Opera Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 28

BWW Review: I Like MOZART. Does That Make Me a Bad Person?
by Richard Sasanow - August 16, 2018

Lincoln Center's MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL is over for the season and finished up with a program that was an oddity because it wasn't mostly Mozart (or no Mozart) but all Mozart. Well, hooray for the 18th century. I was happy to be back in the bosom of the festival's namesake. Does that make me a bad p...

BWW Review: Forget Mozart. It is THE FORCE OF THINGS that Begs Our Attention
by Richard Sasanow - August 09, 2018

Ashley Fure's and Adam Fure's THE FORCE OF THINGS: AN OPERA FOR OBJECTS--one of this week's unusual attractions at Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival--took place at Brooklyn's Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet. As far as I could tell, that first sentence was filled with misnomers: no ...

BWW Review: Glimmerglass VIXEN is a Cunning Take on a Moral Tale
by Richard Sasanow - July 27, 2018

Anyone who loves Leos Janacek's gorgeous but grim operas--JENUFA, KATYA KABANOVA, MAKROPOLOUS--might be surprised by THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN. It's being presented, now through August, in a handsome production at the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY....

BWW Review: L'ITALIANA IN ALGERI at Santa Fe Opera
by Maria Nockin - July 26, 2018

Daniela Mack is Isabella, an Italian pilot, who makes an emergency landing in Algiers and is captured by its ruler, the Bey. He wants an Italian girl for a wife but she loves Lindoro, the Bey's Italian slave. L'ITALIANA has lots of good bel canto singing and plenty of comedy to keep you smiling all...

BWW Review: The WEST SIDE of the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, NY
by Richard Sasanow - July 25, 2018

Yes, it's still the Leonard Bernstein centennial and what better way to celebrate than at the Glimmerglass Festival with WEST SIDE STORY. It remains a unique creation, the collaboration of four geniuses: Bernstein himself, of course, Jerome Robbins (choreographer-director), Arthur Laurents (book) an...

BWW Review: A Weekend in the Country at Glimmerglass Festival, Part One, SILENT NIGHT
by Richard Sasanow - July 24, 2018

None of the three pieces that I saw at the Glimmerglass Festival near Cooperstown, NY, last weekend was exactly what it seemed to be: Is CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN a fairy story or a cautionary tale? Is WEST SIDE STORY simply in a class of its own? Does SILENT NIGHT find that war is hell—or that hell is s...

BWW Review: Call It Mishmash or MASS, Mostly Mozart Celebrates Bernstein Centennial
by Richard Sasanow - July 19, 2018

This week, Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival added its two-cents to the Leonard Bernstein centennial festivities, with the first of two performances of Bernstein's MASS: A THEATRE PIECE FOR SINGERS, PLAYS AND DANCERS, in an environmental production by Elkhanah Pulitzer....

BWW Review: H.M.S. Pinafore is a Bright, Merry Musical Romp!
by Steve Callahan - July 09, 2018

The Union Avenue Opera opens its 24th season with a splendid production of Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, and it brims with glorious music, wonderful voices, and bright, delightful, timeless comedy....

BWW Review: St. Petersburg Opera Presents Meredith Willson's THE MUSIC MAN at the Palladium
by Peter Nason - July 03, 2018

Fantastic barbershop quartet as well as the dance ensemble stand out in this production of the iconic musical....

BWW Review: MACBETH at STAATSOPER UNTER DEN LINDEN - Superstars Netrebko and Domingo miscast in a glittering new production of Verdi's MACBETH
by Mark Janicello - June 22, 2018

Currently, the world of opera is sorely lacking superstar talent. Last night, at the Staatsoper unter den Linden, three of the world's brightest classical-music talents came together in a very expensive, glittering new production of Verdi's MACBETH. Anna Netrebko, Placido Domingo and conductor Danie...

BWW Review: In Series Ends Season with THE EMPEROR OF ATLANTIS
by Roger Catlin - June 19, 2018

'Holocaust Opera' is probably not the most inviting description for the season ending offering for the In Series....

BWW Review: ORFEO & EURIDICE at OTSL Dazzles
by Steve Callahan - June 15, 2018

Orpheus could charm the very stones with his lyre and his singing. Just such magic can be seen on the stage of Opera Theatre St. Louis when Jennifer Johnson Cano portrays the mythical superstar in the company's current production. She gives an utterly stunning performance....

