Opera like you've never seen before: 'La Traviata' to embed the audience in production
If you’re an opera buff or even a casual classical music concertgoer, you’re likely to have attended productions of “La Traviata” in the past.
You know the story: Giuseppe Verdi’s tragic 1853 opera centers on the tuberculosis-addled courtesan Violetta Valery in 19th-century Paris.
It’s fair to assume, though, that you’ve never seen the opera performed outside of a concert hall and inside a hotel.
For its latest offering, Opera Columbus will perform “La Traviata” in just such a setting. An “immersive” production of the opera will be performed Friday through Sunday at the Residence Inn Columbus Downtown. Multiple groups of 20 audience members will traverse different areas of the hotel while an English-language translation of the opera is performed in their midst.
How the immersive opera works
The show is a joint undertaking of Opera Columbus and Out of the Box Opera in Minneapolis, which specializes in liberating opera from the confines of concert halls.
“In a traditional venue, there’s a separation between the audience and the stage,” said Out of the Box Opera Founding Artistic Director David Lefkowich, who is directing the production in Columbus. (It was also recently performed in Minneapolis.)
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“When you have an immersive situation, all of a sudden the opera singers are next to you, or all around you: above, below,” Lefkowich said. “The expectations are upended, and I think it just transforms the audience’s experience of watching it. Instead of being allowed to sit back, relax and sort of let it happen, the audience is then brought into the action, made a part of the scene.”
How the production came to be
The new production of “La Traviata” grew out of a conversation between Lefkowich and Opera Columbus General Director and CEO Julia Noulin-Merat.
“I said, ‘I want to do “La Traviata,'” Lefkowich said. “Let’s make the audience the party guests at Violetta Valery, and let the excitement and immersion begin from there.”
The Residence Inn Columbus Downtown suggested itself for its notable architectural features as well as the fact that it’s home away from home for Opera Columbus: Out-of-town singers always stay there when in Columbus for a performance, Noulin-Merat said.
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The concept may be unique, but Noulin-Merat said that Opera Columbus has seen success with recent productions in nontraditional venues, including, last season, at COSI and 400 West Rich. New audiences are expected as well as longtime patrons.
“Our diehard fans are also very excited,” Noulin-Merat said. “They’ve seen ‘Traviata’ 20 times, so they actually want to see a new, added layer.”
Putting the audience in the production
The story of the opera will unfold in four spaces within the hotel: an event space, a bedroom suite, a boardroom and the back alley. Audience members follow the emotional through-line of Violetta’s story — and literally walk alongside the singers as they move from space to space.
The role of Violetta will be split among a trio of sopranos: Hanna Brammer will sing the part in Act One, Bizhou Chang in Act Two and Meroe Adeeb Tchomobe in Act Three.
At the start of the opera, Violetta is seen hosting a party attended by friends — some of whom, of course, are ticket-buyers, who will be in far closer proximity to the singers than in a normal concert performance.
Also on the move with singers and audience members will be a small ensemble of instrumentalists.
“Once the first scene has ended, the orchestra breaks off into three groups,” Lefkowich said. “They go to the three different spaces that the audience will go and visit.”
Lefkowich encouraged any tentative attendees to embrace the experience.
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“One of the Violettas addresses the audience and says, ‘Welcome to my party,’” he said. “We empower the audience to be participants within the drama.”
In the end, the idea is to embed the audience within the opera.
“When you go to the theater, you’re 40 to 70 feet away from the action,” Noulin-Merat said. “Whereas here, it’s happening literally under your nose.”
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At a glance
Opera Columbus will perform “La Traviata” at 6 and 8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 3 and 6 p.m. Sundayat the Residence Inn Columbus Downtown, 36 E. Gay St. Tickets cost $60 to $100. For more information, visit www.operacolumbus.org.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Opera Columbus' immersive 'La Traviata' to be performed in hotel
