Jim Luigs News

On Friday, November 27, Houston Grand Opera will present a double billing of Bon Appétit! and The Impresario.

She acts, she sings, she dances, she writes, she exercises, she crusades, and she loves. In all things, she gives her all. Tovah Feldshuh eats life. Find out how and why, here.

Houston Grand Opera has announced HGO Digital, its all-new program of digital works for the 2020-21 season. Starting in September and extending through April 2021, HGO will release original video content bimonthly for audiences to enjoy from the comfort of their homes, free of charge.

Blend a hilarious opera parody with five all-out comic singer/actors and you have 'Das Barbecü' at Swift Creek Mill Theatre, a fond memory from 2005.

There must be something in the air, with a couple of New York's small opera companies transporting 19th-century German Romantic operas by Weber and Wagner to Texas within a couple of months, in search of ways to attract new audiences. The first was Weber's DIE FREISCHUTZ from Heartbeat Opera, now On Site Opera's new production of Jim Luigs' and Scott Warrender's DAS BARBECU, complete with all the fixin's at Hill Country Barbecue Market on West 26th Street in Manhattan.  

Are you lamenting that you can't get more cornbread and chili while taking in a performance of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein's OKLAHOMA? Well, On Site Opera's site specific production of the family friendly musical DAS BARBECÜ, written by Jim Luigs and featuring music by Scott Warrender, is just for you! The musical is for you if you're looking for a fun date night, a crash course in Wagner's The Ring Cycle performed in roughly two hours (and that includes intermission!), or just want an evening of hearty laughter with a side of delicious barbecue. Following a recent rehearsal, BroadwayWorld sat down with co-directors Eric Einhorn and Katherine M. Carter to get a peek at the funny bones behind the tantalizing, well-seasoned ribs at DAS BARBECÜ

On Site Opera, an organization dedicated to presenting site-specific opera productions in non-traditional venues throughout New York City, has announced casting for Das Barbecü at Hill Country Barbecue Market, January 26- February 11, 2020. With book and lyrics by Jim Luigs and music by Scott Warrender, Das Barbecü's songbook ranges from Broadway to Texas swing, jazz to twangy country and western with a multi-disciplinary cast to reflect the show's artistic demands.

On Site Opera, an organization dedicated to presenting site-specific opera productions in non-traditional venues throughout New York City, will present Das Barbecü at Hill Country Barbecue Market, January 26- February 11, 2020. A delicious piece, both musically and gastronomically, Das Barbecü is a reimagining of Wagner's Ring Cycle that takes place in Texas by way of Chelsea's tastiest Barbecue pit.

On Site Opera, an organization dedicated to presenting site-specific opera productions in non-traditional venues throughout New York City, announces its dynamic 2019-2020 season. As the company has grown in recent years, they have established a season that includes three core mainstage productions, The Turn of the Screw, October 25-27, Amahl and the Night Visitors, December 4-8, and Das Barbecu, January 26-February 11, along with additional partnerships and events beyond the boundaries of the New York City boroughs in summer of  2020. 

Performed in both English and Spanish to appeal to a broader Los Angeles fan base, the family friendly musical fantasy Disney's Aladdin, Dual Language Edition is set in the fictional Middle Eastern city of Agrabah, where a beloved Disney princess named Jazm n decides to rebel against her father the Sultan's wishes to marry one of three princes he has selected for her. Of course, she dislikes them all and decides to escape before the deadline to marry occurs. On her escape route, she meets a street rat named Aladdin, but how can this chance meeting lead to ever-lasting love for the two from such different backgrounds?

The critically acclaimed smash hit musical, Disney's Aladdin, Dual Language Edition/Edicion De Lenguaje Dual will be presented by Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo and TNH Productions, in association with El Centro Del Pueblo and CASA 0101 Theater in a new expanded guest production.

The critically acclaimed smash hit musical, Disney's Aladdin, Dual Language Edition/Edicion De Lenguaje Dual will be presented by Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo and TNH Productions, in association with El Centro Del Pueblo and CASA 0101 Theater in a new expanded guest production.

The critically acclaimed smash hit musical, Disney's Aladdin, Dual Language Edition/Edicion De Lenguaje Dual will be presented by Los Angeles City Councilmember Gil Cedillo and TNH Productions.

Houston Grand Opera announced at its annual meeting today that its 2016-17 season closed on a strong financial footing despite recent pressures on the Houston economy.

Houston Grand Opera presents Gotterdammerung (Twilight of the Gods), the final installment of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, featuring a new generation of leading Wagnerians including Simon O'Neill as Siegfried and Christine Goerke as Brunnhilde, starting April 22.

Houston Grand Opera (HGO) will present Das Barbecu, a fast-paced and raucous retelling of Wagner's epic Ring cycle, on April 23at Jackson Street BBQ, and April 30 at Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon. Five actors play over 30 roles in this comic take on opera's most spectacular saga, complete with mismatched lovers, a double shotgun wedding, and family feuds, all wrapped up in a Texas-sized heap of Wild West fun. Songs run the gamut from Broadway to Texas swing, from jazz to twangy country and western. Ticket prices include a BBQ feast and drink. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for dinner, with performances beginning at 7 p.m. 

Love transcends the limitations of language in Casa 0101's charming production of Disney's ALADDIN Dual Language Edition/Edicion De Lenguaje Dual and that uplifting message is a takeaway that never loses its luster. The simple story of Aladdin (Daniel Martinez) and his magic lamp overcoming the villainous Jafar (Omar Mata), with the help of a jovial Genie (Lewis Powell III) and his loyal pet monkey (Sebastian Gonzalez), has become a family favorite thanks to the popularity of Disney's 1992 animated film.

In the fall of 1987, Houston Grand Opera's world premiere of Nixon in China made political headlines and galvanized the opera world. Thirty years later, John Adams's trailblazing opera returns in a new-to-Houston production that sheds light on the electronic media's role in political history, just as a new media-savvy American president takes office.

To kick off the new year a family friendly musical fantasy set in the fictional Middle Eastern city of Agrabah will come to life on the Main Stage of CASA 0101 Theater in Boyle Heights, CA.

Donizetti's ebullient comedy The Elixir of Love sets a celebratory tone as Houston Grand Opera's (HGO) 62nd season opener on October 21. The colorful production features tenor Dimitri Pittas and soprano Nicole Heaston, as well as the HGO debut of eminent English conductor Jane Glover. Performances run through November 4.