OPERA THEATER REVIEWS

What is truly amazing - a miracle really - is the entire production began rehearsals (including learning the music as well as staging) on August 13 and opened on August 21. That this ensemble, directed and choreographed by the talented powerhouse Jeffrey Polk, was able to put the rock opera togethe...

Considering all the second-rate operas by men that have received first-rate productions at major houses, it's a shock that the performances of Dame Ethel Smyth's early 20th-century opera, THE WRECKERS, at Bard Music Festival was the stage premiere of the work in this country. And a dazzling one it ...

Sir David McVicar's latest creation for Opera Australia, Mozart's THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO is a beautiful blend of a comic tale of the goings-on in an aristocratic home, well-paced music and stunning visuals....

Plays through 8/8/15...

At a time when we're often inundated with yet another TOSCA, BOHEME or CARMEN at major opera houses, the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY--a couple of hours north of New York City in summer traffic--manages to bring some relief, thanks to the efforts of its Music Director Will Crutchfield. On July 1...

Opera Australia pairs the beautiful grandeur of 17th Century Spain with Giuseppe Verdi's fabulous score as they bring DON CARLOS back to the Sydney Opera House....

From the moment that Scott Schoonover raised his baton to invoke that incredible athletic overture it was re-confirmed to me that DON GIOVANNI is indeed the zenith of 18th Century opera...

The tragic tale of the Courtesan and Nobleman, driven apart by a father concerned for his family's reputation is played out in Giuseppe Verdi's LA TRAVIATA....

Opera Australia's production of TURANDOT blends Puccini's famous music with striking costumes and elements of Chinese Opera to encourage the audience to imagine an Imperial China filled with crowds waiting for the execution of the latest suitor to fail the Princess' challenge....

At Masada—the mountain fortress in Israel's Judean Desert--a group of besieged Jewish rebels killed themselves rather than be taken alive by the Romans almost 2000 years ago. In Puccini's TOSCA, the eponymous heroine jumps from Rome's Castel Sant'Angelo rather than being taken prisoner for killing...

Pity the poor also-rans in operatic history: Leoncavallo's LA BOHEME and even Rossini's OTELLO are perhaps the most famous titles. Oh, yes: We mustn't forget Giovanni Paisiello's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA—not after hearing On Site Opera's production in New York last week, we can't. Downstairs, upsta...

This review was first published by KDHX 88-1 St. Louis. Opera Theatre of St. Louis has opened a very fine production of 'Emmeline,' by Tobias Picker, with libretto by J. D. McClatchy. This remarkable piece premiered at the Santa Fe Opera in 1996 to great praise. It was done at the New York City...

One of the theatrical highlights of the summer, Skylark Opera's Annual Summer Festival, is upon us! As usual, the two shows playing in repertoire include one that's more of a traditional opera (but always in English) and one that skews a bit more towards musical theater: Puccini's LA RONDINE and...

The Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan's classic romp of an opera is pleasure enough; but the lovely open air setting of Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center on a pleasant summer's eve makes the frolics of tender-hearted pirates, not-so-naive maidens and a constabulary force who seem to have misp...

It didn't have a ten-ton set, a fake diva flying from a parapet, or a star-studded cast, but Opera Lafayette's L'EPREUVE VILLAGEOISE (THE VILLAGE TRIAL) had one thing noticeably absent from the opera stage in New York this season: charm aplenty, charm galore....

This review was first published by KDHX, St. Louis. Opera Theatre of St. Louis has opened Handel's 'Richard the Lionheart,' and it is truly astonishing! It is, in all aspects, the most perfect production of an opera that I've ever seen. And voices? Ah, the voices are quite stunning! This is ...

A long, long time ago, in a land far, far away…a man named George Fredric Handel crafted an opera entitled Rinaldo. A few hundred years later, an opera company that prides itself in bringing a fresh perspective to the art form added their own charms to the libretto. Under the guise of the Star Wa...

A rare Puccini receives a lovely production: 'La rondine' at Opera Theatre of St. Louis...

I think I bring this up every time I write about an opera, but it's just so funny to me that most of my early exposure to the medium came through films that I saw on TV when I was kid. Whether it was an Our Gang short (the one where Alfalfa wants to give up crooning to become an opera singer), a Bug...

Adapted from a scene of Euripides' Medea, the Tapestry Opera's latest production of M'DEA UNDONE brings the myth and tragedy of this classic story to modern times. The opera takes place in the twenty-first century as Jason, a former army captain, begins a new political career and begins to distance ...

Whether audience members know, or let alone have heard, about opera singer Maria Callas, Master Class offers much to contemplate about the dedication towards one's art....

Be shaken as well as stirred by this inventive trio at Sturgeon Bay's Third Avenue Playhouse. Robert Boles, James Valcq and Ryan Patrick Shaw conjure contemporary mayhem from an 18th century Italian opera in Stage Door Theatre Company's enchanting Maid To Marry. This evening's play on words captures...

Forget what might be known or understood regarding Richard Wagner's epic The Ring Cycle- a legendary series of four complete operas he composed over 26 years ( 1848-1874) that requires more than 18 hours to perform. Instead enjoy The Skylight Ring, Skylight Music Theatre's cheeky, slightly irreveren...

The Met was running on all cylinders for the last performance of the season, with Verdi's UN BALLO IN MASCHERA in an energized version of the production that premiered in 2012. The trio of principals--soprano Sondra Radvanovsky as Amelia, tenor Piotr Beczala as Gustavo and baritone Alexey Markov as ...

Anybody who enjoys full throated singing, and a swirling orchestral backing, would have been as a delighted as I was....