A production that goes off the rails in terms of concept is spared by the fine voices and characterizations of its cast.
San Francisco,
To the many interpretations of “The Magic Flute,” San Francisco Opera has added one with the distinction of looking like an animated cartoon. The company’s current production, which debuted in 2012, appears by turns Disney, Looney Tunes, and Hanna-Barbera; it ...
Mary NguyenLondon,
Australian director Benedict Andrews has a new production of La bohème currently showing at the ENO which adds a controversial twist to the original Puccini opera. Oftentimes when the word "contemporary" is slammed together with words like "new production" audiences ...
A hit-and-miss new production is redeemed by terrific singing.
Suzanne WeissSan Francisco,
Sometimes you gotta take the good with the bad, and San Francisco Opera’s new production of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor” has plenty of both.
First the good news: the singing is pretty terrific and that’s what opera is ...
Mary NguyenLondon,
The second production of the ENO’s new season, shown on the same week as "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk," is Jonathan Miller's twelve revival of "The Barber of Seville." It is Rossini’s most celebrated comic opera based on the play ...
Mary NguyenLondon,
The ENO began its 2015/16 opening season with Shostakovich’s ‘tragic – satire opera’ Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1934) which caused Stalin to walk out during a performance and led to a scathing review in Russia’s political newspaper Pravda. Directed by ...
An oddly bland staging of Verdi's tragedy opens the San Francisco Opera's fall season.
San Francisco,
In an irony that surely makes the god Momus snicker, San Francisco Opera bestowed its Opera Medal for Artistic Excellence upon director/designer Francesca Zambello in the same week that her production of "Luisa Miller" limped in as the opener of ...
This production makes the case for Sondheim's macabre masterwork as grand opera.
Suzanne WeissSan Francisco,
I must confess I have always preferred my horror on an intimate scale. That means a television set rather than a multiplex and, most particularly, Stephen Sondheim’s macabre masterwork, “Sweeney Todd,” as a chamber opera, rather than a Broadway musical. ...
Karen WeinsteinCA,
For the opening of its 30th anniversary season, the LA Opera has turned to Hollywood for a 2 hour and 40 minute double bill: Woody Allen's production of "Gianni Schicchi" and Franco Zeffirelli's "Pagliacci." The Chandler was packed for opening ...
An opera by Tarik O'Reagan
Libretto by Tom Phillips
Michael McDonaghSan Francisco,
A "dark" subject drawn from a famous book. A US premiere from an opera from the other side of the pond. Prestige. Glamour.
Well, many operas and films aren't that different from people.They look or sound profound, but aren't. ...
Michael Wade SimpsonSanta Fe,
First there was Charles Frazier’s 1997 National Book Award-winning novel, “Cold Mountain.” a Civil War romance that sold over three million copies. Then there was the 2003 Academy Award-winning movie, which starred Nicole Kidmann, Jude Law and Renée Zellweger. “Cold ...
