Opera News & Press

Another Round of Arias

Opera on Tap embarks on new season of easygoing performances

Another Round of Arias

September 18, 2009

Doug McCash

Whether she likes it or not, New Orleans Opera Association chorus master Carol Rausch has long known that many people think "opera is intimidating. It's in a big concert hall, and you have to get all dressed up."

So, in 2007, she set out to undo that preconception. Taking a cue from a successful saloon-based opera series in Brooklyn, N.Y., she organized Opera on Tap, a series of intimate vocal performances by opera chorus members, university opera students, local professional singers, and occasionally visiting opera stars. The first concerts took place at the Rusty Nail on Constance Street, a homey drinking hole nestled near the legs of the Pontchartrain Expressway.

Part of the fun for Rausch, who has played piano at every performance, is the surprise factor.

"Somebody who just came in for a drink at the end of a hard day is suddenly assaulted with opera," she said.

But it's an easygoing sort of opera. Performers have been known to don plastic Viking headgear while singing Wagner. Volunteer audience members have been lathered up with shaving cream during "The Barber of Seville." And the crowd has been provided with pots and pans to bang during the famous "Anvil Chorus" from "Il Trovatore."

"This is intentionally cliché busting," Rausch said, "to prove that opera is fun and not a stuffy art form."

Debbie Fagnano, calliope player and tour guide on the riverboat Natchez, attended the first Opera on Tap, "purely out of curiosity," and immediately became a devotee.

"I had so much fun, I couldn't wait for the next one," she said.

A magic moment for Fagnano was when she was "sitting there in a bar, having a glass of wine and chatting with maestro Robert Lyall (general and artistic director of the New Orleans Opera Association)."

"I really feel like we've developed a bit of a cult following," Rausch said. "One night, we had as many as 200 people. They were spilling out the doors."

This season, Opera on Tap has expanded to three venues. The Abita Brew Pub on the north shore and the Puccini bar at The Inn On Bourbon in the French Quarter are joining the Rusty Nail in hosting the casual concerts. The Inn on Bourbon may have a special resonance since it is built on the site of the legendary French Opera House.

Read more about Opera on Tap.