The oldest form of musical theater is finding new life and conceivably a new audience via the iPod.

The Los Angeles Opera’s initial podcasts have proven surprisingly popular, and the company has now committed to producing an additional 14 episodes of its “Behind the Curtain at the L.A. Opera.”

Online listeners to the first four episodes available at no cost via the Internet tuned in to a behind-the-scenes look at L.A. Opera’s “Manon,” directed by Vincent Paterson, and starring Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villaz & #243;n. The downloads of the production outnumbered the tickets sold at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion by more than five to one in the first four weeks the shows were available over the Internet.

“The L.A. Opera is looking to cultivate the next generation of opera aficionados,” said Eric Schwartzman, the podcasts’ executive producer. Attracting new and younger fans is critical if the opera hopes to expand its graying fan base in the face of competition from so many other forms of entertainment.

Forward-thinking opera companies are trying all sorts of ways to connect with younger audiences. The New York Metropolitan Opera, for example, will simulcast some of its performances into movie theaters.

“These days, you can’t blitz people with commercials, so you have to find a way to get them to opt into your message through content,” said Schwartzman.

Producing the content for the 14 episodes, Schwartzman said, is “less expensive than to air a single commercial,” and offers infinitely more consumer reach. The episodes, recorded at the Chandler Pavilion, include interviews and sneak peeks at opera productions.

Additionally, through partnerships with the L.A. County Museum of Art, the L.A. Philharmonic and New York’s Metropolitan Museum, the opera is sending the podcasts to those organizations’ subscribers, as well.

Opportunity Knocks

All publicity, so the Hollywood axiom goes, is good publicity.

Dave Stann, a professional gambler featured on the CBS television series “Ultimate Blackjack Tour,” is putting that theory to the test with the help of the Century City-based Ultimate Blackjack Tour LLC. After inadvertently finding himself an unwilling player in the acrimonious divorce fallout between Kid Rock and actress Pamela Anderson, Stann has challenged the singer, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, to a blackjack duel. It would be televised, of course, as part of the Ultimate Blackjack Tour.

The challenge stems from a New Year’s Eve incident at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. According to press reports, Kid Rock heard that his ex-wife was with her former husband, rocker Tommy Lee, in a VIP suite and went to the room. His reps say Kid Rock was “looking to settle a dispute over his ex-wife.”

Problem was, the room was Stann’s, not Lee’s. When Kid Rock realized he was at the wrong door, hotel reps later told reporters, “gentleman that he is, he signed an autograph for the apparent fan and left.”

That’s not the way Stann, who has been called the “Bad Boy of Blackjack,” remembers it. He says that he was in bed at 6 a.m. when two of Kid Rock’s bodyguards began to violently punch his hotel room door, yelling for “Tommy” to open up.

“There was no autograph and no Kid Rock at my door, just two big dudes on a warpath. If it’s a fight that Kid Rock is looking for, allow me to oblige,” Stann said. He’s challenged Kid Rock to a head-to-head “elimination blackjack,” duel, with the loser to donate $10,000 to the winner’s charity of choice.

“He already owes the Hard Rock for the door, why not tack on an extra few dollars for a good cause?” Stann said.

It’s all about publicity, of course. UBT General Manger Larry Kopald said that the tour’s execs “loved the idea.”

Staff reporter Anne Riley-Katz can be reached at

[email protected]

or at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225.