Opera Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 15

BWW Review: Stravinsky's RAKE Progresses Briefly at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - June 06, 2022

While I was watching the Met’s current beautiful yet somehow languid production of the Igor Stravinsky and WH Auden/Chester Kallman opera THE RAKE’S PROGRESS the other night--with only two more performances until it goes back into mothballs for probably many years--I couldn’t help wishing that the o...

BWW Review: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at Opera Wroclaw
by Natalia Jarczynska - June 02, 2022

This opera buffa composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the piece produced by the Wrocław Opera as part of the Opera Of The Young program after Don Giovanni and Cossi Fan Tutte. Director André Heller-Lopes put on a very classic show with superb set design by Renato Theobaldo. It is red and g...

BWW Review: New HAMLET Makes Its Mark at the Met with Stellar Cast, Impressive Production
by Richard Sasanow - May 30, 2022

Is there another Shakespearean drama filled with as many quotable quotes as “Hamlet” (even when they’re used out of context and given a foreign meaning)? But “To be or not to be” is surely the most referenced and, certainly, in the new operatic HAMLET currently at the Met by Brett Dean and Matthew J...

BWW Review: AKHNATEN at the Met Opera
by George Weinhouse - May 26, 2022

One of the greatest successes of recent Met seasons is Philip Glass's AKHNATEN, first seen in 2019.I saw it three times that year and fell under its spell each time.It is being revived this season....

BWW Review: CARMEN at The Kennedy Center
by Rachael F. Goldberg - May 24, 2022

While this production of 'Carmen' is very traditional on its face, the thoughtfulness and sheer talent packed into this performance elevates it to something far more engaging, and absolutely enchanting. It’s more than worthy of audiences’ time, and hopefully WNO’s fresh interpretation will help audi...

BWW Review: Odyssey Records Recording of HENRY VIII by Saint-Saens
by George Weinhouse - May 20, 2022

A new recording of Saint-Saens's opera HENRY VIII, by Odyssey Opera, has come my way. It is a complete version of the work which is dated 1883. Odyssey Opera is a company dedicated to the performance of operas that are out of the mainstream but are deemed worthy of recognition. ...

BWW Review: San Diego Opera's Production of AGING MAGICIAN at The Balboa Theatre Shows Off Magical Mystery
by Ron Bierman - May 20, 2022

'What the hell was that?' an opera fan asked her friend as we shuffled into a parking-garage elevator. Not an easily answered question after a viewing of AGING MAGICIAN. Ambiguity abounds and reality is mixed with fantasy. The reality side is clear, mostly. Harold is a middle-aged watch repairman...

BWW Review: CARMEN at Minnesota Opera
by Jared Fessler - May 12, 2022

Featuring some of the most popular music to ever grace the opera stage, Minnesota Opera's Carmen brings every aspect of Bizet's thrilling tale to life, from its tantalizing beginning to its devastating climax....

BWW Review: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at McCaw Hall
by Erica Miner - May 08, 2022

If ever an opera could be described as “easy listening” and flawlessly engaging, Figaro would qualify hands down...

Review: Nina Campos, with Guest Gerald Santos, In Concert at Pinto Art Museum
by Vince Vicentuan - May 04, 2022

A summer night couldn’t be more propitious: an amphitheatre sitting loftily atop rugged Antipolo terrains adorned with humongous homalomenas, philodendrons, and alocasias growing uninterruptedly, a buzzing crowd of guests gushing over the museum’s Castillan-influenced architecture jutting into the n...

BWW Review: (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS by Bates and Campbell under Zvulun Closes the Circle on Apple's Creation
by Richard Sasanow - May 03, 2022

On Saturday night, Version 2.0 of the Mason Bates-Mark Campbell opera, THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS, opened brilliantly as a mainstage production of the Atlanta Opera, in its East Coast premiere, under Tomer Zvulun’s taut direction and Michael Christie’s smart baton. To say the audience greeted th...

BWW Review: Soprano Nadine Sierra Makes a Splash – and a Splat – in Bloody New Simon Stone LUCIA at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - April 27, 2022

Well, no one can say that the Met doesn’t have guts. After the tepid response that subscribers gave its Las Vegas version of Verdi’s RIGOLETTO by Michael Mayer, no one would have suspected that they’d come up with a version of Donizetti’s LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR that made anything else it’s produced loo...

BWW Review: LA TRAVIATA's Powerhouse Cast and Crew Provide a Timeless, Stunning Production of The Verdi Classic at the Canadian Opera Company
by Isabella Perrone - April 27, 2022

The Canadian Opera Company marked its return-to-stage after nearly two years with this all-around stunning production of one of Verdi’s most well-known works. Clocking in at just shy of three hours, the four-act opera tells the tale of Parisian courtesan Violetta (Amina Edris, making her COC debut) ...

