Opera Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 27

BWW Review: Nothing Fishy about Replacement Baritone Elliott in PECHEURS at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - November 19, 2018

We thought things were exciting last week, when Christian Van Horn brought his Mefistofele to the Met last week, getting all his exercise for the month in the athletic staging and nailing his first big role in the house. However, that was “business as usual” compared to the mid-performance debut, ju...

BWW Review: A Devilishly Good Van Horn Steals MEFISTOFELE at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - November 12, 2018

The Met is offering Robert Carsen's 1999 production of Arrigo Boito's MEFISTOFELE to show us what bass-baritone Christian Van Horn--winner of this year's Richard Tucker Award--could do in his first starring role at the house and the answer was: plenty....

BWW Review: A Diverse Week at BAM's Next Wave Fest, Balancing Glass's SATYAGRAHA and a SAVAGE WINTER (REISE) without the Schubert
by Richard Sasanow - November 09, 2018

To say that this was an unusual week for opera-goers venturing into BAM's Next Wave Festival would be an understatement—but then the unexpected is what makes it is an indispensable component of the New York arts scene, with Philip Glass's SATYAGRAHA and Douglas J. Cuomo's SAVAGE WINTER....

BWW Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE at Opera Grand Rapids, Makes For a Magical Journey!
by Brian Hilbrand - October 31, 2018

A little over a week ago I attended my first opera, Opera Grand Rapids' production of The Magic Flute, a fairy tale with the traditional fairytale themes of love and of good versus evil. The show starts with Prince Tamino, played by Dennis Shuman, alone in the woods fleeing a deadly serpent. He fain...

BWW Review: LA TRAVIATA at Thorne Hall Occidental College
by Maria Nockin - October 29, 2018

On Sunday October 28, 2018, Pacific Opera Project (POP) presented Giuseppe Verdi's well-loved opera, LA TRAVIATA to a full house at Occidental College's Thorne Hall in Pasadena. Director and Designer Josh Shaw presented a traditional production with a unit set that spoke of flowers and the beauty of...

BWW Review: TOSCA at The Metropolitan Opera
by Peter Danish - October 28, 2018

BWW Review: TOSCA at Metropolitan Opera...

BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at the Civic Center Theater
by Ron Bierman - October 27, 2018

The San Diego Opera's production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro featured expressive singing, clever attractive sets, beautiful costumes, and strong comedic and dramatic acting. The work is generally called a comic opera, but as director Stephen Lawless pointed out during my interview with him, '...

BWW Review: LA CENERENTOLA, Bristol Hippodrome
by Leah Tozer - October 28, 2018

The music is magical, with all its coloratura, patter, and character from the principals, male chorus, and orchestra magnificently managed by Tomaš Hanus, but there's still some magic amiss in this staging from Welsh National Opera....

BWW Review: LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, London Coliseum
by Gary Naylor - October 26, 2018

Tragedy raw in tooth and claw in this revival of the ENO's 2008 production of Lucia di Lammermoor....

BWW Review: OPERA GRAND AVIGNON Presents LE NOZZE DI FIGARO
by Wesley Doucette - October 25, 2018

Avignon's Opéra Confluence is a challenging space, located some kilometers outside the town center near the TGV train station. It was recently constructed as a temporary theatre space while the city 19th century opera house undergoes significant restoration. The interior of the space resembles an ex...

BWW Review: Don't Cry for MARIA, Argentina... She's Here in the Big Apple Now!
by Richard Sasanow - October 24, 2018

Site-specific performances are the latest thing for opera companies wanting to venture into works that wouldn't comfortably fit in a 500-, 1000- (or more) seat theatre. New York City Opera has tried this in the past, but never in a venue quite as intimate or louche as Le Poisson Rouge on Bleecker St...

BWW Review: VERDI'S REQUIEM, Royal Opera House
by Sophia Lambton - October 24, 2018

Antonio Pappano's conducting of the work evoked gloom but didn't approach closely enough the more sinister subject of death....

Review: Netrebko and the Notorious RBG, Many Others, Make a Truly Gala Tucker Foundation Tribute to Winner Van Horn
by Richard Sasanow - October 24, 2018

Sometimes, it's nice to remember a time when opera was all about wonderful singing, singing and more singing. Sunday's annual concert of the Richard Tucker Foundation--celebrating the current winner of its top prize, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn--was a great salute to this artist in particular b...

BWW Review: Muhly's MARNIE, in Mayer's Cinematic Production, Is a 'Riddle, Wrapped in a Mystery, Inside an Enigma'
by Richard Sasanow - October 22, 2018

Nico Muhly's MARNIE, aided and abetted by Nicholas Wright's libretto, dramaturg Paul Cremo and the sweeping production of Michael Mayer--which had its US premiere Friday night at the Met--is that fabled “riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” Nothing is quite what it seems or results in ea...

