Dumbing down

The Artful Manager reports on an article in the Christian Science Monitor about trying to tailor Broadway material to suit younger audiences and emply "hip" marketing tactics to woo them. Mr. Taylor rightly points out that "Fluffier and safer theater serve to make the experience that much more irrelevant to their lives". If you make the material lighter and less threatening, it is much less likely to keep them interested.

Back when I was in the studio program of the Sarasota Opera, I spent a lot of time going to schools, introducing students to the operas, by singing excerpts, explaining the story and discussing the process with them. I hope that we never talked down to them, but tried to engage them in lively and productive conversation. At one school, which we were warned was for "troubled" kids who might not be interested, we got so engrossed in the discussion that the alotted time was not enough and we had trouble wrapping up the conversation so that we could make our next appointment.

I can't guarantee that any of these kids go to the opera any more, but I do know that when they attended the actual performance, they were incredibly responsive and engrossed (they cheered when Marcello and Musetta reunite in Act II of La Bohème). Talking to them afterwards, they were all interested and engaged. That's the way to build an audience. Watch Bernstein in the Young People's Concerts. He never dumbs down.

That's what further galls me when some crossover performer is touted as being "good for classical music". It's not good for classical music, simply because it is not classical music. It's something else, valid in its own right, but not beneficial in anyway to opera or symphony.

The other problem, mentioned in the Christian Science Monitor article is cost, but I'll leave that to discuss another time.