The Shortstop of Seville

September brings one of my new favorite cultural events of the year: the Washington National Opera's annual "Opera in the Outfield" at Nationals Park. Last year I broke my opera maiden at "La Traviata," and now I'm hooked. And since that's exactly what the WNO is trying to do with this free event--deflower opera virgins and convert them into paying, Kennedy Center-going regulars, they're batting .500. The reason they're not batting 1.00 is that to some extent, they're victims of their own success--the cheap seats that people like me would be interested in are absurdly hard to get, while $200 can generally be found even the day of the show.


Money aside, the WNO knows what it's doing with the Opera in the Outfield, and the Shakespeare Theatre should take note. This year nearly 19,000 fans showed up at Nationals Park to see and hear Rossini's farce The Barber of Seville simulcast from opening night at the Kennedy Center. While District mucky-mucks were yucking it up in uncomfortable high heels and paying $15 for parking, J and I wore jeans and sneakers and munched on Ben's Chili Bowl delicacies in comfort. (Let's observe a moment's silence for Ben Ali, BCB's founder and spirit ... thank you.) Children romped in the outfield, and their parents could even buy beer! Beer at the opera!


But it's not all about being able to be lowbrow when you should be highbrow--the WNO also puts on an amazing show. While Barber is certainly a silly piece of fun--and the stage business in this production was often downright puerile--the principals did not disappoint with displays of vocal fireworks. One lovely surprise for me was tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Count Almaviva. You just don't see many minorities in the classical music world, and Brownlee has the added advantage of being home grown. It gives me hope for the state of American opera--and for its better integration. His voice is rich and lyrical and his comic acting superb. 


The silliness of the plot is an easy crowd-pleaser, but the stage direction offered some innovative approaches, including one scene sung in real time but blocked in slow motion--for an amount of time that I thought would be impossible to sustain. And no scene seemed too corny or over-the-top for the appreciative crowd, who guffawed in all the right places. I wonder how loud the guffaws were at the Opera House.


Don't get me wrong--I'd love to convert to a paying customer should two seats together for under $100 a pop every become available; but even if they did, I'd still want to come back every year for Opera in the Outfield. The friendly WNO staff and volunteers handled the crowd with ease and grace, with no lines too long except at the concession stands, where owners again this year underestimated the size of the crowd. Lesson for next year: Show up when the gates open, fill out lots of entries for season tickets to the opera, and get in line for Ben's before the crowds get there. But should you still be in line for a chili dog when the curtain goes up, you're in luck. Ben's has widescreen TVs in strategic places so you don't have to miss a note. 


Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra
Here's a new free kid in town. The Ars Nova  Chamber Orchestra, led by conductor Hoel Lazar, played the second show in its inaugural season, this time at the Providence Baptist Church in McLean. The orchestra consists of local profession musicians, and shows are free to the public, although they do pass the hat at intermission. (Since the concert took place in a church, the passing of the collection plate seemed perfectly natural.)


For the first half of the show, the orchestra nailed the lesser-known Beethoven's Fourth Symphony. The balance in the small orchestra (about 40 musicians) was perfect, despite the fact that most of us hear Beethoven played by orchestras the size of Midwestern towns. The strings were strong but happily did not overpower the winds, who were strong but agile. The woodwinds, featured nicely in solos throughout the Fourth, were excellent, with a clarinetist who boasted a sweet, perfect tone. It's so easy for the strings in Beethoven to steal the show, but he knew how to write for French horns, oboes, and clarinets as well, and the players with ANCO demonstrated that fact with flare.


The second half, which was devoted to Beethoven's ubiquitous Fifth Symphony, was a lesser effort, bedeviled by the occasional wrong entrance and some anxious strings who got ahead of the conductor. But even ANCO's not-as-good is far better than your average local symphony's zenith. And for a free show, I don't know if there's anything like it around. They are definitely worth catching--and bring the family. The show today began at a nap-friendly 3 pm and ran only one and a half hours, with a 10-minute intermission.


Full Disclosure: My husband, J, performed with ANCO today in the second violins. I am sure he did not participate in the violin section's mad dash to beat the conductor in the fourth movement of the Fifth. He is perfect. 


BREAKING NEWS: An ANCO bassist told us today that the Washington Ballet has fired its musicians and will perform The Nutcracker to canned music. This is not cool. Folks, when I was in college, the ALABAMA BALLET performed with a live orchestra. Kids' dance school perform to tapes, not major national ballet theatres. Shame on the Washington Ballet. This year, why not boycott the crazy ticket prices and the trip to the Warner--in the land of expensive and scarce parking--and catch a production of The Nutcracker by your local ballet company. In our area, the Rockville Civic Ballet is reputed to put on an excellent show, with nontraditional body types in lead roles and, last I heard, an orchestra.


For more information, visit:


Washington National Opera


Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra


Rockville Civic Ballet