Dallas Opera Cowboys Stadium Simulcast Receives More Than 10,000 RSVPs

The Dallas Opera, in partnership with Cowboys Stadium and with support from The Dallas Foundation, is delighted to report that the first milestone has been achieved: more than10,000 tickets have been requested for the free April 13^th Dallas Opera Cowboys Stadium Simulcast at One Legends Way in Arlington, TX. Of that number, over 40% of the households have no previous purchase history or simulcast history with the Dallas Opera; while more than half of the tickets were requested by households that either attended or requested tickets for the initial simulcast last April.

Our second Cowboys Stadium Simulcast will center on that evening's live performance of GiacomoPuccini's TURANDOT, as it happens on the Shannon and Ted Skokos Stage in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center. The curtain will go up at 7:30 p.m. Patrons will be able to enjoy a complete, unabridged performance on the world's largest high-definition video board structure, consisting of four massive viewing screens (the largest, 72 feet tall and 160 feet wide) suspended directly above the playing field.

At 6:45 p.m., prior to the live performance, the Dallas Opera will present the world's largest cartoon screening (based on screen size): Warner Brothers Classics 1957 masterpiece, "What's Opera, Doc?" starring Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd and voted the #1 cartoon ever produced (in 1994, by a thousand members of the animation field). Directed by animation legend Chuck Jones, the cartoon pokes fun at opera's most persistent stereotypes, Wagnerian heft, and Elmer Fudd's never-ending pursuit of that "wascally wabbit!"

An exciting new element has been added to the program: At 7:00 p.m., the Dallas Opera will present a recording of the Dallas Opera's recent live presentation of composer Lee Hoiby's "Bon Appétit!" created for actress Jean Stapleton in 1989 and starring acclaimed mezzo-soprano Susan Nicely as Julia Child, the chef-who-became-an-international icon (with a little help from SNL comedian Dan Aykroyd).

Based on segments of Julia Child's popular cooking show, The French Chef (winner of the first Emmy Award given to an educational program), and incorporating Child's actual dialogue as shaped by librettist Mark Shulgasser, this laugh-out-loud modern opera was performed in English at the Dallas Farmer's Market Demonstration Kitchen to enthusiastic audiences and unanimous rave reviews.

Gregory Sullivan Isaacs of Theater Jones wrote: "Bon Appétit! and Nicely's excellent performance of it was overwhelmingly received by the audience. A number of patrons asked "Who is Lee Hoiby and why have we never heard of him?

"Well, here is the answer. Hoiby was one of the great opera composers of modern times and it is absolutely shameful that his marvelous theatrical works do not grace the stage of every opera company in the world. The composer was unfairly maligned for writing in a tonal style during the era of wild experimentation and dissonance...Now that the pendulum has swung back the other way...it is time to say a big mea culpa to Hoiby and get his stuff on the stage."

Miss Nicely was accompanied by pianist Mary Dibbern, Music Director for Education and Family Programs at the Dallas Opera in performances supported by The Perot Foundation Education and Community Outreach Programs.

Free general admission tickets for the entire evening can be obtained through the Dallas Opera website at www.dallasopera.org/cowboys.

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