Opera in the Outfield

Last night, a few friends and I drove into DC for Washington National Opera's simulcast of their opening night of La Traviata. The simulcast was at Nationals Park on the gorgeous new Jumbotron. It was my first time in the new stadium...and it's really nice. While it felt a little odd to be drinking beer and eating hot dogs while watching opera, I enjoyed every minute of it! The production was fantastic...and both Violetta and Alfredo have tremendous voices.

We knew a few folks in the production, so that was fun as well. I was amazed at the clarity of the picture on the jumbotron. The sound wasn't half-bad either...we were a little concerned about how the music would translate, but it really worked well. It wasn't what we would have experienced in the opera house itself, but for a free simulcast it was pretty good. They said there were around 15,000 people there...seemed more like 7 or 8,000 to me, but then it is hard to judge crowd size in such a large stadium.

As usual, during the dying scene in Act III I got pretty teary...but I've learned that's my usual response to tragic operas. I first watched Aida on DVD on a Friday night at my house last year and was sobbing through the whole last scene!

Here are a few photos from the evening:



Lauren and I waiting on the performance to begin

Our whole group waiting
The beautiful HD JumbotronVioletta during "Libiamo"
Violetta and Alfredo
The moon over the stadium
Creative short intermission title
Opera is better with gelato!
Violetta dying in Act III