Opera Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 36

BWW REVIEW: Incredibly Moving, Contemporary Opera PECAN SUMMER Brings Australian History To The Sydney Opera House
by Jade Kops - September 17, 2016

Deborah Cheetham's (Music and Libretto) moving contemporary Australian Opera PECAN SUMMER blends classical stylings with the heart wrenching truth of a not too distant past....

BWW Review: A Hypnotic Rod Gilfry Is No LOSER in David Lang's 'Next Wave' Premiere at BAM
by Richard Sasanow - September 13, 2016

While listening to baritone Rod Gilfry's masterful, mesmerizing performance in the world premiere of David Lang's monodrama, THE LOSER, at BAM's “Next Wave Festival,” I thought I could listen to him sing the telephone book. Come to think of it, he came pretty close to that, at BAM's Howard Gilman Op...

BWW Review: New York City Opera's PAG Ditches CAV for Rachmaninoff's ALEKO
by Richard Sasanow - September 12, 2016

After hearing Leoncavallo's I PAGLIACCI, on New York City Opera's new double bill with Rachmaninoff's ALEKO, I'll never think of it the same way again....

BWW Review: PUCCINI SPECTACULAR Presented Selections From Nine Operas In Two hours
by Barry Lenny - September 03, 2016

This was an evening of nothing but highlights....

BWW Review: The MUNY Closes with Exceptional AIDA
by Chris Gibson - August 11, 2016

On a beautiful summer evening, under a half moon sky, and with a gentle breeze wafting through the air, nothing could compare to seeing the final show of the season at The MUNY. They close with yet another stellar selection that's filled with flair and grace. This was especially important and eviden...

BWW Review: Elza van den Heever Thrills in Her 'Date' with Beethoven's FIDELIO at Caramoor
by Richard Sasanow - August 04, 2016

South African soprano Elza van den Heever has long had a 'date' with Beethoven's Leonore, in his only completed opera FIDELIO. It wasn't exactly a blind date—she has known for years that, eventually, she would take it on, she told me—but it was a roaring success in her role debut, at the Venetian T...

BWW Review: Passions Blaze in Union Avenue's TOSCA
by Steve Callahan - August 02, 2016

The Union Avenue Opera just keeps presenting wonders! Their current production, Puccini's 'Tosca', is among the very best of their best-musically, vocally and in production values....

BWW Review: An Evening with the Divine Mr. M(ozart) at Lincoln Center
by Richard Sasanow - July 29, 2016

The opening program for this year's Mostly Mozart Festival—the 50th--at David Geffen Hall may not have offered any new insights into the mind of the genius composer or uncovered any long-lost masterpiece not heard in 200 years. On the other hand, it was filled with wonderful music, inspired singing ...

BWW Review: Bard SummerScape Tackles Mascagni's Little-Known IRIS
by Richard Sasanow - July 28, 2016

It probably would have been worth the trip to Bard SummerScape's production of Pietro Mascagni's IRIS—last heard at the Met in 1931--simply to make the acquaintance of soprano Talise Trevigne. Through much suffering and indignity, Trevigne sang the title role in a luxurious, plush-voiced, physical p...

BWW REVIEW: Sir David McVicar' COSI FAN TUTTE Draws Out The Darkness Beneath Mozart's Beautiful Music
by Jade Kops - July 20, 2016

McVicar's beautiful vision is paired with the wonderful voices of five of Australia's and one of America's finest singers and the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra to expose the disturbing attitudes that unfortunately still prevail....

BWW Review: Mesmerizing, Tantalizing PARADISE at Lincoln Center Festival
by Richard Sasanow - July 18, 2016

“The word and genre 'opera' is much broader and more inclusive in the 21st century than it was in the past,” says Huang Ruo, composer/co-librettist of PARADISE INTERRUPTED, his mesmerizing, tantalizing opera that was one of the opening selections of this year's Lincoln Center Festival....

BWW Reviews: LA TRAVIATA at the Isaac Theatre Royal
by Sam Jury - July 16, 2016

Giuseppe Verdi's operatic masterpiece La Traviata opened triumphantly at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch last night to a capacity audience. This production marks a welcome return by New Zealand Opera to the theatre that, following an extensive restoration from the Canterbury earthquakes of t...

