The Lyric Opera appears to have been taken over by the staff of TV Guide. In this year’s subscription brochure, the Lyric’s 1995-’96 season is described in prose usually reserved for hyping new sitcoms or video releases of Michael J. Fox movies.
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Susan Mathieson, director of marketing and communications for the Lyric, says the synopses are meant to convert people who don’t understand the inherent intrigue of operatic tales. “Opera stories are fascinating, filled with love and passion and vengeance and treachery. All those things that you have in life or in movies or whatever. Do I specifically sit down and try to write this like a movie review? No, I try to get across how exciting and interesting the stories are.”
“The king of Persia’s got trouble with his love life–and when the king has problems, everyone has problems!”
The Makropulos Affair by Leos Janacek
“He’s courageous, he’s outrageous, and the ladies flock to his side like moths to a flame. But when opera’s ultimate bad boy adds blasphemy to his long list of sins–he’s bound to burn in hell!”
