All you need to know to rock opera

Note: This is the first in a new series that will introduce Denver Gazette readers to a variety of cultural forms with the help of experts from local arts organizations. First up: Opera 101.

Before he died, my father gave me his list of the 10 operas I really have to see in my lifetime. But unless attending “Rent” 147 times (or so it seems) counts as a substitute for “La Bohème,” I still have, well, 10 operas I really have to see in my lifetime. 

After 20 years of covering live theater, I am now “the arts” columnist here at The Denver Gazette, which means I have some catching up to do on other art forms. It’s not from lack of enthusiasm. It’s from seeing 150 plays or musicals a year for the past two decades.

I am interested. Or, as Opera Colorado General and Artistic Director Greg Carpenter calls me, “opera curious.” Perhaps you are, too. We will poke our noses into the Denver Art Museum on a free day. We’ll tip-toe into Boettcher Concert Hall when Gregory Alan Isakov is backed by the Colorado Symphony. We’ll naively enter the daily “Hamilton” lottery believing we have more than a chance in Hadestown of winning. A vampire ballet at Wonderbound for Halloween? All in. But opera?

“These are people who have opera in their minds, but they have not quite taken the plunge because they feel a little intimidated by it, or they attend things in packs — and the pack wants to do other things,” Carpenter said.

Turns out, there are a lot of us. A whole bunch of the “opera curious” came to Opera Colorado’s adaptation of Stephen King’s “The Shining” earlier this year.

“We brought in 2,000 new ticket-buyers from 34 states with that show,” Carpenter said. “And 197 of them came back to see “Carmen.”  

With Opera Colorado set to open its 40th season this week with “Rigoletto,” I asked Carpenter to be my Obi Wan. To give me a crash course in Opera 101. He was nice about it. And why not? We are, after all, low-hanging fruit. Here’s a little of how the tutorial went — feel free to crib.

First off, I learned that opera started in Italy more than 400 years ago in an effort to revive the classical drama of the ancient Greeks. It was called “opera” because that’s the plural of the word “opus,” which means “work.”  So “opera” literally means “The WORKS” — which makes sense, given that opera throws everything at you. OK, enough of the history lesson. Let's get to the fun.

John Moore: What’s the very first thing I need to know about opera?

Greg Carpenter: Sometimes people who have never been to an opera think it’s all Wagner and Norse mythology and the woman with the horns. When in fact, the tried and true grand operas we present tell stories that are still very much relevant today. Romantic triangles. Political intrigue. Revenge and deception. You could sit back and binge-watch any Netflix series and essentially get the exact same story as an opera that was written 150 years ago.

JM: What’s one example?

GC: Look at “Tosca.” You have a police chief who is using his power and authority to coerce a woman into having sex with him. She’s forced to do it to save the man she loves from being executed. That’s #MeToo. It’s police brutality. Here we are in 2022 and these stories still resonate in the contemporary world we live in.

JM: So what are three seminal titles I need to start with?

GC: “La Bohème” is definitely at the top of the list. On the comedy side, I would say “The Barber of Seville,” which was iconized by “Bugs Bunny.” And then “Carmen.” Those are the ones that we see a lot of new folks gravitate toward.

JM: What’s a seminal opera written within the past 25 years?

GC: The one that has gotten the most productions is “Dead Man Walking” by Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally. More recently, “Silent Night” by Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell. It’s based on the 2005 film “Joyeux Noël.”

JM: Every music genre has its superstars, but when I think of who I know in opera, they are all dead or dying. Everyone has heard of Placido Domingo or Luciano Pavarotti. Who is your Billie Eilish – or Josh Groban?

GC: That’s actually a really tough question to answer right now. The Golden Age of iconic opera singers, as you say, has passed. Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Maria Callas — the list goes on. From the mid-1950s through at least the 1980s, there was this wealth of incredible singers who had high-profile personas outside the opera world. Some of that was due to television shows like “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “The Tonight Show” that regularly featured opera singers, and that got out into your average Joe's living room. We don’t have that now. But I would say Jonas Kaufmann, who is a German operatic tenor and a fantastic actor. He’s 53. Certainly Renée Fleming has a persona that goes well beyond the general opera world. I would also mention Anna Netrebko, who is a Russian soprano. Joyce DiDonato, an American mezzo-soprano, is going to be here with us for our 40th anniversary gala in the spring. She is certainly up there in that star-power world.

JM: Who’s a younger rising star?

GC: Angel Blue is 38. She’s a soprano who won the 2021 Grammy Award for the Metropolitan Opera production of “Porgy and Bess.” There are some other great African American singers who are coming up through the ranks with great personalities that match this great talent that they have. That’s encouraging.

JM: Let’s do some myth-busting: I had been led to believe that opera is just “standing and singing,” and there is not much emphasis on acting. That wasn’t the case with “The Shining.” Is that era over?

GC: For this company, it is very important to have singers who can move and act and deliver a character and tell a story. That means these people have to move. So for me, yes, the age of what you call ‘stand and sing’ — we called it ‘park and bark’ — is over. Opera audiences want more than just 'stand and deliver.' To me, if you’re not telling a great story, then why even do it?

Click here for a glossary of opera terms

JM: What do you say to people who feel uncomfortable listening to music that’s not sung in English?

GC: First off, there are subtitles right at your seat that provide English or Spanish translations, depending on what you choose. So it’s not that different from watching a foreign film with subtitles. I actually keep the subtitles on my TV turned on all the time because I just like having them there. We also put a lot of information on our web site that you can look at in advance, like the plot summary and a description of the characters. We also offer a pre-performance lecture that you can pop into an hour before the show starts to get a little more in-depth information about what you are about to experience.

JM: Do I need to get dressed up?

GC: We did a recent focus group with “opera-curious” folks who were given the choice of what environment they would want to see their first opera in — from dive bars to gritty warehouses to a picnic out on a lawn — and they all chose an opulent opera house. That blew my mind because the industry has been telling us the complete opposite for years. For so long, the industry has been saying, “Dumb it down, and … let them wear jeans.” But a lot of people are working from home now and they don’t get out of their pajamas all day. So when they go out for entertainment, they are telling us they want to get dressed up. They want the whole opera experience. My personal feeling is this: Come and be comfortable.

JM: Settle a bet: Is “The Phantom of the Opera” an opera?

GC: The only thing "opera" about "The Phantom of the Opera” is the location the story takes place in, which is the Paris Opera House. No, it’s not an opera. It doesn’t require operatic singing. It is an Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway musical.

JM: So here’s where I fall on my sword of ignorance. There is no dialogue. The entire score is sung. It’s certainly a difficult vocal score. It sounds like opera to me. What am I missing?

GC: I don’t hear anything operatic in it, from the vocal side or the music side. I really don’t.

JM: So why should the opera-curious come to your 40th season-opener, “Rigoletto”?

GC: It’s one of the most timeless Verdi operas in the canon. It’s about intrigue and passion and revenge gone wrong.

JM: What is your best advice for enjoying your first opera?

GC: Make a full night of it. Come downtown early and grab some dinner, whether that is a sandwich at a little shop or a full three-course dinner. You have many choices near the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Or come early, grab a cocktail in the lobby and just people-watch. People love doing that. One of my favorite things about going to the movies with friends is going out afterward and sitting down and talking about it and sharing the experience.

JM: Last words?

GC: For all the things you get from a Broadway musical or a ballet — to me, opera is all that on steroids.