OPERA THEATER REVIEWS

The 17th and 18th centuries rode roughshod over the programming at the 92NY the other night, when that brilliant British baroque ensemble, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, and superb guest soloist, soprano Julia Bullock, bathed the audience in the warmth of what itself acknowledged was a l...

The New York premiere of the Christopher Cerrone/Stephanie Fleischmann opera IN A GROVE, in Mary Birnbaum’s simply beautiful—or beautifully simple—production triumphed at La Mama Experimental Theatre Club on Saturday as part of the Prototype Festival. It is inspired by Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s ...

It’s a mistake to dismiss Claus Guth’s production of Janacek’s Jenůfa as symbolically overwrought and interminably grey. Look closer and you’ll discover a duality to each beguiling appearance....

The lobby of the HERE Theatre in SoHo was buzzing after Saturday’s performance of the new opera EAT THE DOCUMENT—not just for the performance we’d just watched but for the memories of the age that the piece evoked for many in the audience. Based on the novel of the same name by Dana Spiotta, D...

Someone at the Met should have been giving out flu shots (before RFK Junior makes them illegal), because something is obviously going around the cast of the new AIDA. They should have handed out a scorecard to help the audience keep track of who-was-who....

Angelina Jolie is compelling in a movie that concentrates on the misery to the exclusion of almost everything else in the diva's life...

Macabre and spectacular, this is Christmas fare as it once was and should still be, fully trusting its audience. ...

Richard Strauss’s DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN (THE WOMAN WITHOUT A SHADOW), with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, Hugo von Hofmannsthal, has made a triumphant return to the Met with a stellar cast and the Met Orchestra in peak form under Yannick Nezet-Seguin. It dazzled and glowed like few oth...

Sarah Tipple brings the comedic opera to life with gloriously ridiculous period costumes, an outstanding cast and an abstract set that mirrors the plot’s absurdism with precision....

Malevolence, greed, the thirst for power and the never-ending quest for revenge dominate the Washington National Opera production of composer Giuseppe Verdi’s Macbeth. The vocals by the company of classical singers assembled here are the glory of this production....

​​​​​​​Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be. That’s the hypothesis of Harry Fehr’s new iteration of The Elixir Of Love, a self-reflexive swipe on 1970s sitcoms drunk on the saccharine sentimentalism of second world war triumphalism. Pip pip. Tally ho....

Words run out, as The Voice is lost and recovered...

There are only three more performances, so book quickly....

Damiano Michieletto brings plenty of pizzazz to Offenbach's crowdpleaser, but wastes some of his on-stage talents...

What did our critic think of SAN DIEGO OPERA PRESENTS LA BOHÈME at San Diego Civic Center? San Diego Opera celebrated the opening of its 60th season with Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème, the same opera the company staged to open its first season. Its magnificent melodies, a touchingly tragic love s...

As usual, the gala concert of the Richard Tucker Music Foundation started off with an interloper from the golden age of opera: Richard Tucker himself, singing Mascagni’s “Addio alla Madre” from CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA. A tough act to follow for those singing live at Carnegie Hall, but happily no ...

I must admit that the Met’s current revival of IL TROVATORE--with RIGOLETTO and TRAVIATA, considered the great creations of Verdi’s middle period--made me think of another masterwork, “A Night at the Opera,” my favorite of the movies by those champions of silliness, the Marx Brothers....

There’s no shame in pulling an old favourite from the vaults but Jonathan Miller’s 1982 gangster-themed production is firing blanks in this latest revival....

What did our critic think of CARMEN at Polish National Opera?...

The Washington National Opera’s production of Beethoven’s Fidelio is a triumph of elegant, efficient style and directorial finesse. Director Francesca Zambello re-invigorates the somewhat uninspired libretto by Joesph Von Sonnleithner with a vigor and intelligence that envelops this tale of valo...

'Gods & Mortals: A Celebration of Wagner' is a beautiful, if limited, array of performances and works highlighting both the composer and Kennedy Center’s own wonderful talent....

Opera Atelier’s production of G. F. Handel’s Acis and Galatea was a fun and fresh take on an opera that has delighted audiences since its premiere in 1718. Handel referred to it as his “little opera.” This production is a very “user-friendly” introduction to Baroque opera and historicall...

Vocally and musically, the Canadian Opera Company's production of Gounod's Faust directed by Amy Lane was a sumptuous feast for the ears. While elegant, The restrained production values didn't quite sell the delights of debauchery, leaving the well-known story's premise somewhat flat....

With the size of theatrical orchestras being drastically cut, one of the few places left to hear a full string section is at a symphonic concert. What better symphony is there than YOUR National Symphony Orchestra (NSO)?...

Osvaldo Golijov’s AINADAMAR, which made its Met debut this week, with a libretto translated by the composer from the English original by David Henry Hwang, isn’t the first Spanish language opera at the Met, but it’s certainly the first to sound that way. Read the review. ...