Exploring Hopscotch

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Hopscotch is LA's newest space-specific opera.  Based on a loose fusion of Julio Cortazar’s novel and on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, Hopscotch is a mobile opera, which means instead of playing on stage, the show takes place inside moving vehicles. The setting is hardly conventional, but experimental operas are the hallmark of Yuval Sharon and his company, The Industry.

In 2013, Sharon provoked Los Angeles with The Industry’s operatic adaptation of Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. The opera took place in Union Station; audience members and unsuspecting passersby watched awestruck as Invisible Cities characters Kublai Kahn and Marco Polo moved amongst commuters. A feat, to be sure, but Sharon seeks a greater challenge with Hopscotch.

The adventure unfolds in 24 limousines that stop at iconic LA locations including the Bradbury Building, Angel’s Point and Mariachi Plaza. Performers and audiences share the space as they drive, witnessing the musical story of protagonists Lucha, Jameson, and Orlando. This moveable feast eventually converges at the Central Hub, a temporary home base at Sci-Arc.

Hopscotch Musical Director Marc Lowenstein describes how the opera connects with the cultural landscape of Los Angeles.