Stage Fog Effects Substantiated
After hearing about a recent lawsuit brought against San Francisco Opera, many singers were wondering about the lawsuit’s claims that SFO’s stage fog caused significant medical damage to a chorister’s voice. Backstage reports that those claims have been justified by a new study entitled “Atmospheric Effects in the Entertainment Industry: Constituents, Exposures, and Health Effects” done by the University of British Columbia’s School of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. The researchers studied 111 entertainment personnel (including both stage crew and actors) in 19 locations that used both mineral-based and glycol-based fogs (including sites for productions of TV and movies, live theatre, music concerts, and a video arcade). They measured the exposed patients’ lung function and compared it to that of a control group. The study found that those exposed to the stage fogs had lower average lung function test results. A summary of the study stated that, “compared to the control group, the entertainment industry employees had lower average lung function test results, and they reported more chronic respiratory symptoms: nasal symptoms, cough, phlegm, wheezing, chest tightness, shortness of breath on exertion, and current asthma symptoms, even after taking other factors into account such as age, smoking, other lung diseases and allergic conditions.”
AGMA to the Rescue
In case you are worried about your own vocal cords, AGMA implemented a new policy last fall to regulate the use of stage fog during rehearsals and productions. According to the policy, “No smoke or fog effects should be used in any production except for those generated by dry ice or steam.”
Tradition Returns to Canada
On October 16, 2003, the new Royal Opera Canada will kick off its inaugural season with a production of Carmen. This new Toronto-based company will produce each season the “top ten operas” either from the 19th century or by Mozart. “What ordinary people think is opera is what they will see when they come to our company,” said its general and artistic director, Dwight Bennett. “A tree will be a tree. A tree won’t be a set of chains. La Traviata will take place not in a submarine, but it will take place more or less as it was originally written.”
Super Sized Opera
On September 18th, the most expensive and largest production of Aida that Korea has ever seen will open at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium. The $4.8 million production includes a cast of 1500 singers and extras, as well as 60 horses, 12 chariots, 20 camels and an elephant.
The Mikado in Japan
After more than 100 years of being taboo for the Japanese people, Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado is being accepted in Japan as a foreigner’s spoof on Japanese imperialism. It had its first performance in Japan two years ago in a small mountain village of Chichibu, and the production continues to go on to packed audiences with the daughter of the head priest of Chichibu playing Yum-Yum in the production. Instead of forbidding her involvement and canceling the production, the proud father Minoru-Sonada attended the opening gala and applauded the final chorus.
Paris Opera Pulls Advertising
Scathing review after scathing review has finally prompted the general director of Paris Opera, Hugues Gall, to withdraw all advertising from Paris’ leading newspaper Le Monde. On the company website, Gall declared, “Le Monde appreciates almost none of our productions, with its critics describing the Opera’s current productions as ‘old-fashioned’ and lacking all spirit of innovation. In these conditions it would be inhuman to impose paid advertisements on Le Monde inviting the public to see shows it condemns so forcefully.”
City Opera Wants Out of Lincoln Center
New York City Opera is currently the leading contender to be the future primary tenant of the ground zero performing arts center. General and artistic director Paul Kellogg is even drawing up plans for a more involved and intense season following the opening of the new theatre. Some problems have arisen, however. Lincoln Center does not want the company to leave, because they would have to find another joint tenant for the State Theater, and New York City Opera is worried about finding long-term employees willing to work at ground zero.
Alagnas Flee U.S.
Send a letter of complaint to President Bush if you happened to be one of the ticket holders for the last two performances of the Metropolitan Opera’s Faust. (Or perhaps a letter of thanks if you were one of the covers?) Soprano Angela Gheorghiu and tenor Roberto Alagna fled to Romania in mid-March, canceling their appearances on March 25th and 29th, blaming the war and fear of terrorism for their cancellations.
Fictitious Reason Cited for Paris Opera Cancellation
In March, the website for Musical America posted a news bit for about 90 minutes saying that Simon Keenlyside had cancelled his appearance in Eugene Onegin at the Paris Opera as a protest against France’s political stance on the war. This information, however, was inaccurate, and Musical America posted the following quote from Keenlyside: “My reason for canceling the Paris Opera engagement which I was due to begin in March was solely as a result of a fall through the stage at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and the subsequent surgery that I required on my hand. It had absolutely nothing to do with any lack of sympathy with the French stance in this unnecessary, bloody and pitiless war, begun in such a hurry.”
Chicago Lyric Jumps on the Red-Ink Bandwagon
With many opera companies making cuts to help their ailing budgets, Chicago Lyric Opera is the latest company to find itself counting pennies. After several large benefactors have pulled back their usual funding, Chicago Lyric is having to find some other sources for the missing cash.
SF Opera in Trouble with AGMA…Again
San Francisco Opera sent a memo in late February to company members announcing that it was closing the Western Opera Theater tour, the Barber of Seville Tour as well as any upcoming tours due to financial constraints. AGMA is up in arms about the decision, because according to National Labor Relations Act, AGMA should have been notified first and been a part of the bargaining negotiations that went along with the decision. AGMA has filed an official complaint with the National Labor Relations Board.
La Scala to Tour
With La Scala’s theater under construction, Riccardo Muti is planning on touring the La Scala productions of Macbeth and Otello to Tokyo. Muti is hopeful the tour will take place as planned despite the unstable economy.
