Michael Yeargan News

Twenty of the finest young opera singers in the United States will be competing in the 29th Annual Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition presented, jointly, by The Dallas Opera and The Dallas Opera Guild.

 A season of superb music and spectacle is now on sale to Lyric subscribers - including three new mainstage opera productions, three new-to-Chicago opera productions, one new musical production, and one new-to-Chicago chamber opera production.

Ambassador Theatre Group and NETworks Presentations LLC announce that Laura Michelle Kelly (Anna Leonowens) and Jose Llana (King of Siam) will lead the national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING AND I that will play Seattle's Paramount Theatre from January 24 through February 3, 2017.

It didn't strike me until the lights were going down for the start of CARMEN last Thursday that this was the second night in a row that Met audiences were being transported to the same town in sunny Spain. Truth be told, “sunny” is hardly an adjective I'd hardly use to describe Bizet's tragedy in the shadow of the bullring, while it's just about right for dizzy events of Rossini's charmer, IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, which I'd heard the night before.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock and Music Director Nicola Luisotti today announced plans for the 2017-18 repertory season. The Company's 95th season will open Friday, September 8 with a gala performance of Giacomo Puccini'sTurandot led by Maestro Luisotti and an international cast starring Martina Serafin, Maria Agresta and Brian Jagde.

There's some famous and gorgeous music in Gounod's ROMEO ET JULIETTE—Juliet's waltz, Romeo's “Ah, leve-toi, soleil” and a number of duets —but this is definitely not one of those operas where the title characters can take turns with the showpieces but never look each other in the eye. Luckily, that wasn't the case with Diana Damrau and Vittorio Grigolo in the Met's new Bartlett Sher production, where they lit some fires at Tuesday's performance.

Ambassador Theatre Group and NETworks Presentations LLC announce that Laura Michelle Kelly (Anna Leonowens) and Jose Llana (King of Siam) will lead the national tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's THE KING AND I that will play Seattle's Paramount Theatre from January 24 through February 3, 2017.

Opera is for everyone-and so is Seattle Opera's 2017/18 season! There's a new bilingual performance for elementary-school students, new performance venues such as Georgetown Steam Plant, a new mainstage collaboration with ACT Theatre and Seattle Symphony leaders, and even an outdoor performance offered free of charge. Regardless of background or socioeconomic status, this season offers ways for a broad audience to be able to experience opera; it's an open invitation for the Pacific Northwest. 

As previously announced, the critically acclaimed Broadway production of Fiddler on the Roof will end its run on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 2:00PM. This revival will have played a total of 463 performances when it gives its final bow. Just confirmed, a National Tour is planned beginning in the fall of 2018.

A friend referred to The King and I as a war horse, an old chestnut, for it has surely surpassed time as an enduring musical classic, but upon seeing it again, one realizes just how potent, vibrant and topical a piece it truly is. Musicals of such depth and perspective with a keen eye to the future seem to be a thing of the past. Yes, it's a love story at the core, an unlikely one, but with many, many more levels. It entails issues of race, slavery, the urgency for a king of a tiny uncivilized kingdom to change his primitive, barbaric ways, and for his children to receive a truthful education as he embarks on assimilating 19th century Siam to western culture and civilization...and to repeat, it's a bigger-than-life love story that has become eternally revered not only for its music but for its intolerance of bigotry of any type. In this 2015 Broadway revival, currently onstage at the Hollywood Pantages Theater, nothing is lost; every gorgeous detail is present, and the story of Anna and The King is radiantly performed through January 21, 2017. In short, this production is a stunner.

The National Tour of The King and I, which won a Tony Award for Best Revival in 2015, is opened at the Pantages Theater in Los Angeles last night, and will play through January 21st, 2017. Stars of the stage and screen, including original cast members of one of Rodgers and Hammerstein's most beloved classics, came out in droves to celebrate the opening, and we've got all of the lovely red carpet photos below!

Next Thursday, December 15th, bring your dad or daughter to come see Fiddler on the Roof, and stay afterwards for a special post-show talkback with Tevye (Danny Burstein) and his daughters (Alexandra Silber, Samantha Massell, Jenny Rose Baker and Nerghiz Sarki).  All ages are welcome! Come enjoy a special night full of tradition, love, and, of course, family, with the stars ofFiddler on the Roof before they take their final bow on Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 2:00 p.m,

Broadway In Boston, Ambassador Theatre Group and NETworks Presentations LLC announced today that the national tour of The Lincoln Center Theater Production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's THE KING AND I, will play a limited two week engagement at the Boston Opera House April 11-23, 2017 as part of the 2016-2017 Lexus Broadway In Boston Season. THE KING AND I, directed by Tony Award® Winner Bartlett Sher won four 2015 Tony Awards® including Best Revival of a Musical.

Four-time Tony Award Nominee Judy Kuhn(Fun Home, She Loves Me, Chess, Les Miserables) joins the cast of Fiddler on the Roof as Golde beginning tonight, Tuesday, November 22nd and will play through the show's final performance on Saturday, December 31st at 2:00 pm.  She takes over the role from Jessica Hecht whose final performance was on Sunday, November 20th.

The Dallas Opera is privileged to announce that TDO will present the United States Premiere of composer Michel van der Aa's critically acclaimed contemporary masterpiece, SUNKEN GARDEN, "a fantastical tale to set the ears and eyes popping" (New York Times headline) during the Texas company's 2017-2018 Season.

San Francisco Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in a new production directed by Francesca Zambello and featuring designs by Los Angeles-based, contemporary visual artist RETNA(Marquis Duriel Lewis). A co-production with Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera and Minnesota Opera, this striking and bold vision for Verdi's enduring classic will feature soprano Leah Crocetto and tenor Brian Jagdein their role debuts as the lovers at the heart of the opera, the enslaved princess Aida and the Egyptian war hero Radames.

San Francisco Opera presents Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in a new production directed by Francesca Zambello and featuring designs by Los Angeles-based, contemporary visual artist RETNA (Marquis Duriel Lewis). A co-production with Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera and Minnesota Opera, this striking and bold vision for Verdi's enduring classic will feature soprano Leah Crocetto and tenor Brian Jagde in their role debuts as the lovers at the heart of the opera, the enslaved princess Aida and the Egyptian war hero Radames. Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk is Amneris, the daughter of the king who desires Radames' love, baritone George Gagnidze portrays Aida's vengeful father, Amonasro, and bass Raymond Aceto is Ramfis. The international cast and San Francisco Opera Orchestra will be conducted by Company Music DirectorNicola Luisotti. Resident Conductor Jordi Bernàcer will conduct the final performance on December 6.Ian Robertson is Chorus Director.

The much-acclaimed Lincoln Center staging of THE KING AND I celebrates a triumphant start to its national tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center. This jewel of a production is so utterly exceptional in every detail, words of praise scarcely seem to do it justice. Simply put, this is one of the finest shows to grace the PPAC stage in recent memory.

Broadway In Chicago has just announced its next season line-up: a new Pre-Broadway musical ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE featuring the songs of legendary singer-songwriter-author Jimmy Buffett, Tony Award-winning AN AMERICAN IN PARIS, Tony Award-winning RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S THE KING AND I, the completely original new musical comedy SOMETHING ROTTEN! and LES MISERABLES.

Classic tale reimagined.Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Camelot is being presented in a 'reimagined' way at the Westport Country Playhouse.