When Murray sees someone walk into the pub gigs wearing thongs and a flannelette shirt, having no clue of what they’re in for, and then suddenly they’re smiling and singing along to opera, it lights him up.
“It was always an art form for the people, it was the popular music of the day back in the 1600s. So we love returning to those roots in an environment where people can come as they are,” he said.
The show promises to serve up tunes that you’ll recognise. There are no nosebleed seats in a pub either.
“People always know more about opera than they think,” Rae said, citing advertisements from British Airways to Looney Tunes cartoons, which use music from operas like Wagner’s Ring Cycle, The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville.
With new publican and actor Jason Wu at the helm of the Harold Park, it has just undergone a renovation that has seen an extension on the old bars, fresh carpet, slick new furniture, a revamped beer garden, and in a move popular with the locals, a much condensed pokies room.
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Now Wu is on a mission to bring the artists back.
“I have a personal stake in this because I am an artist myself,” he said.
”After COVID, artists were struggling for a long time and I am very aware of how much the arts community really struggled to find work, and many of us started working other gigs. Now that I am in this position as a publican, I can help to bring the arts back so I am jumping at the chance. Arts is an integral part of any community and it should always be celebrated and watched.”
“Around the World of Opera” starts May 2.









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