The general public's view on opera

I stumbled across something neat today. Often we can take a look at online message boards, read magazines, or listen to the radio to find out about what experts or amature opera lovers think about a company or performance but in general, a singer or opera company isn't going to be the subject of what used to be called "water cooler" talk in the same way as tv shows or movies. It's hard to get to get a more general population feedback for opera than it is for other entertainment mediums.

That's why I was tickled to find the Ticketmaster feedback area today where people who bought their tickets via Ticketmaster can leave feedback about the performance/company. Under Manitoba Opera, for instance, you can read several reviews of recent performances from people who don't throw around words like passagio or who refer to the performance as a play. They're great and give an insight as to what matters to the bulk of people who aren't subscribers:

It was our first time at the Opera, I'm really happy that we've chosen this play. Very good performers, very good music, a little bit of humor, easy to follow. I would recomend this play to people willing to experience what the Opera is about.

or


Barber of Seville was highly entertaining, and the story was easy to follow. The main characters were well balanced, each with a fair bit of time on stage. The stop action and slow motion techniques greatly enhanced the experience.

I also love to see:

This was my frist time to the Opera and The Barber of Seville was unforgettable! I had no idea what to expect and i laughed the entire time. it was a great intro to the Opera and i would recommend it to anyone young or old. The voices were amazing and the story is so easy to follow even without the handy subtitles at the top. Grade A performance :O)

I think that it's definitely worthwhile for singers and producers to take a peak at these and see how we can really appeal to the population at large, outside of beaming us into movie theatres, of course.