10/06/2009
Showcase Cinema de Lux and Showcase Bluewater to screen live opera
OPERA FANS IN FOR A TREAT – SHOW BEAMED LIVE VIA SATELLITE FROM THE ROYAL OPERA HOUSE, COVENT GARDEN, LONDON
Showcase Cinema de Lux and Showcase Bluewater have teamed up with Arts Alliance Media and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to bring live opera to cinema screens.
To complement its already popular alternative content which includes live stand up comedy on stage, Showcase will be broadcasting live opera via satellite from the Royal Opera House. The performance will be digitally broadcast in Dolby 5.1 surround sound and shown in supreme HD quality this month.
La Traviata will be beamed live on Tuesday 30th June at 7:00pm. American soprano Renée Fleming will return to Covent Garden to sing Violetta for the first time with The Royal Opera.
This great opera is based on La Dame aux Camélias. When Violetta Valéry breaks society’s conventions for a life with Alfredo Germont, their arrangement threatens to bring scandal on Alfredo’s family and ruin the future of his sister. Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s stern father, discovers that Violetta’s love is truly noble, while only too late does Alfredo discover the truth of her selfless sacrifice.
For the ultimate ‘night at the opera’, the Studio One restaurant and bar (at Showcase Cinema de Lux) and Showcase Bluewater’s restaurants and bars will be open to guests before and after the show as well as during intervals. Studio One and Showcase Bluewater cater to all tastes and have a wide range of food and drink, including speciality signature cocktails.
“We are delighted to be showing these performances,” said Jon Dixon, UK Director of Marketing. “With the innovations in broadcast technology, guests will be viewing the shows as they are being performed live on stage at The Royal Opera House in Covent Garden with stunning digital sound and vision, which really puts the viewer in the best seats in the house. Guests can really make a night of it by enjoying a meal at our restaurants beforehand, with the bar also serving cocktails and other drinks before and after the show as well as during the interval.”
Tickets cost £15 or just £12 with NUS or Showcase Insider Card, and are available from the cinema box office, by telephone via the 24-hour phone number 0871 220 1000, or online at www.cinemadelux.co.uk/www.showcasecinemas.co.uk.
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Notes to Editors:
La Traviata
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
Live Transmission
Tuesday 30th June 2009
Curtain up: 7.00pm
Running time: 3 hours, 12 mins
Act 1: 32 mins
Interval: 30 mins
Act 2: 66 mins
Interval: 30 mins
Act 3: 34 mins
Sung in Italian with English subtitles
Credits
Composer
Guiseppe Verdi
Director
Richard Eyre
Set Designs
Bob Crowley
Lighting
Jean Kalman
Director of Movement
Jane Gibson
Background
La traviata, Verdi’s best-loved work, is performed here by a star cast in a revival of Richard Eyre’s highly acclaimed 1994 production. Music Director Antonio Pappano, now in his seventh Season with The Royal Opera, conducts La traviata for the first time at Covent Garden. American soprano Renée Fleming returns to Covent Garden to sing Violetta for the first time with The Royal Opera. La traviata was first performed at the Teatro La Fenice, Venice in March 1853.
Synopsis
A toast to the pleasures of life! – so sing the beautiful Parisian courtesan, her new admirer and her party guests, and all to one of Verdi’s most famous melodies. And so also begins the drama of this great opera based on La Dame aux Camélias. When Violetta Valéry breaks society’s conventions for a life with Alfredo Germont their arrangement threatens to bring scandal on Alfredo’s family and ruin the future of his sister. Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s stern father, discovers that Violetta’s love is truly noble, while only too late Alfredo discovers the truth of her selfless sacrifice.
Performers
Conductor
Antonio Pappano
Violetta
Renée Fleming
Alfredo Germont
Joseph Calleja
Giorgio Germont
Thomas Hampson
Flora
Monika-Evelin Liiv
Baron Douphol
Eddie Wade
Doctor Grenvil
Robert Lloyd
Marquis D’Obigny
Kostas Smoriginas
National Amusements, Inc
National Amusements, Inc., is a world leader in the motion picture exhibition industry operating more than 1,500 screens in the US, UK, Latin America and Russia. National Amusements delivers a superior entertainment experience in theatres around the world under its Showcase, Multiplex, Cinema de Lux, and KinoStar brands. Based in Dedham, Massachusetts, National Amusements is a closely held company operating under the third generation of leadership by the Redstone family. National Amusements is also an equal partner in the online ticketing service, MovieTickets.com, and is the parent company of both Viacom and CBS Corporation.