Photo by Dr. J.C. Meeroff. Music professor Myrna Meeroff of Greenbelt performs the gypsy Carmen’s death scene while two volunteers from the audience act out their grief during a production of Interactive Opera’s “Carmen.”

Published on: Wednesday, February 17, 2010

By Karen Carmichael

Opera, with its ornate productions and oft-mocked musical style, has a reputation for being old fashioned and crushingly dull to the modern American public. Former opera musician Myrna Meeroff is trying to change that perception through audience participation in her performances of the famous opera “Carmen.”

“So many people say they hate opera, and they’ve never seen it,” said Meeroff, an associate professor of music at Prince George’s Community College. With her adaptations, she hopes to make opera more accessible to people, she said.

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Meeroff grew up in south Florida. She played French horn for the Florida Grand Opera Orchestra for 10 years, and conceived the idea of an audience participating in opera during a performance of “Carmen.” After playing in dozens of performances, Meeroff said, she knew the opera by heart and realized she could adapt it.

“I always wanted to be onstage,” said Meeroff, who moved to Greenbelt last year. By forming her own production company, she said, she could fulfill her dream to perform as well as get more people excited about opera.

Meeroff founded Interactive Opera two years ago with a grant from the Broward Cultural Commission, and since then has put on several productions of Carmen. She translated the French dialogue into English, plotted out choreography, and provides all the props and costumes for each show.

Meeroff chose to adapt Carmen because she felt more people are familiar with the story and would recognize its songs and melodies, making it easier for them to join in, she said.

Carmen is a French opera by the composer Georges Bizet, first performed in 1875. Set in Seville, Spain, it tells the story of the beautiful gypsy Carmen and her devoted lover Don Jose, who sacrifices his career as a soldier for her. Carmen’s love for him quickly fades, however, and Don Jose fatally stabs her when she leaves him for the bullfighter Escamillo. The opera’s famous arias include “The Habanera” and “The Toreador Song.”

At Saturday’s performance at the Greenbelt Arts Center, Meeroff began by calling for volunteers from the audience and led them backstage. Giggles could be heard behind the curtain as they changed into costume.

Meeroff performed all the opera singing as Carmen and Escamillo, while her volunteers handled the speaking roles. They read their lines off cue cards, occasionally strategically placed on props such as a Spanish fan. Several of the impromptu actors got into the spirit and began ad-libbing lines.

At one point, two girls gossiping about Carmen and her love affairs lost their place. “How about that weather we’ve been having?” one improvised.

During Act II, Meeroff led the audience in flamenco dancing, clapping hands and stomping feet. The good thing about flamenco is that it’s all arms and feet, and the audience can dance in their seats, said Meeroff, who is a professional tango dancer.

It was an “incredible feat” to reduce the four-act opera to a two-act show, Greenbelt resident and audience member Elizabeth Barber said. “I’ve never seen anybody do that before.”

Barber said she enjoyed the show Saturday afternoon and praised the amateur actors. “They jumped right in and put their whole heart into it,” she said.

Meeroff is usually able to cast each of the seven speaking roles from the audience, she said, and there are always plenty of openings for extras to take part onstage. Volunteers are frequently a little shy in the beginning, but “they loosen up as it goes,” she said.

With no rehearsals and no idea what kind of audience she will have, Meeroff said she never knows what each show will be like.

“The beauty of this is that it’s different every time,” she said.

Meeroff is considering another performance of “Carmen” in July and is adapting La Traviata for future shows.

There will also be some opportunity for audience participation during her production of Scott Joplin’s opera Treemonisha on May 8, to be performed outdoors in front of the Hallam Theatre of Prince George’s Community College.