BWW Review: Union Avenue Opera turns THE MIKADO 'Topsey Turvey'
by Steve Callahan - July 13, 2016

A simply splendid production of 'The Mikado' has opened at the Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis....

BWW Review: SONGS FROM BEHIND THE FRONT Recalls The Horrors Of World War One
by Barry Lenny - July 11, 2016

Songs From Behind the Front was presented by State Opera as part of the Flanders Fields Poppy Trail commemorations....

BWW Review: St. Petersburg Opera Company's Impressive, Briskly-Paced SOUTH PACIFIC
by Peter Nason - July 05, 2016

Incredibly strong singing voices and an astounding orchestra guided by conductor Mark Sforzini make for a top-flight production....

BWW Review: ROMEO & JULIET Ennobles at MetOpera
by Matt Hanson - July 05, 2016

Sir Kenneth MacMillan silenced the Bard to the wordless storytelling of corporeal movement. His three-act Romeo & Juliet remounted at MetOpera this June 20-25, ennobled by three decades in American Ballet Theatre repertory....

BWW Review: Down the River with Catan's FLORENCIA at New York City Opera
by Richard Sasanow - June 30, 2016

If you're a fan of Puccini-esque music and the “magic realism” of the great Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Daniel Catan's FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS may be for you. Others might find the opera--which had its New York premiere at New York City Opera's home at Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose The...

BWW Review: THE GONDOLIERS - Comic Opera At Its Finest
by Lynn Beaver - June 28, 2016

BWW Review: THE GONDOLIERS - Comic Opera At Its Finest Celebrating its 40th year, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Austin brings us a world class production of THE GONDOLIERS. A sumptuous feast for the senses, the entire show is on point perfection....

BWW Review: PATIENCE & SARAH Shines Light on Women in Love in 19th-Century New England
by Richard Sasanow - June 28, 2016

PATIENCE & SARAH—at least in the production of this chamber opera seen this past week at the Players Theatre in Greenwich Village, as part of the New York Opera Fest and 18 years after its premiere at Lincoln Center Festival—is a beautiful but somewhat lopsided affair. While it tells of the love sha...

BWW Review: The Met's SummerStage Recital Has a Date with an 'Angel'
by Richard Sasanow - June 27, 2016

The weather, the stars and “the stars” aligned the other night in Central Park, when the Metropolitan Opera performed its annual recital at SummerStage. Usually home to more pop culture performers, it turned out to be the perfect venue for introductions to some unfamiliar yet striking performers, in...

BWW Review: THE MAGIC FLUTE at ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre
by Sam Jury - June 23, 2016

New Zealand Opera's new production of Mozart's final opera The Magic Flute is an absolute delight. The Magic Flute (or Die Zauberflote) tells the story of Prince Tamino's quest for his Princess Pamina through a fairytale dream-world where she is held captive by the wizard Sarastro. Aided by his impu...

BWW Review: On Site Opera's FIGARO a Charming Diversion that's Not Mozart
by Richard Sasanow - June 20, 2016

“Bride's side or groom's? I'm Count Almaviva,” said the elegant actor as we entered what, we are told, is the Count's summer palace. “Bride's side or groom's?” says the seductive brunette in a bath towel, stepping out of the tub. She introduces herself as the Countess, Rosina. Upstairs, downstairs, ...

BWW Review: LoftOpera's LE COMTE ORY - The Most Fun You Can Have in a (Not) Opera House
by Richard Sasanow - June 17, 2016

Children of All Ages! In the center ring was a death-defying feat of legerdemain guaranteed to bring a smile to your face, a tap to your toe and an audience to its feet. And for all those new-opera fanatics who think that the 19th century doesn't have anything to say to a Millennials--LoftOpera bro...

BWW Review: Opera Theatre of St. Louis Offers a Powerful World Premiere of SHALIMAR THE CLOWN
by Steve Callahan - June 14, 2016

Salman Rushdie's tale of love and vengeance becomes a powerful opera in this commissioned work at Opera Theatre of St. Louis....

BWW Review: CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA & PAGLIACCI, Birmingham Hippodrome, June 2016
by Emma Cann - June 10, 2016

To celebrate their 70th anniversary, Welsh National Opera returns to the Birmingham Hippodrome to perform Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci; the same operas the company performed for their debut performance. A novice opera-goer, I was intrigued to experience the opulence and spectacle of the WNO...