By Rachel Lee
Dogged by a slack reception from local opera fans here for charging such high prices for tickets, organizers of “La Boheme” partially offered a special discount.
This comes in the wake of the recent cancellations of two shows scheduled for Aug. 29 and Sept. 2 at Yonsei University in Seoul.
Puccini’s classic opera garnered much attention from the public and media for its high-profile cast and production crew from the Orange Opera Festival, France’s oldest festival.
To be performed outdoors with no amplification on the outdoor stage at Yonsei University’s amphitheater and featuring Romanian Soprano Angela Gheorghiu and Italian singer Vittorio Grigolo, the opera however garnered negative press for exorbitant ticket prices. Maestro Chung Myung-whun will lead the Seoul Philharmonic Opera.
Forced by sluggish sales, ADL, a local production agency, offered 1,000 “R” tickets for as much as 87 percent off the original price on Ticket Monster, Korea’s top group-buying site. These R-class seats were sold at 120, 000 won for the general audience while it went further down to 60,000 won for students.
A total of 820 tickets out of the 1,000 were sold as of Friday for the Aug. 28 and Sept. 1 performances.
The unprecedented decision came in response to growing complaints about the “unreasonably” high cost of tickets amid the current gloomy economic conditions. The list prices for the seats, VIP, R, and S seats are 570,000 won, 450,000 won, and 250,000 won, respectively. Tickets for section A seats are selling for 150,000 won.
Expensive tickets prices had been an issue when the American Ballet Theater brought its performance of “Giselle” to Seoul in July. The VIP tickets for that show were priced at 400,000 won.
Gheorghiu, Grigolo and Chung will perform as scheduled for the Aug. 28 and Sept. 1 shows.
Since its premiere in 1896, “La Boheme” has become one of the most frequently performed operas in the world.
It is the story of young artists in Paris in the mid-19th century and is based on Henri Murger’s novel “La Vie de Boheme.” The opera is in four acts and revolves around Rodolfo and Mimi’s unfulfilled love story told through some of the most renowned arias ever written.