Who Goes to the Opera?

(first published in The Cincinnati Post June 23, 1992)

Is there a doctor in the house?

Ask that Wednesday night at Music Hall, when the Cincinnati Opera opens its summer festival with Puccini's "Madame Butterfly," and you'll surely bag an M.D. or two.

According to ticket manager Joyce VanWye, doctors and the people who come with them make up 12 percent of this year's opera's subscribers.

The affluent and the well-educated have always made up an over-sized share of opera audiences, both here and elsewhere. But according to an Opera America analysis of surveys made by U.S. opera companies from 1985 to 1988, the profile of the American opera-goer is broadening. Results from six representative companies, ranging from the New York City Opera to the Toledo Opera, showed that:

Nationally, almost a quarter of opera-goers do not have college degrees. In Cincinnati, however, to a 1989 survey by the Cincinnati Opera found that 96 percent of the local audience have college degrees.

Nationally, 55 percent are non-professionals.

More than 25 percent of the national opera audience have household incomes of less than $35,000. In Cincinnati, 21 percent of the audience have incomes of less than $25,000, according to the '89 survey.

Opera audiences have grown in size, too, both nationally and locally. Of seven major arts and entertainment forms surveyed in a 1992 Louis Harris poll, only opera and art museums increased their attendance during the last five years - up 1 and 2 percent, respectively.

Audiences for theater, dance, classical music - even pop and rock concerts - were down. Attendance was off 3 percent for theater, 2 percent for pop music, 4 percent for classical, 8 percent for dance; movies remained the same.

In Cincinnati, opera attendance has risen 64 percent since 1984, according to Cincinnati Opera figures. Last season, subscriptions were at their highest level since 1976, at 56 percent of the house. Five of the eight performances were sold out, and subscriptions are up another percent this year. "We've about maximized our ability to do that," said opera assistant manager Patricia Beggs. Tickets for "Madame Butterfly" have flown, with "Tales of Hoffmann" close behind.

What's the attraction? In Cincinnati, it's partly a return to traditional repertoire. "When we had a deficit and cut back to doing things we already had sets and costumes for, we went back to the old familiar operas," said Mrs. VanWye.

Another big reason is SurCaps, English translations projected over the stage, an enormous boost for opera nationwide. "People can laugh and cry where they never knew they should laugh and cry before," she said.

Opera on television has opened doors for some, as has the increasing infusion of opera into popular culture. People can recognize La donna e mobile ("Rigoletto") from the Little Caesar's Pizza commercial, or Un bel di ("Madame Butterfly") from "Fatal Attraction."

The marketing savvy of Ms. Beggs has captured the local imagination, too, with its unabashed "popera" flair. Think "Pretty Women," last year's promotional theme, and chances are you'll think Cincinnati Opera. This season's TV spots feature "personals" such as "Passionate poet wants living doll" ("Hoffmann") and "Hey, Prince Charming, let me be your harem girl" ("The Abduction from the Seraglio").

Ms. Beggs' barrier-breaking pitch has helped lure people, especially younger people, into Music Hall. You can spot more gold hairs among the silver now at the opera because of grass-roots programs such as the Ensemble Company of Cincinnati Opera (ECCO), founded by opera artistic director James de Blasis in 1980. Centerpiece of the opera's education/outreach effort, ECCO takes opera to schools and community centers throughout the tri-state and West Virginia each year.

"Jim de Blasis has made a real effort to reach young people," said Mrs. VanWye, who played French horn in the orchestra when the opera was based at the Cincinnati Zoo, from 1920 to 1972. "I think we reach a lot more of them here than we did at the zoo; I know we do a lot of group sales of young people."

To help educate opera audiences in general, Ruth de Blasis, wife of the artistic director, presents free opera previews before each Music Hall performance, and in her role as ticket manager Mrs. VanWye answers countless questions about the sometimes-mysterious art form.

"I think the biggest problem with young people was that they felt intimidated when they came to the opera," she said. "We don't want you to feel intimidated.

"People will say, 'This is a dumb question.' I say, 'No question is too dumb; go ahead and ask it.' "

If you don't know which opera to attend, just ask, she said. "If it's a first opera, we'll say, 'This is sad, or this is kind of funny; this is lighter, or this is heavier.' You have to find out a little about the person before you suggest something."

Mrs. VanWye also sends out synopses to first-timers and gives them advice on how to dress and where to eat.

How should you dress? "I tell them we like people to dress, the more the better, the prettier the nicer - at least like you're going to church." You won't be ejected if you wear jeans, she said, "but we try to discourage that.

"It's my opinion that you behave better when you're dressed properly." Besides, "it's kind of fun," she said. "I like to people-watch before the opera, because they go into the foyer and it's like a promenade."

Opera-goers are much more diverse than they used to be, said Mrs. VanWye, a founder of the Society for the Preservation of Music Hall. "We have all kinds of people, all levels of income."

Although you can spend as much as $45 for an opera ticket, prices begin at $7, lower than the lowest prices for the Cincinnati Symphony, Pops, Riverbend, Ballet, Playhouse in the Park or May Festival. The average starting price for an opera ticket nationally was $12.74 in 1990-91.

Opera is an "event," said Mrs. VanWye. "When you enter Music Hall we have pre-performance activities going on. There's a hubbub; people are dressed beautifully. There's an aura of excitement and elegance."

But the key to really enjoying opera is taking the time to learn about it, she said. "Once you get to that point, you don't want to give it up. If you've been here when we've had Richard Leech sing, when the house has been screaming and yelling and jumping up and down like they do at the Reds games, that's a thrill.

"Sometimes I feel like I work all year for just one of those moments."