BWW Review: Kaufmann Returns to the Met with a 'Heigh-ho Silver' in Puccini's FANCIULLA DEL WEST
by Richard Sasanow - October 19, 2018

Anyone who was expecting the equivalent of Bette Midler's arrival as Dolly in the Harmonia Gardens when Jonas Kaufmann finally returned to the Met, on October 17, after four years and some high-profile cancellations, must have been wildly disappointed. Oh sure, Kaufmann looked like a glamorous bucka...

BWW Review: Halloween Comes Early with Kallor's FRANKENSTEIN and Poe in Green-Wood Cemetery
by Richard Sasanow - October 14, 2018

I grew up with many versions of the Frankenstein story--some with greater nods to Mary Shelley's novel than others--spending Saturday afternoons being scared witless and loving every minute of it. But I was changed forever by Mel Brooks' YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, making it hard to come to the story of mon...

BWW Review: Lang's MILE-LONG OPERA is a Voyeur's Paradise on New York's High Line
by Richard Sasanow - October 05, 2018

THE MILE-LONG OPERA's composer David Lang says he is trying to expand the definition of what an opera is. Well, AIDA this ain't. If you live in New York, you might know the High Line, a modern elevated walkway built over abandoned railroad tracks that stretches from the West Village to the Westside ...

BWW Album Review: Renée Fleming Hits a High Note With New Album BROADWAY
by Tori Hartshorn - October 05, 2018

Genre is not a word that seems to be in Renee Fleming's vocabulary, just as her vocal ability does not confine her to a certain arena. The four time Grammy award winner graced the Broadway stage last season as Nettie in Rodgers and Hammerstein's CAROUSEL, opposite Jessie Mueller and Josh Henry. Not ...

BWW Review: PROVING Mazzoli's Place in the New Opera Scene at the Miller in New York
by Richard Sasanow - October 01, 2018

Missy Mazzoli had me with BREAKING THE WAVES, her 2016 opera written with librettist Royce Vavrek at Opera Philadelphia and PROTOTYPE 2017. With PROVING UP--same librettist and with a production also conceived by James Darrah--which had its New York debut this week at Columbia University's Miller th...

BWW Review: 'Losing Your Mind' Three Ways in a Weekend at Opera Philadelphia's Festival O18
by Richard Sasanow - September 26, 2018

Whether from disease, 19th century #MeToo-style abuse, or unrequited love, Opera Philadelphia's (OP) Festival O18 opening weekend showed us three ways that central female characters lost their grip on reality. While I considered only one of them a total success, audience openness to sometimes-demand...

BWW Review: Met Opera Season Opens with New SAMSON ET DALILA, in Crazy, Rich Philistine Style
by Richard Sasanow - September 25, 2018

Well, no one could accuse the opening of the Met's new season, with Darko Trasnjak's production of Saint-Saens' SAMSON ET DALILA, to Ferdinand Lemaire's libretto, of being drab. Starry, certainly. Over the top, definitely. Filled with feathers, absolutely. Call it “Crazy, Rich Philistines.”...

BWW Review: In Any Language, the London-Thoron HATUEY Brings Fire to Kasser Theatre at Montclair State
by Richard Sasanow - September 21, 2018

'A Ukrainian Jew walked into a bar in Havana....' Wait, haven't I heard this one before? Not by a longshot. HATUEY: MEMORY OF FIRE, the opera by Frank London and Elise Thoron, performed in Yiddish, English and Spanish, is a unique work that ambitiously crosses many creative lines in a work inspired ...

BWW Review: Bullock's Back and the [Other] Met's Got Her
by Richard Sasanow - September 18, 2018

Soprano Julia Bullock is at the Met in New York this year--but not necessarily the one that comes to mind when you're thinking about performances by an opera singer. It's the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she kicked off her year as Artist-in-Residence (2018-2019) on Saturday night with “History'...

BWW Review: Dell'Arte Opera Unlocks the Cypher of LA CIFRA by Salieri
by Richard Sasanow - August 27, 2018

Before there was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, there was Antonio Salieri. Today, most people only know the latter as a character in the play AMADEUS and its Oscar-winning film version, and not as head of all things musical in Vienna for decades and a prolific composer. You've got to give points to the sp...

BWW Review: A Powerful Production of Weill's 'Lost in the Stars' Closes Union Avenue's Season
by Steve Callahan - August 21, 2018

Kurt Weill's 'Lost in the Stars' brings a moving tale of South Africa to the Union Avenue Stage....