Elizabeth – I grew up here in New York City, but I’ve never been to Madame Tussauds as I absolutely hate Times Square, tourist mecca of the world. Plus I find wax figures kind of creepy. But curiosity overcame my hatred of Times Square for an evening when On Site Opera invited us to check out their latest immersive opera experience at the famed Tussauds.
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With our opera tickets came free admission to the wax museum. We arrived about 45 minutes early and wandered around. Tussauds includes pop history figures like Michael Jackson, Elton John, Janis Joplin and historical ones such as Yassir Arafat, Golda Meir, Abraham Lincoln, and Malcom X. Next to most figures was also a description of the person’s greatest accomplishment. There was something sad about seeing a 50 word description of Abraham Lincoln’s greatest accomplishments next to his waxen face. Only in America would we create life size waxen replicas of people and photo ops in an attempt to impart history to Americans. But it worked—I saw people excited to see a waxen president, reading the bios and mugging for their iphone cameras. I was alternately amused and creeped out by wax figures like Leonard Bernstein, Rudy Giuliani, Judy Garland and Andy Warhol. Some of them looked too real for me. Also of note were our fellow operagoers, as identified by sparkly yellow bracelets. Many quickly zoomed through Tussauds trying to find where the opera was being held, ignoring the wax creations and avoiding the tourists. They were obviously only there for the highbrow culture. Shawn on the other hand was so caught up trying to get a picture with Iron Man we were almost late for the show, which took place in an Italian piazza with Kim Kardashian stage left, Tyra Banks off to the side near the orchestra staring blankly into space, George Clooney at a table in the back of the piazza, and Robin Williams standing at the center back with a hand extended. Julia Roberts was stage right, her gleaming teeth facing the audience. Patrick Stewart was onstage and remained there throughout the opera with Pygmalion, Cupid and others climbing around him.
I think the idea of immersive opera is great and a new way to open opera to different audiences, and as On Site Opera founder, Eric Einhorn, noted, it’s also a way to bring venues such as Madame Tussauds to New Yorkers who normally do not seek out the tourist attractions in their own city. There were several small children in the audience and this short one act opera may have been appealing to them as the action moved around the room, “statues” came to life, Cupid raced around with a bow and arrow, dancers put on cute costumes and did silly dances. The unfortunate part was that it was difficult to hear because the air conditioning was so loud, and though we were partitioned off from the elevators, the museum attendants on the other side of the partition had their walkie talkies on quite loudly so it further drowned out the opera. I understand the next performance will be at a mannequin factory (complete with subtitles via Google Glass!) so hopefully the singers won’t be muffled by the venue.
The singers performed admirably and New Vintage Baroque conducted by Jennifer Peterson was quite good. Peterson played the harpsichord while conducting and Rameau’s beautiful composition was a real treat. While Tuesday’s performance was not a home run, director and On Site Opera founder Eric Einhorn is to be commended. On Site Opera’s creative approach, energy and enthusiasm towards new opera experiences is just what the art form needs to stay relevant and catch the eye of younger audiences. I look forward to future performances of this promising young opera company.
Shawn – Being a native New Yorker, I have a healthy abject loathing of tourists. Thusly I avoid Times Square at any cost. But I was willing to brave the throngs of matching t-shirted sidewalk blocking glassy eyed drooling masses in order to see On-Site Opera’s production of Rameau’s Pygmalion at Madame Tussauds. Tussauds seemed a perfect choice for Pygmalion and in perfect line with On-Site’s “immersive, site specific productions.”
Site specific it was. In wandering the galleries of statues in Tussauds on the way to the opera gallery and watching the tourists taking endless photos with Malcolm X, Elton John, John F Kennedy and the Spice Girls, it occurred to me that the Metropolitan Opera could do something similar and charge tourists to come and take pictures with their donor base. (They needn’t even move.) Or it could have a freak show quality to it:
See ACTUAL Live Metropolitan Opera Subscription Holders! (Please do not feed.)
They could make a fortune. Just a thought as the Met apparently needs a new income stream on the double.
The show itself was in what I can only call an Italian style celebrity piazza with chairs set up on either side of a large faux fountain. We sat in the house left press section. When you get the New York Opera blogosphere together in one place, it always feels like your second cousin Murray’s Bar Mitzvah in Albany. It’s pretty depressing. I include myself in that indictment obviously.
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It’s very difficult for me to comment on the singing in this production as not only were the acoustics poor in the waxen faux piazza, but the air conditioning unit was so loud as to greatly mute the singers and at times completely drown out the instrumentalists. Luckily there was more dance than singing, which worked very well acoustically speaking. Patrick Stewart center stage looked vaguely bored, Kim Kardashian stage left pouted mightily but most distracting to me was the Julia Roberts statue stage right. Julia Roberts’ smile is somewhat disturbing in real life, but staring at it frozen in full arch terrifying toothy brilliance for 45 minutes straight was truly frightening. I couldn’t get it out of my line of sight. I kept expecting her cheeks to tremble under the weight of such of an effort but no go. Her waxen visage remained unchanged for the duration of the performance.
Regardless of the venue acoustic and sound problems, Director Eric Einhorn and On-Site opera are thinking way outside the box which is good. Though anathema to many, the idea of mixing tourist attractions in with opera performances is good as well. Surely I can’t be the only person on the planet excited to have my picture taken with Iron Man before going into an opera. (It feels like a very natural progression to me.)
The next performances of Pygmalion will be performed at a mannequin factory, and will have subtitles through Google Glass. All innovative, pioneering and exciting, at least in theory. On Site Opera is trying new things, both creatively and marketing wise, which is exactly what opera needs right now.
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And anything that allows you to see the Hulk, Leonard Bernstein, Malcolm X and then an opera with Kim Kardashian on the stage can only be good I think.
Finally as a post script, if anyone can satisfactorily explain to me why Robin Williams’ statue is posed this way I will give them a dollar.
-Elizabeth Frayer and Shawn E Milnes
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