OPERA THEATER REVIEWS

The title role of Donizetti's LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR was so important to star sopranos during the last half of the 20th century, that it's hard to recall that in Caruso's day, the tenor was the main attraction. I thought of that during the current performance of the opera at the met, with Russian sopra...

The Canadian Opera Company's production of Handel's SEMELE came to BAM's Howard Gilman Opera House complete with a marvelous 17-ton Ming Dynasty temple, transported from the town of Quhou, China. It was central to the production concept by Zhang Huan, a visual and performance artist who admits to ig...

In a bold move, SDO premiered a production of John Adams' most frequently performed opera...

Soprano Diana Damrau did another of her high-wire acts at the Met this week, with her third role debut here in under two years. After last year's spectacular Amina in Bellini's LA SONNAMBULA, she's taken on the title role in Massenet's MANON and proven once again that she is one of the company's gre...

I always know to expect the unexpected when I attend a production by New Line Theatre. Artistic Director Scott Miller has a gift for choosing shows that are consistently engaging, entertaining, and smartly cast and directed. Whether it's a revival of a classic or something of a more recent vintage, ...

Zang Huan's imaginative retelling of the baroque Opera at BAM as performed by the Canadian Opera Company....

It's an old story: Woman meets man. Woman loses man…and loses him over and over again on a party-line. Luckily, the woman is Italian soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci and the composer of LA VOIX HUMAINE is Francis Poulenc. Together, they made for a fascinating performance at Lincoln Center's Alice T...

Passionate performances by Libor, Morris and Owens are what propel an otherwise adrift Flying Dutchman. Clearer staging and dynamic direction could have made this production of Wagner's classic opera thrilling....

Maria Callas got the world used to hearing singing that was not always pitch-perfect yet still essential listening. I kept thinking about this at the Met the other night during the new production of Rossini's LA DONNA DEL LAGO with a cast headed by a couple of stars, mezzo Joyce DiDonato and tenor J...

It's the wrong time of year to expect a hurricane in New York, but that didn't stop mezzo Jamie Barton from taking Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall by storm this week. With her warmth, sly sense of playfulness and a voice that just won't quit, Barton held the audience captive....

The joint production of Santa Fe and Opera Philadelphia, Theodore Morrison's opera of the decline and fall of Oscar Wilde has its hits and misses. It's a magnificent production of an unripe work....

Opera Australia's new interpretation of FAUST is a delicious mix of hedonism, debauchery, desire and despair....

I am taken back to the first Opera I saw as a kid and the pomp and circumstance with wearing a tux and walking to the lavish theatre; this was when I fell in love with classical music. Often times we hear opera and other classical art forms are inaccessible to the people, but Houston Grand Opera's E...

I consider Mozart's DON GIOVANNI at the top of my list of favorite operas--the music starts to go through my head without much encouragement and gets stuck there. Yet, it's also one of the most problematic in performance, calling for a large group of A-list singers to do justice to the ripe and some...

Mozart's infrequently performed LA CLEMENZA DI TITO is well-done by Opera in the Heights. From start to finish, their LA CLEMENZA DI TITO is a marvelous work, filled with beautiful, emotive singing, accompanied by an orchestral performance that is sumptuous and dynamic, all working together to bring...

Emerging from the dark prisons of Fidelio comes a show with darker themes, a more sinister villain, and higher stakes. Madison Opera premiered their Sweeney Todd in Capitol Theatre last night to a crowd eager to see what they could do. Fans of the Stephen Sondheim musical in its original capacity, t...

Westmont's one-act operas are an example of student theatre that takes risks and introduces conversations about the diverse range of possibilities within the sphere of the theatrical arts....

I don't know when the next time the Met is planning to bring back Tchaikovsky's final opera, IOLANTA (libretto by his brother Modest) into its repertory, but they should, and quickly. And if you have the opportunity, run to see it as fast as you can. It's not often that the Met puts on a opera and p...

Without a doubt, Gounod's ROMEO & JULIET is one of Austin Opera's finest productions, and they have assembled a cast of the highest caliber. Paired with a gorgeous set, costumes and staging, this is not a production that one would want to miss. 'If music be the food of love, play on.'...

Winter Opera St. Louis, after a brilliant production of 'Le Nozze di Figaro', continues its eighth season with a venture into less familiar fare - Pietro Mascagni's 'L'amico Fritz'....

With all its money problems, why hasn't the Met thought about doing some lesser known works in concert? Or, for that matter, marshalled some of its glamorous resources to put on the Verdi REQUIEM? For the time being, we have to be grateful for the New York Philharmonic and its Music Director Alan Gi...

Moffatt Oxenbould's (Director) staging of MADAMA BUTTERFLY is revived by Matthew Barclay (Revival Director) to share this doomed love story with new audiences. Whilst other operas presented by Opera Australia in their 2015 season have been re-imaginings, changing locations and eras, MADAMA BUTTERFL...

Once upon a time, the Met used to be able to pull off an operetta, like the Rudolf Bing-era FLEDERMAUS, with its Garson Kanin libretto and lyrics by Broadway's Howard Dietz. But for the second year in a row--after last season's dire FLEDERMAUS from writer Douglas Carter Beane and director Jeremy Sam...

The idea of finding your voice is a two way street in the world premiere one-hour opera PENNY. Composer Douglas Pew and librettist Dara Weinberg have created a succinct, lyrical piece in which their title character discovers her talent for music and is able to communicate and take charge of her life...

Is there another staple of major opera houses that's as big a mess as LES CONTES D'HOFFMAN by Jacques Offenbach? If there is, I can't think of it--but it doesn't keep it from being wildly enjoyable in the right hands. The Met's current production is entertaining, in spite of itself....