Washington National Opera says 'Play Verdi'
Three years after launching annual outdoor simulcasts on the National Mall, Washington National Opera is about to move on up -- to the ballpark. While the usual well-connected and more or less well-dressed crowd will be packing the Kennedy Center Opera House Saturday night for the season-opening performance of Verdi's La traviata, thousands more are expected to pour into Nationals Park and watch a simulcast of that performance for free. The cast is headed by soprano Elizabeth Futral as Violetta and tenor Arturo Chacon-Cruz as Alfredo. Dan Ettinger conducts. Marta Doming (wife of Washington National's general director Placido Domingo) directs. The performance is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Nationals Park, 1500 South Capital St., S.E. Gates will open at 5:30.
The opera company is collaborating with Target, Rolex, the Washington Nationals and D.C.'s Metro system on the venture.