BWW Review: OKLAHOMA!, West Horsley Place
by Fiona Scott - June 09, 2018

Oh, what a beautiful evening in West Horsley! Grange Park Opera open their 2018 summer festival season with Rogers and Hammerstein's vintage musical (the first of its kind in 1943), set in the farming heartlands of America....

BWW Review: REGINA at Opera Theater Of St. Louis
by Joanna Barouch - June 04, 2018

For certain xenophobic East Coast opera lovers, the words 'St.Louis' and 'Opera' could seem like an oxymoron. However, this would be an invalid assumption....

BWW Review: DINNER Now Being Served at NYU's Opera Lab and American Opera Projects
by Richard Sasanow - June 02, 2018

What's left to say about Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party"--that milestone of 20th century feminist art now on permanent display at the Brooklyn Museum--that hasn't already been said? Actually, quite a bit, according to the students from the Opera Lab of NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Pr...

BWW Review: Same Time, Next BROKEBACK, Premiering at City Opera
by Richard Sasanow - June 01, 2018

At the opening of New York City Opera's US premiere production of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, with a libretto by Annie Proulx based on her short story, it was the score by Charles Wuorinen that knocked me out, with its intricacies, aural moodiness and exciting orchestration. Yet, there was hardly a moment t...

BWW Review: Opera Theatre St. Louis Gives Us An Utterly Flawless REGINA
by Steve Callahan - May 29, 2018

Opera Theatre St. Louis has produced many wonderful productions, and a handful of simply perfect ones. Their production of 'Regina' is among the latter....

BWW Review: Works Old and New Show THEA MUSGRAVE Still the Life of the Party
by Richard Sasanow - May 29, 2018

Now into her 10th decade, the venerable composer Thea Musgrave is still full-steam ahead. The Scotch-born musician celebrated her 90th birthday last night (May 27) at a New York concert with world premieres, US premieres and NY premieres....

BWW Review: The Washington National Opera's WNO GALA Pays Tribute to Leonard Bernstein
by Sam Abney - May 25, 2018

As both a celebration of the Washington National Opera and a culmination of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' Leonard Bernstein at 100 celebration, last weekend's Opera Gala definitely found success. While the evening had its share of disappointments (Titus Burgess of Unbreakable K...

BWW Review: TRAVIATA Triumphs at Opera Theatre of St. Louis
by Steve Callahan - May 22, 2018

Of all the composers in the world Giuseppe Verdi is by far the most popular. Of all the operas in the world his 'La traviata' is by far the most frequently performed. Have you missed out on this mega hit? You can fill in that cultural gap with the splendid production now offered by Opera Theatre of ...

BWW Review: THE PARK AVENUE CHAMBER SYMPHONY PERFORMS MAHLER'S 1ST SYMPHONY at The Church Of The Good Shepard
by Peter Danish - May 18, 2018

BWW Review: THE PARK AVENUE CHAMBER SYMPHONY PERFORMS MAHLER'S 1ST SYMPHONY at The Church Of The Good Shepard...

BWW Review: SAN DIEGO OPERA'S ONE AMAZING NIGHT at The Balboa Theater
by Ron Bierman - May 17, 2018

The San Diego Opera's last concert this season was billed as 'One Amazing Night.' The program was originally scheduled to feature soprano Lise Lindstrom and tenor Rene Barbera, but Barbera was released from his commitment when he was offered a Teatro alla Scala debut as Ernesto in a new production o...

BWW Review: It May Not Be Celestial but AIDA Reigns in Brooklyn at Feisty Regina Opera
by Richard Sasanow - May 16, 2018

While New York waits for Netrebko's house debut as Aida to the Met next year, we always have…Brooklyn? If you hurry, you can catch next weekend's matinees--it's a local company that knows its audience and schedules accordingly--at the feisty Regina Opera Company, which is featuring a surprisingly ef...

BWW Review: The Bantam of the Opera Strikes Again!
by Steve Callahan - May 15, 2018

For several seasons I've searched for a term to describe Gateway Opera. In a city flush with larger companies-Opera Theater St. Louis, Union Avenue Opera, and Winter Opera-which offer truly 'grand opera', what can one call this little company which gives us such delicious bite-sized treats? They're...

BWW Review: THE PEARL FISHERS at Adelaide Festival Theatre
by Barry Lenny - May 14, 2018

State Opera have a winning production in The Pearl Fishers....