Door opens on the world of opera with a season of Little Greats

I went to the dentist the other day, nothing unusual about that really, I walk in, passed the time of day, the dentist has a poke around, a bit of a chat with her dental nurse and it’s see you in six months.

It’s a bit of a none event really, but I do look forward to it. Not because I enjoy visiting the dentist any more than anyone else. But, I do make sure that I arrive just a little bit early. You see there is a temptation at the dentists that I just cannot resist.

All those glossy magazines full of stories about the beautiful people, celebrities, and the filthy rich, and the fantastic things they get up to in exotic places. Twice a year I have my fix of how the other half lives courtesy of my local dentist.

That would sound quite embarrassing, if I didn’t know that many of you do exactly the same thing.

Sometimes my eye will be drawn to an advertisement for one of those concierge services that only the rich need or can afford. These services entice us to subscribe by promising that only they can get us a table in the restaurant that is fully booked, tickets to the football match that has been sold out for months, access to the Royal Enclosure at Ascot, or the pit lane at Le Mans, or that celebrity filled party, all of those exotic events that get reported in the magazines. Oh! Yes, they can also get you tickets to the opera. Not a special performance of an opera, or special seats at the opera, just the opera. There is something about opera which allows the media and the travel industry to position just being there alongside the most luxurious, exclusive and expensive experiences.

But is that how it is? Is Opera just for the select few, people who have some form of higher intelligence which enables them to understand these plays in which the performers sing their words, often in a foreign language.

The answer of course is no. Opera may be different to other forms of entertainment, but it can be understood and enjoyed by just about anyone, and that according to Opera North, includes me. To prove their point Opera North have launched a season of what they have called Little Greats. Six short operas shown in double bills that should appeal to both the opera virtuoso and just as importantly people who are new to opera like me.

The six operas are:

Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci which is all about the thrilling drama, raw passion and gritty realism of Italian verismo opera.

Opera North The Little Greats 2017 Pagliacci-

I have been warned that Pagliacci will deliver a short, sharp, shock in a way that will hit me in my guts, so I am a bit worried about what may be happening in this tale about adultery. I have also been told that I will hear an aria that I will be familiar with, but I won’t really know until I hear it. I am wondering if I will recognise which advertisement it has been used in. After all, a lot of opera is used in commercials nowadays.

What I am sure of is that Pagliacci is a physical performance packed with both high octane drama and contemplative moments of introspection, so it could be a bit of an emotional roller coaster.

L’Enfant et les sortilèges (The Child and the Magic Spells) by Ravel is an operatic gem for adults and children alike which is billed as being dazzling, witty and surreal.

Opera North The Little Greats 2017 – L’enfant et les sortileges

Now this one sounds like real fun, if only because we all had moments as a child during a tantrum we destroyed a favourite toy. In this opera, we see the situation from the perspective of that toy. So, I am looking forward to seeing the toys come to life and taking their revenge. There is bound to be a moral to this tale and I just hope that there will be a happy ending as well.

Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana is a red-blooded tale of jealousy and revenge set in the midst of a small community.

Opera North The Little Greats 2017 – Cavalleria

Cavalleria rusticana’s music has been described to me as being very beautiful, with several pieces like the Easter Hymn and the Intermezzo that will, I am told, be familiar to non-opera buffs, although I don’t recognise the titles. I do understand that I will be seeing my expectation of what a proper opera should be, full of jealousy, love, passion, human beings and human relationships. Well it also sounds a bit like an episode of Emmerdale, but I’m excited about it from just reading that last sentence and I wrote it!

Gilbert and Sullivan’s brilliantly witty Trial by Jury is the operetta which launched their hugely successful career.

Opera North The Little Greats 2017 – Trial by Jury

I know the Gilbert and Sullivan name; their work is easily accessible, I can remember seeing the Mikado when I was at school. They were like the Have I Got News for You writers of their day, political satirists who may be as relevant today as they were when they were writing in the 1880s. Trial by Jury tells the story of a trial, bet you guessed that! The crime was a breach of promise, which was a crime in the nineteenth century. More than a hundred years ago W.S. Gilbert wrote lyrics that poked fun at the political and judicial establishment. I am expecting an evening full of laughs but I am wondering if those lyrics will resonate in the 21st Century.

The rarely-performed Osud (Destiny) contains some of Janáček’s most glorious music encompassing both romantic ecstasy and deep despair.

Opera North The Little Greats 2017 – Osud

I’m made of strong stuff, so I’ll be alright, but I reckon there will be a few people who need to reach for a tissue when they see this story of a mother’s interference in her daughter’s love life, and the impact that has on her, her daughter, her lover and their child.

Osud is a portrayal of how perceptions change as circumstances and how people can come to regret how they once felt aboout others.

Completing the six is Trouble in Tahiti by Leonard Bernstein. Yes you’ll know his name from West Side Story.

Opera North The Little Greats 2017 – Trouble inTahiti

Trouble in Tahiti is Bernstein’s witty and at the same time deeply moving analysis of a marriage on the rocks. It is a description that makes me think of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, in that it is about a couple who superficially have everything, they are living the American Dream, but I am also expecting something that won’t just be a 1950s period piece, I think that I may see something that is relevant to the consumer society that we live in today.

Part of the challenge many of us have with opera is the perception that it is somehow too grand for folk like us, that we’ll have to dress up and be on our best behaviour, almost like that first meeting with the girlfriend’s parents, and thinking do I know which fork to eat asparagus with. I am sure that this Autumn season of short operas will provide a path through all of that palaver and deliver performances that are packed full of the emotional highs and lows that opera is supposed to be all about, but in a short format that should be easy to digest, and at a price that is very affordable. Tickets are available from just £10.

I am looking forward to seeing all six operas in this season from Opera North, as someone with very little experience of opera I am expecting to get a flavour of what this form of theatre can offer. I am pretty sure that I will see something that I love, something that I just won’t get, there may even be something I dislike, after all you can’t please all of the people all of the time.

At the end of the season I will have had a chance to make those decisions and that makes what Opera North is doing a pretty special opportunity, that I don’t want to miss.