The Met comes to Provo theaters

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Culture today rarely focuses on the fine arts as modern entertainment.  But with big hair, make-up, backdrops and voices ranging all over the musical scale, people can find new ways to watch the Metropolitan Opera.

In more than 640 theaters across the U.S., the Metropolitan Opera will broadcast live in HD, including some local theaters. On Jan. 21, “The Enchanted Island,” an opera based on Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” and “A Midsummer’s Night Dream,” will have its world premiere. The score includes more than 30 operas, cantatas and oratorios by some of the Baroque Era’s most famous composers. The running time is approximately three hours and 30 minutes with an intermission.

[media-credit name=”Photo courtesy Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera” align=”alignleft” width=”292″][/media-credit]
Joyce DiDonato as Sycorax, Placido Domingo as Neptune, and David Daniels as Prospero in "The Enchanted Island."
Michelle Portillo is the PR manager for NCM Fathom, the company that broadcasts the show. She said the majority of the shows sell out and they have some die hard fans that are there every week. People are encouraged to show up an hour or two early just to get a seat.

Andrew Haun, a UVU student from Mapleton, has enjoyed watching the opera in the movie theater.

“It was uniquely different from anything else you would experience in a typical movie theater or even in the theater it is being performed in, ” Haun said. “The backstage sneak peak, interviews and multiple cameras create a whole new experience for an opera.”

Not everyone has the opportunity to go to New York, and to see an opera live. Broadcasting it through local movie theaters gives exposure to opera lovers around the country and the world.

“There is a huge draw for a lot of people; It is so cost-effective,” Portillo said. “A lot of people enjoy that they can go in a comfortable environment and eat popcorn in jeans. There are people who get dressed up and make a day out of it though.”

The Metropolitan Opera has some of the greatest talent in the world and it has become a unique opportunity for people to attend.

Stacey Harmer has a sister-in-law in the Metropolitan Opera and watched her first opera in the movie theater.

“I felt like it was a great production and that I was able to witness the magnificence that the Metropolitan Opera has,” Harmer said. “I got to see great talent that I would not have been able to see in person and it was affordable.”

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