BRUNNHILDE AND TONY
What’s your mental picture of an opera singer? Probably not Ella Shane, a sleek, appealing woman in her 30s dressed in a doublet and hose, with a sword at her belt, playing a very credible Romeo or King Edward V. Well, Ella’s the one you’ll meet in my books…and she’s also a much more accurate reflection of a Gilded Age diva than the zaftig lady with a metal bra and horned helmet that many people envision when they hear “opera singer.”
Despite the best efforts of the Met and other companies to widen the audience, for an awful lot of folks, opera is still a fancy, elite form. Part of that is the simple fact that many iconic pieces are in foreign languages. You can thank my beloved Beverly Sills for popularizing supertitles, which provide live translation. But even with that, you’re still asking folks to go watch people sing their little hearts out in a language they don’t speak for three hours. It can be a stretch.
Not in 1899. While opera wasn’t as wildly popular as it had been in the earlier Jenny Lind era, it was still something ordinary people followed, enjoyed and attended. The gossip columnists don’t just watch Ella because they like her hats; divas were stars of today’s movie or TV magnitude.
And before film or airwaves, those stars brought the show to the audience. The Ella Shane Opera Company tours regularly, on a circuit including large cities like Boston and Philadelphia, and occasionally taking the long trip to San Francisco. They’re part of a huge and vibrant industry of traveling companies and theatre circuits, from small to large, across the country.
It’s hard to imagine now, but most medium-sized towns had theatres, and traveling companies came through with the melodrama of the day. Opera companies traveled too, and played to sizeable audiences, not just in large cities. While opera singers were indeed perceived as practicing a difficult and elevated art, they were offering those performances to the same wide audiences as lighter fare.
Live performance is an event to us, even – maybe especially -- in 2025. To people who never saw any other kind of performance, it must have been awe-inspiring, truly magical. Stagecraft and special effects weren’t at 21st century level, but they were very good, and no traveling production was complete without at least one good spectacle. People expected a good show for their time and money – and successful companies made sure they got it.
It’s worth noting here that audiences would also be a lot more familiar with the material and background of the productions. Remember, most operas began as popular entertainment, and became iconic over time. Plus, people read a lot more Shakespeare and classical history – and what we think of as nineteenth-century literature was the book on somebody’s nightstand. So they don’t look at Romeo and Juliet, or Richard III the same way we do.
All of this to say, whether Ella’s on the road, bringing out a new opera at home in New York, or debuting at the Met as she does in A Fatal Waltz, she’s a star, and a popular draw.
My advice: don’t think of Ella as Renee Fleming, no disrespect intended. Think of her as James Gandolfini: a brilliantly talented performer known for a popular and iconic role, and a pretty terrific New Yorker. You’ll be much closer to the truth…even if Ella would disapprove of Mr. Soprano’s vocabulary!
Got an idea for a #ThrowbackThursday post? Drop it in the comments!
Despite the best efforts of the Met and other companies to widen the audience, for an awful lot of folks, opera is still a fancy, elite form. Part of that is the simple fact that many iconic pieces are in foreign languages. You can thank my beloved Beverly Sills for popularizing supertitles, which provide live translation. But even with that, you’re still asking folks to go watch people sing their little hearts out in a language they don’t speak for three hours. It can be a stretch.
Not in 1899. While opera wasn’t as wildly popular as it had been in the earlier Jenny Lind era, it was still something ordinary people followed, enjoyed and attended. The gossip columnists don’t just watch Ella because they like her hats; divas were stars of today’s movie or TV magnitude.
And before film or airwaves, those stars brought the show to the audience. The Ella Shane Opera Company tours regularly, on a circuit including large cities like Boston and Philadelphia, and occasionally taking the long trip to San Francisco. They’re part of a huge and vibrant industry of traveling companies and theatre circuits, from small to large, across the country.
It’s hard to imagine now, but most medium-sized towns had theatres, and traveling companies came through with the melodrama of the day. Opera companies traveled too, and played to sizeable audiences, not just in large cities. While opera singers were indeed perceived as practicing a difficult and elevated art, they were offering those performances to the same wide audiences as lighter fare.
Live performance is an event to us, even – maybe especially -- in 2025. To people who never saw any other kind of performance, it must have been awe-inspiring, truly magical. Stagecraft and special effects weren’t at 21st century level, but they were very good, and no traveling production was complete without at least one good spectacle. People expected a good show for their time and money – and successful companies made sure they got it.
It’s worth noting here that audiences would also be a lot more familiar with the material and background of the productions. Remember, most operas began as popular entertainment, and became iconic over time. Plus, people read a lot more Shakespeare and classical history – and what we think of as nineteenth-century literature was the book on somebody’s nightstand. So they don’t look at Romeo and Juliet, or Richard III the same way we do.
All of this to say, whether Ella’s on the road, bringing out a new opera at home in New York, or debuting at the Met as she does in A Fatal Waltz, she’s a star, and a popular draw.
My advice: don’t think of Ella as Renee Fleming, no disrespect intended. Think of her as James Gandolfini: a brilliantly talented performer known for a popular and iconic role, and a pretty terrific New Yorker. You’ll be much closer to the truth…even if Ella would disapprove of Mr. Soprano’s vocabulary!
Got an idea for a #ThrowbackThursday post? Drop it in the comments!
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