The Merry Widow could be battling to be heard tomorrow night above the sound of a concert celebrating a restaurant opening by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone.
Lawyers for Opera Ireland will ask the High Court today to limit the noise levels allowed for the concert that marks the opening of the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Dublin.
Mr Justice Kelly yesterday gave the company that is staging The Merry Widow at the Gaiety leave to apply to the court today for orders fixing noise levels at the concert.
Opera Ireland is worried that the concert on St Stephen's Green will disrupt the performance of The Merry Widow, might force it to refund opera-goers and could threaten its Arts Council grant.
Mr Eamon Galligan, counsel for the Dublin Grand Opera Society Company, trading as Opera Ireland, told Mr Justice Kelly yesterday that the Planet Hollywood restaurant at the St Stephen's Green Centre was to be opened formally tomorrow night.
It appeared, he said, that an open-air concert was planned from 7.30 p.m. featuring the Carter Twins, the Dublin band Full Circle, the Galway theatre group Macnas and Hollywood celebrities. Up to 10,000 people might attend.
Opera Ireland, he said, was staging its last winter season performance of The Merry Widow tomorrow night. It would start at 7.30 p.m. and finish at 10.15 p.m.
Mr David Colpey, general manager of Opera Ireland, said more than 1,000 tickets had been sold for the event and the company faced losses of £70,000 if noise disrupted the opera. It would be detrimental and insulting to its international cast to have them compete with outside music. The company might also be obliged to compensate its audience.
It was also obliged, under the terms of its Arts Council grant, to stage a certain number of performances a year and could lose part of its grant if the performance was disrupted. The primary concern was noise levels, he said.
Mr Galligan said his clients only recently became aware of press notices from Dublin Corporation announcing road closures in the Stephen's Green Centre area because of the Planet Hollywood event. Their solicitor had handed two letters in to Planet Hollywood but had received no formal written response.
The court heard there was some discussions with Planet Hollywood's floor manager about the matter and there was also contact with the sound engineers.