Steve Callahan - Page 5

Opera Theatre St. Louis has produced many wonderful productions, and a handful of simply perfect ones. Their production of 'Regina' is among the latter.

Of all the composers in the world Giuseppe Verdi is by far the most popular. Of all the operas in the world his 'La traviata' is by far the most frequently performed. Have you missed out on this mega hit? You can fill in that cultural gap with the splendid production now offered by Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

For several seasons I've searched for a term to describe Gateway Opera. In a city flush with larger companies-Opera Theater St. Louis, Union Avenue Opera, and Winter Opera-which offer truly 'grand opera', what can one call this little company which gives us such delicious bite-sized treats? They're so small, so full of feisty energy and spirit. Aha! I think this company is 'The Bantam of the Opera'! And, like that murderous older haunting figure, Gateway Opera, in it's evening of '15 Minute Mozarts,' really slays 'em-but without the need of a chandelier. The grandest chandelier would be dimmed by the brightly blazing talents on display at The Chapel last week-end.

We went out into the chilly spring evening - and it became, for me, one of the most totally pleasing evenings of opera I've ever experienced. Winter Opera of St. Louis presented Donizetti's 'L'Elisir d'Amore' in a production that was as near perfection as one could ever ask.

The Metro Theater Company produces some of the best children's theater you'll ever see. They've been at it for over four decades. Now they have opened Bud, Not Buddy at the newly reopened Grandel Theater.

Sooner or later it had to happen. Somebody had to notice the similarities between pearl divers, who must free-dive as deep as one hundred feet, and opera singers, who must make one breath last to the very end of that bel canto cadenza. Well, in 1863 Georges Bizet and his librettists saw that link between these two crafts of gifted breathers and brought it to the stage in the opera Les pêcheurs de perles or The Pearl Fishers. Now Winter Opera has brought it to St. Louis in a lovely production that played January 26 and 28.

Winter Opera continues its tradition of stunning quality in its revival of 'The Student Prince'.

Now, modern scholars tend to exonerate Lucrezia from being the diabolical poisoner that her enemies have portrayed for 400 years. But let's face it, that diabolical Lucrezia makes much better opera. Donizetti knew that, as shown in his 1833 opera about her. Victor Hugo displayed the same sensibility in his hyper-melodramatic tragedy which appeared in the same year. In this new opera, Borgia Infami, Lucrezia is tainted with those same old sins - a little incest and the poisoning of a whole dinner party - including (inadvertantly) her own beloved bastard son.

The Union Avenue Opera has opened a delightful production of H nsel und Gretel by Engelbert Humperdinck. You'll never hear this work performed by a more glorious collection of voices.

The Union Avenue Opera is so good at fulfilling our expectations - our expectations of really fine traditional opera. But once in a while they enjoy surprising us, jerking us out of that normal path. For instance, with 'Trouble in Tahiti' several years ago the orchestra was a jazz trio. Now this splendid little company surprises us again with a lovely production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1945 Broadway classic, Carousel. It's the familiar story of a young mill-worker who makes the tragic mistake of falling in love with a rough but beautiful carnival barker.

Union Avenue Opera mounts a delightful production of 'Albert Herring,' Benjamin Britten's only comic opera.

The Opera Theater of St. Louis has opened the fourth and last production of it's forty-second festival season. It's Mozart's final opera, La clemenza di Tito, or (as it's billed for this English-language performance) simply Titus. Everything about this production - from its glorious voices and orchestral display to the set, costumes, lights and sound - is as near perfect as could be imagined.

The American premiere of The Trial has opened at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis. This is a very major event in opera. Franz Kafka's nightmare tale of Joseph K, trapped in an enigmatic trial for his life, has fascinated readers since it appeared in 1925. Composer Philip Glass read the novel as a youth and even then he yearned to write an opera based on it. But Glass kept that idea 'in his pocket' for sixty years. It was not until he received a commission from the Music Theatre Wales, the Royal Opera, Theatre Magdeburg and the Scottish Opera that Glass was able to fulfill that dream. The London premiere of The Trial opened in 2014.

What a show! Opera Theatre of St. Louis has opened The Grapes of Wrath, a work by Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie. I have never in my life been more emotionally moved by an opera than by this glorious production.

This production completes the company's tenth season and it's a crowning glory.

Rossini's 'La Cenerentola': Winter Opera's fine production of this beloved Cinderella work makes a beautiful anniversary gift.

Winter Opera waltzes St. Louis into fin de siecle Paris with 'The Merry Widow'

Christine Brewer stars in 'DOUBT' at Union Avenue Opera.

The Union Avenue Opera just keeps presenting wonders! Their current production, Puccini's 'Tosca', is among the very best of their best-musically, vocally and in production values.

A simply splendid production of 'The Mikado' has opened at the Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis.