On Site Opera, which has garnered acclaim for immersive, site-specific productions, will perform Rameau's one-act Pygmalion in two unusual-and unusually apt-venues this summer, just before the 250th anniversary of the composer's death: Madame Tussauds New York, on June 17, and Lifestyle-Trimco Showroom, on June 20 & 21.
Rameau's 1748 acte de ballet is widely considered one of his greatest one-acts. In Ballot de Sovot's libretto, based on Ovid, the sculptor Pygmalion creates a statue to which he professes his love, and which he asks Venus to bring to life. L'Amour (Cupid) arrives to praise Pygmalion's artistry and faith in love, and animates the statue. The new production will dig deeper into the themes and lessons inherent in the myth.Since celebrated director Eric Einhorn founded it less than two years ago, On Site Opera has done much to prove that exciting opera can happen outside the walls of a traditional theater. The company has garnered acclaim not only for the immersive, site-specific nature of its productions-Shostakovich's The Tale of the Silly Baby Mouse at the Bronx Zoo and, most recently, Gershwin's Blue Monday at the Cotton Club in Harlem-but also for their rigor. Reviewing Tale, Steve Smith wrote in The New York Times that the production "enchanted audience members of all ages," and added, "connoisseurs, meanwhile, could hardly miss the seriousness and skill of the undertaking."Videos