KEY POINTS:
It will be some time before NBR New Zealand Opera has the resources to stage Tristan und Isolde but, over the next few days, it so happens that New York's Metropolitan Opera is bringing Wagner to a movie house near you.
As the cliche goes, close your eyes
and you could imagine ... You can indeed relax in the body-friendly seats of Newmarket's Rialto or Northcote's Bridgeway cinemas, enjoy a chummy introduction from mezzo Susan Graham as she strolls around the Tristan set and prepare to surrender the moment James Levine lifts his baton for the opera's Prelude.
This Wagnerian epiphany, as well as the other seven offerings in the Metropolitan Opera series, comes courtesy of Rialto Distribution and the Met itself is meticulous when it comes to stipulating conditions.
"They are very particular with their brand," says Andrew Shreeve, Rialto sales manager.
"They need to approve brochures, times and locations. They want reports from us, and detailed ones. They are very, very protective."
Call it marketing or the democratic sharing of cultural treasures, but the world can now enjoy what American television audiences have had for some years. The Metropolitan Opera screenings have become a hit over the Tasman, presenting productions fresh off the New York stage.
"Australia has the advantage of a bigger population basis," Shreeve explains. "You really need a base of a couple of thousand opera-lovers to penetrate the market."
Aucklanders have been embarrassingly slow to take up Rialto's offer. According to Shreeve, per capita, the Queen City lags well behind both Havelock North and Tauranga. While the world seems to be increasingly dependent on solitary internet culture, there is something to be said for experiencing art in the company of others.
"People forget how special it is to see these things in an environment with other people," Shreeve points out. "Before you know what has happened, you are swept away by the audience reaction around you."
This Tristan und Isolde could well be such an experience. An opera that changed the tide of musical history, it comes in a Dieter Dorn production, bold and uncluttered in its simplicity, with a stellar performance from soprano Deborah Voigt as the ill-fated Isolde.
The soundtrack gleams in 5.1 Surround sound and experienced director Barbara Willis Sweete is handling the film side - she directed last year's documentary about the Toronto Symphony.
Sweete's use of split-screen technique has been controversial but, in the cinema, it is undeniably effective in allowing you to feel the dramatic engagement between characters.
When Radio New Zealand Concert relayed this same performance seven months ago, it was only a matter of weeks after New Yorkers had seen it.
Across the Tasman this weekend, Sydney cinemagoers can catch John Adams' Doctor Atomic less than a fortnight after its staging.
Shreeve would like to close the time gap between New York and New Zealand but bureaucracy stands in his way.
"New Zealand is the only country in the world that I know that needs to censor these operas before they screen. Every other country is happy for them to be exempt," he shrugs. "It takes two or three weeks for them to get through the film censor's office."
Don't despair if you missed the previous instalments of Rialto's Metropolitan Opera season. Some are now available on DVD.
A superb Peter Grimes is assembled around the brooding presence of tenor Anthony Dean Griffey in the title role, with our own Teddy Tahu Rhodes playing Ned Keene, while an uproarious Hansel and Gretel reminds one of NBR New Zealand Opera's touring production this year, except the Met has the witch played as panto dame by Philip Langridge.
Screen
What: Metropolitan Opera production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.
Where and when: Rialto Cinema, Newmarket, today at 6pm; tomorrow 1pm; Nov 26 at 10am; Bridgeway Cinema, Northcote, tomorrow at 5pm; Monday at 10am.
Rialto Cinema, Tauranga, tomorrow at 2.30pm; Nov 26 at 12.30pm.
Victoria Cinema, Hamilton, tomorrow at 4pm; Nov 26 at 10am.
On the web: For further screenings of Tristan und Isolde in centres around New Zealand, see nzmetopera.com; La Boheme screens from Dec 6; La Fille du Regiment from Dec 19.
