HD, 3-D screenings can revitalize performing arts

The Met’s success has led to a wider embrace of performing arts. Emerging Pictures has supplemented its “Opera in Cinema” series with an even more successful “Ballet in Cinema” series.

“There was really a hunger for it,” says Christiane Little, that company’s director of opera marketing, describing audiences made up of older viewers and young girls.

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NCM Fathom’s “alternative content” runs the gamut from opera to sports events to rock concerts, a performance by Lang Lang last fall to, on Feb. 16, a live walk-through of the Leonardo show at London’s National Gallery. But it is heavy on the performing arts: Series include “The Met:Live in HD,” “LA Phil Live” and live broadcasts of spoken drama from Britain’s National Theatre.

“The arts is a very interesting category for us,” says Kurt Hall, chairman of NCM Fathom. “It shows so well on the big screen; it’s not heavily distributed on TV or other distribution models; and it provides a unique experience, which is what gets people out to the theaters.”

Yet you can’t just show this stuff and hope people will come. Fathom is learning a lesson all too familiar to many arts organizations; live performance can be a hard sell. The National Theatre broadcasts, in particular, have remained obstinately “niche-y.”

“If you look at the amount of money the motion picture industry spends to get a picture launched,” Hall says, “we can’t spend that.”

It’s not clear that 3-D enhances the operatic experience for fans — though Hall is looking closely both at last year’s “Carmen” in 3-D and at an upcoming “Madama Butterfly.”

But performing arts organizations have to think beyond merely getting their product into theaters. Simply being there isn’t enough, as the San Francisco Opera learned when it rushed into national cinemas in 2007-08. The opera has since scaled back to California and up the West Coast. The National Theatre, in its third season of live broadcasts, may be learning the same thing.

“We are not looking at these broadcasts as a new business,” wrote Bogdan Roscic, president of Sony Classical, in an e-mail exchange. “We are doing them if and when we feel they can be a meaningful part of a specific project. For example, in the case of Goat Rodeo, the [Jan. 31 ] concert was filmed for a PBS broadcast later in the year and also as the basis for a DVD. Plus, some new music which was part of the concert was recorded for an iTunes EP.

“This is not a commercial opportunity first and foremost,” he added. “It is about communicating/marketing.”

You just have to be a company with money for a large-scale investment.

“A healthy business model involves the investment of at least 5 percent of your earnings into research and development,” says the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Borda. “Most orchestras are just hanging on. The way forward is to free up money to test and define what the future is.”

Borda calls the broadcasts “a grand experiment . . . how we retool these organizations for the 21st century.”

Idealistic thoughts; but the organization may have lifted its gaze from the bottom line. There are no plans to release the broadcasts as DVDs; it’s not part of the orchestra’s contract with Deutsche Grammophon. And a central lesson that HD broadcasts holds for the performing arts is: Think like a real for-profit business, and market, market, market.

“If you can’t reimagine yourself,” Borda says, “you face — well, one shouldn’t take survival for granted.”

Upcoming broadcasts

Feb 16: “Leonardo Live,” a walk-through of the Leonardo da Vinci show at London’s National Gallery (Regal Ballston Common, Regal Potomac Yard; AMC Tysons Corner; Regal Bowie Stadium; others).

Feb 18: LA Phil Live: Gustav Mahler’s 8th Symphony, led by Gustavo Dudamel from Caracas (Regal Ballston Common, AMC Tysons Corner; Regal Bowie Stadium; others).

Feb 19, 20, 21: Opera in Cinema: “Il Trittico” from Covent Garden (West End Cinema/AFI).

Feb 25 (repeats March 14): The Met in HD: “Ernani” (AMC Mazza Gallerie, other area cinemas).

Feb 28/March 7: “Love Never Dies” by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Regal Ballston Common, Regal Potomac Yard; AMC Tysons Corner; Regal Bowie Stadium; others).

March 1: NT Live: “The Comedy of Errors” (Regal Fairfax Towne Center; AMC Columbia); repeats April 9 at the Shakespeare Theatre.

March 3: NT Live (repeated): “Traveling Light” by Nicholas Wright at the Shakespeare Theatre.

March 11, 13: “Cendrillon” from Covent Garden (West End Cinema).

March 13 (repeats March 17): “La Boheme LIVE” from Barcelona (AFI). Repeats March 25, 27 (West End Cinema).

March 18: LA Phil Live (pre-recorded): Dudamel and Herbie Hancock play Gershwin (area cinemas).

March 18, 20: Ballet in Cinema: “Le Corsaire” from the Bolshoi (West End Cinema).

March 29: NT Live: “She Stoops to Conquer” (repeats May 1 at the Shakespeare Theatre).

April 1, 3: Ballet in Cinema: “Romeo and Juliet” from Covent Garden (West End Cinema).

April 7 (repeats April 25): The Met in HD: “Manon” (Regal Ballston Common).

April 8, 10: Opera in Cinema: “Aida” from the Bregenz Festival (West End Cinema).

April 14 (repeats May 2): The Met in HD: “La Traviata” (Regal Ballston Common).

April 22, 24: Opera in Cinema: “Rigoletto” from the Royal Opera House (West End Cinema).

May 6, 8: Ballet in Cinema: “The Bright Stream” from the Bolshoi (West End Cinema).