BWW Review: Joyce DiDonato's EDEN is a Little Less than Paradise at Carnegie Hall
by Richard Sasanow - April 25, 2022

Joyce DiDonato’s recitals-as-events--where she introduces her personal philosophies as well as her art into the evening--have their ups and downs. Sometimes they are marvelous. Saturday night at Carnegie Hall, the concert, directed by Marie Lambert-Le Bihan with lighting by John Torres, that also se...

BWW Review: On Site Opera Is Back Performing Live and In-Person--and It's No GIANNI Come Lately
by Richard Sasanow - April 14, 2022

Celebrating its 10th anniversary season, On Site Opera gave its audiences a present: The lively, fun-filled GIANNI SCHICCHI--the only comedy in Puccini’s trifecta, IL TRITTICO, which had its world premiere at the Met in 1918 and is surely its most popular of the triptych of one-acts. Of course, the ...

BWW Review: THE PEARL FISHERS Proves to Be a Real Catch at The Dallas Opera
by Zac Thriffiley - April 06, 2022

The Dallas Opera's production of Bizet's THE PEARL FISHERS acts as a satisfying palate cleanser, providing the talent audiences have come to expect from the company as well as a dream of a show....

BWW Review: UCO Opera's THE CONSUL Is a Haunting Tale of Caution
by Adrienne Proctor - April 05, 2022

UCO's opera department offers a cautionary tale. The Consul tells the story of one family trying to escape a country they can no longer call home. Though it ran on Broadway in 1950, it brings to mind current images that are seen on the news every night. Parallels to refugees and the bureaucratic sys...

BWW Review: Stemme and Davidsen Do a Fine Sister Act in ELEKTRA by Strauss at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - April 03, 2022

Richard Strauss’s ELEKTRA is simply overwhelming--particularly when you have Nina Stemme and, especially, Lise Davidsen, as the title character and her sister Chrysothemis, ably abetted by Greer Grimsley as their brother, Orest, and an incredible supporting cast top to bottom....

BWW Review: San Diego Opera's Creative and Effective ROMEO AND JULIET
by Ron Bierman - April 02, 2022

Gounod’s overture introduces ROMEO AND JULIET with a prophetic mix of lyrical romance and tragedy. Yves Abel, the Principal Conductor of the San Diego Opera, is an expert in French opera and made sure that resonant brass and lush strings produced the mood a Parisian composer of the time would have f...

BWW Review: EUGENE ONEGIN at the Metropolitan Opera
by George Weinhouse - March 29, 2022

The 2013 production of Tchaikovsky's Pushkin-inspired opera EUGENE ONEGIN has triumphantly returned to the Met. I attended the final dress rehearsal and can attest to the fact that the story of Tatyana's infatuation with, and later rejection of, the eponymous 'hero' is vocally in superb hands. Both ...

BWW Review: Technology Is in Control as We UPLOAD the Future at the Park Avenue Armory
by Richard Sasanow - March 24, 2022

I couldn’t help thinking of a new science fiction-comedy series on Amazon during the local premiere of UPLOAD, the opera by Michel van der Aa at the Park Avenue Armory on Tuesday. Both had the same name. Both explore a near future where technology controls everything, including the afterlife, as a p...

BWW Review: Timeless Myths from MOUNTAINS & SEAS Mesmerize St. Ann's Audience
by Richard Sasanow - March 17, 2022

Another work salvaged from this year’s Covid-aborted Prototype Festival has shown up in New York--at Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse, this time--and it couldn’t have been further away from the last I experienced, Taylor Mac’s THE HANG, if it tried. BOOK OF MOUNTAINS & SEAS is the work of composer/lib...

BWW Review: Dazzling RODELINDA Proves the Met's Not Too Big To Handle Handel
by Richard Sasanow - March 14, 2022

If Friday night’s performance of Handel’s RODELINDA sometimes seemed like it was never going to end--it was quickly approaching the witching hour by the time the curtain calls were over, having started at 7:30--it certainly wasn’t the fault of the cast but Handel himself and librettist Nicola Haym. ...

BWW Review: You Know How to WHISTLE – Put Sondheim's Score in the Right Hands, As MasterVoices Concert at Carnegie Hall Showed
by Richard Sasanow - March 13, 2022

The original title of the Sondheim-Laurents ANYONE CAN WHISTLE was THE NATIVES ARE RESTLESS, though the crowd at Carnegie Hall on Thursday for the MasterVoices concert performance of the trouble musical were hardly fidgety. They were willing and able to sit through the cockamamie book and story Arth...

BWW Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE at Des Moines Metro Opera
by DC Felton - March 10, 2022

I love seeing in the arts when a company takes a classic work and reimagines it for a modern audience. This often allows for more imaginative and innovative production that brings a brand new audience to your company. As they begin their 50th Season, Des Moines Metro Opera brings Wolfgang Amadeus Mo...