompaniment – as it recently did with its very imaginative staging of Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti” [See our review, in Archives]
“There’s a feeling in a lot of companies” McKenzie was quoted in Bloomberg.com as saying “that the dialog and drama are the most important things, so $20,000 or $30,000 spent on sets is not realistic.” We disagree with that solution in part and think it’s far more complicated than just cutting production costs.
Part of the problem, as Mr. McKenzie correctly says, is the high cost of sets, as noted above. Companies can and should be creative and can manage costs in that area by doing exactly what was suggested..
Part of the problem, as Rogue Opera learned the hard way, is in knowing what operas to select. You can’t go too far out on a limb staging something even the opera-going pubic has neither heard of or rarely attends. That’s even risky for well financed houses. Unless you can afford losses, you stage what the public likes if you expect the public to attend.
Part of the problem may also be as obvious as poor fiscal management. We've read many a story where that is the case.
Truth be known, given the realities of opera, there is no one solution. But there are certain things that come to mind that are important to remember when money is tight and your company wants to move forward with a production.
In each of the examples above, a few basics were overlooked.

First, it's essential to factor in up front, your costs. It makes no sense to plan big then sell tickets with the hope that ticket sales or financial backing will be strong and subsidies will follow. Plan productions around budgets that are realistic. If you can’t afford a full orchestra, what can you afford and still please the audience? In this regard it’s better to underestimate receipts than plan on an SRO audience and financial backers and be disappointed.
Second, particularly in the case of Rogue Opera, the tastes of the audience were not placed first. What would an audience like to see, not what would the company’s artistic staff like to perform should be a major consideration. Avoid staging productions that are abstract because they are challenging and musically creative and popular with the hauteur. Audiences can always stay home and there aren’t enough hauteur to fill a front row. Moreover, challenging an audience can be dangerous and carry unanticipated consequences for a small company, particularly. The first impression you leave on an audience may be the last impression you get to influence.

Third, if productions must be cut, one thing not to cut is imagination. Minimal sets with creative lighting and color can make all the difference in the world and enliven a production such that an audience actually appreciates the effort and spreads the excitement by word of mouth. [This subject was dealt with in greater detail and may be found in our Archives under the title: “The art of lighting designers . . . ”]
Fourth, avoid staging concert opera unless you advertise it as such. And if you do stage concert opera choose what songs will be sung and who will sing them very carefully. See Rule Two above regarding setting the right mood with the right singers.
Fifth, remember you want to establish the all important “buzz” about a production. It’s a given that good music and strong voices are essential to opera; to overlook the production value and appeal of youthful, fit singers, however, is to miss the importance of packaging what you promote. You may not be able to get the local newspaper to show an interest in what you are planning, but you can and should be able to get your mail list fired up and talking based upon what you send them.
Sixth, don’t believe that it’s all voice and libretto. Most people can’t understand the libretto and even more are not voice experts, nor are they qualified to rate the best from the third best or even tenth best singers in the world, let alone the region or city in which a production is being staged. Leave it to voice coaches to produce good singers; leave it to music directors and conductors to select the best available; and focus your efforts on how best to captivate an audience with what you have. Choose singers who can sing and communicate with the audience, but always keep in mind that the audience will be looking as well as hearing – and in both areas, the audience is always selective.
Seventh, don’t neglect marketing the opera you work so hard to produce. [This subject was touched upon in a previous Archive article titled: “The making of an opera star . . .”.] It’s worth revisiting.
Eighth, don’t be so creative that you take a production miles outside itself, such that it is barely recognizable, as has been done with European audiences with mixed results. If you must contemporize, be careful not to push the audience too far. And at all cost avoid adding political statements and/or messages which usually draw groans of displeasure.
Ninth, keep any cloth or draped scenery, if you have any, tight and avoid wrinkles. Use what you have smartly. Nothing makes all the hard work of a production look more sophomoric and vaudevillian than sets that look cheap, and nothing says cheap more so than wrinkles in what is supposed to be a castle wall or forest, or countryside. The audience notices such things.
Tenth, weight matters. Choose singers who are seductive and who look the parts. Why is it that opera is the only medium where this is still considered unimportant? With opera's suggestive themes, there's plenty of room to liven up productions without being crude, while making things visually interesting nonetheless.
While not all audiences think alike in terms of their taste for music, basic marketing strategies can be applied to making opera – whether large or small – an attractive, inviting and audience friendly enterprise. Rogue Opera erred in planning on being innovative and challenging, but failed to attract interest in an area where past productions of established, traditional favorites had successful runs. BLO erred in planning something for which funding was not secured and then, having placed all its eggs in one basket and funding ran short, didn’t have a back-up plan to move forward with a reduced but still viable program anyway.
While there is no magic formula for guaranteeing success, it is the view here that building on the basics outlined above is the surest way to protect against failure.