San Diego Opera plans drive-in holiday show
Fresh from the success of its drive-in “L a bohème,” San Diego Opera has announced its second outdoor event of the season: a live sing-along holiday concer t and screening of the company’s 2018 production of “All is Calm: The Christmas Truce of 1914.”
The two-par t event will take place at 7 p.m. Dec. 21 in the Del Mar Fairgrounds parking lot. The “All is Calm” f ilm was recorded at the opera’s premiere in December 2018 at the Balboa Theatre in the Gaslamp Quar ter. That production was co-produced by Bodhi Tree Concerts and the SACRA /PROFANA choir.
San Diego Opera was already planning a new production of “All is Calm” as par t of its 2020-21 season, but when the pandemic struck, the company began looking for ways to present the show in a new and safe way. About 200 tickets to the show are pre-sold to subscribers who purchased earlier this year as par t of the orig inally planned season. But there are still tickets available for 400 cars, the company said Wednesday.
“When we produced ‘All is Calm’ in 2018, the audience response was over whelming, and we’ve received requests to produce it again since then,” said David Bennett, San Diego Opera’s general director, in a statement. “Although current safety protocols in response to COVID-19 make it impossible for us to produce it live now, I’m thrilled to be able to share a beautifully f ilmed performance from 2018 with our audiences.”
The event on Dec. 21 will beg in with a live concer t of holiday songs performed by members of the San Diego Opera Chorus, including a sing-along with audience members in their car. It will be followed by the f ilmed “All is Calm,” a family-friendly a cappella opera created in 2008 by Peter Rothstein for his Minneapolis-based company Theater L atté Da. The opera is based on a true stor y.
Tickets to the event are $100 per carload or $135 for premium seating. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. Food and drinks will be available for purchase onsite. To order tickets, visit sdopera.org /season/2020-2021-season/allis-calm.