The Opera House
The Met’s odyssey for a new home in the 1950s and ‘60s
The Opera House
The Met’s odyssey for a new home in the 1950s and ‘60s
By Frank Ioele
The Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City to be precise, is a new documentary film that chronicles the Met’s odyssey for a new home in the 1950s and ‘60s. It is a selection of the 2017 New York Film Festival which will be released to movie theaters across the country on January 13 and 17, 2018. If you are a fan of this wonderful opera company, you won’t want to miss it!
The documentary doesn’t dwell much on the ancient past but devotes itself to the
transition period from the 1950’s through the Met’s move from 39th Street and Broadway to Lincoln Center in 1966. The prime narrator is the beloved soprano Leontyne Price who opened the new house with Samuel Barber’s new opera, Antony and Cleopatra. At 90 years young, she is still sharp as a tack and full of wonderful quotes!
She even sings a few phrases of the opera she premiered as well as Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915. She often refers to the Met as the “Temple of Opera” and its long timemanager, Rudolf Bing as “the Emperor” who was “tough as nails.”
We get a look at the plans that were abandoned for a new opera house over the years as well as the 44 architectural renderings that designer Wallace K. Harrison was forced to conjure up over the course of four years of planning.
There is interesting footage of the clearing of slum tenements from what was then called Lincoln Square as well as recollections of former residents who were forced to move in the late 1950’s. Scenes of the groundbreaking ceremonies on May 14, 1959 feature an address by President Eisenhower, music from the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein and brief glimpses of singers Rise Stevens and Leonard Warren.
Other footage included in this fascinating documentary are rehearsals of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and the Gala Farewell concert in the old Met, an Omnibus interview with designer Wallace K. Harrison, the accidental design of the Austrian crystal chandeliers, the sound test of the new auditorium, the dress rehearsal and opening night of Antony and Cleopatra with remembrances fromcast members Justino Diaz and Rosalind Elias and much, much more.
You will be constantly amazed and entertained by what appears on the screen as well as the gossip filled back story of the company’s move.
To quote Miss Price, “The Temple is still standing. It will endure for another 50 years, my dear. Trust me!”
For more information, visit The Opera House.
Facebook users may also visit https://www.fathomevents.com/events/the-opera-house.
Watch The Opera House trailer:
The Met’s odyssey for a new home in the 1950s and ‘60s
By Frank Ioele
The Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City to be precise, is a new documentary film that chronicles the Met’s odyssey for a new home in the 1950s and ‘60s. It is a selection of the 2017 New York Film Festival which will be released to movie theaters across the country on January 13 and 17, 2018. If you are a fan of this wonderful opera company, you won’t want to miss it!
The documentary doesn’t dwell much on the ancient past but devotes itself to the
transition period from the 1950’s through the Met’s move from 39th Street and Broadway to Lincoln Center in 1966. The prime narrator is the beloved soprano Leontyne Price who opened the new house with Samuel Barber’s new opera, Antony and Cleopatra. At 90 years young, she is still sharp as a tack and full of wonderful quotes!
She even sings a few phrases of the opera she premiered as well as Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915. She often refers to the Met as the “Temple of Opera” and its long timemanager, Rudolf Bing as “the Emperor” who was “tough as nails.”
We get a look at the plans that were abandoned for a new opera house over the years as well as the 44 architectural renderings that designer Wallace K. Harrison was forced to conjure up over the course of four years of planning.
There is interesting footage of the clearing of slum tenements from what was then called Lincoln Square as well as recollections of former residents who were forced to move in the late 1950’s. Scenes of the groundbreaking ceremonies on May 14, 1959 feature an address by President Eisenhower, music from the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein and brief glimpses of singers Rise Stevens and Leonard Warren.
Other footage included in this fascinating documentary are rehearsals of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra and the Gala Farewell concert in the old Met, an Omnibus interview with designer Wallace K. Harrison, the accidental design of the Austrian crystal chandeliers, the sound test of the new auditorium, the dress rehearsal and opening night of Antony and Cleopatra with remembrances fromcast members Justino Diaz and Rosalind Elias and much, much more.
You will be constantly amazed and entertained by what appears on the screen as well as the gossip filled back story of the company’s move.
To quote Miss Price, “The Temple is still standing. It will endure for another 50 years, my dear. Trust me!”
For more information, visit The Opera House.
Facebook users may also visit https://www.fathomevents.com/events/the-opera-house.
Watch The Opera House trailer:
Article by Frank Ioele.
Copyright 2018 Sunny Harbor Publishing. Sunny Harbor Publishing, PO Box 560318, Rockledge, FL 32956 Phone: 321-446-7552 Email: [email protected] Website: www.SunnyHarborPublishing.org |
|
|
|
|
|
|