Popcorn with your Puccini: can opera on screen ever work?

The article argues that opera can reach new audiences through television and cinema, but that screen intimacy can clash with the large-scale, projected style of live performance. It looks back at early television experiments and considers how well opera translates to different screens.

Gian Carlo Menotti’s *Amahl and the Night Visitors* was broadcast in 1951 to five million viewers in the US and later shown regularly at Christmas; the BBC picked it up in 1953. The article also notes Benjamin Britten’s *Owen Wingrave*, made for the BBC and first broadcast 55 years ago, and the Met’s cinema streams, which began 20 years ago and were followed by the Royal Opera House. Cinema close-ups can reveal singers’ expressions, but the article says the contrast between intimate filming and voices designed for large auditoriums remains a challenge.