Opera Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 44

BWW Reviews: DiDonato Trades Pyrotechnics for Mood on A JOURNEY THROUGH VENICE at Carnegie Hall
by Richard Sasanow - November 10, 2014

With a pair of soulful arias by Vivaldi, mezzo Joyce DiDonato and her pianist David Zobel let the audience know right away that they were in for a different part of her artistry than we heard at her concert performance of Handel's ALCINA (also at Carnegie) a week earlier. With an emphasis on thought...

BWW Reviews: Britten's RIVER of No Return at Lincoln Center's White Light Festival
by Richard Sasanow - November 06, 2014

“Ideas of darkness and light, obscurity and illumination” are at the heart of the Benjamin Britten-William Plomer CURLEW RIVER. Called “a parable for church performance,” it was performed in New York at the Synod of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, as part of Lincoln Center's White Light Festiv...

BWW Reviews: Mozart on Marimbas, Trumpet and Drums Make This South African FLUTE Magic, Indeed
by Richard Sasanow - November 04, 2014

The Metropolitan Opera may have its spectacular Julie Taymor production of THE MAGIC FLUTE, but the real fun in town is the Mozart at the new Victory Theatre on West 42nd Street, where the South African Isango Ensemble is in residence....

BWW Reviews: Washington National Opera Crafts Gorgeous Production of Puccini's LA BOHÈME
by Heather Nadolny - November 03, 2014

With its universal themes, stunning production design and soaring voices, the Washington National Opera's newest production of La boheme is a beautiful night at the opera....

BWW Reviews: Sorcery from DiDonato and English Concert at Carnegie Hall in Handel's ALCINA
by Richard Sasanow - October 31, 2014

The great mezzo Joyce DiDonato stripped for her art at Sunday's wonderful performance of Handel's ALCINA with the English Concert under conductor Harry Bicket. For the first act, when she was still at the height of her powers as a sorceress, she came out in a gorgeous black and gray gown with the pu...

BWW Reviews: OTELLO Comes Into The Twenty First Century
by Barry Lenny - October 28, 2014

Once again, the State Opera Company of South Australia is offering a superior production that is sure to please Adelaide's opera lovers....

BWW Reviews: Playing with Fire at the Met's Premiere of John Adams's THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER
by Richard Sasanow - October 25, 2014

Only someone who arrived convinced of the opera's bias could have found the Met's premiere of the John Adams-Alice Goodman THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER to be anti-Semitic. On the other hand, that doesn't mean that it's even-handed....

BWW Reviews: MASKED BALL in San Francisco
by Harmony Wheeler - October 20, 2014

Verdi was a master at crescendo. In "Masked Ball," the score foreshadows and defines even while characters defy fate. As Count Anckarstrom laments his wife's betrayal in the opera's third act, the harp and violin take turn in old romance and revenge, building to a grand determination. Like Verdi's "...

BWW Reviews: Here, There, Everywhere - All Over Town with PRETTY YENDE
by Richard Sasanow - October 20, 2014

Pretty Yende--a name that in itself brings certain expectations as well as smiles--burst on the New York opera scene at the start of 2013, in a baptism by fire. At just 27, the South African soprano from Piet Retief, Mpumalanga memorably stepped into one of the lead roles in the revival of Rossini's...

BWW Reviews: Cancellations Galore Don't Put a Damper on the Richard Tucker Gala at Avery Fisher Hall
by Richard Sasanow - October 17, 2014

Soprano Anna Netrebko was AWOL. Tenor Marcello Giordani wasn't there. Mezzo Isabel Leonard didn't make it either. At least tenor Richard Tucker (1913-1975) had the best excuse for not being at Avery Fisher Hall on Sunday evening. But, as they say “the show must go on”--and the annual gala of The Ric...

BWW Reviews: CRUZAR LA CARA DE LA LUNA - A Crowd-Pleasing Exercise in Pop Opera
by Herbert Paine - October 14, 2014

Arizona Opera goes pop with its presentation of the soi-disant mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna....

BWW Reviews: RIGOLETTO By Oh! Is A Beautiful Opera Of Love
by Katricia Lang - October 14, 2014

These characters are awful, foolish people, and I hate them. Let me illustrate. Just for kicks, the Duke of Mantua, with the help of his court jester, Rigoletto, seduces Countess Ceprano, wife of Count Ceprano. After helping the Duke bed the countess, Rigoletto spends a good portion of time mocking ...

BWW Reviews: Stellar Production, Good Cast Still Don't Add Up to MAGIC at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - October 13, 2014

A little slapstick here, a little mysticism there, some knockout arias, a love story, parental conflict--put them all together and you have Mozart's DIE ZAUBERFLOTE--better known in these parts as THE MAGIC FLUTE. Add a good cast and a spectacular production with wonderful effects, flying boys, Bunr...

BWW Reviews: That Was No Lady, That Was Netrebko, in Verdi's MACBETH at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - October 13, 2014

Ever since I heard Anna Netrebko's “Verdi” album last year, which highlighted excerpts from the operatic treatment of Shakespeare's MACBETH, I knew her Verdi was the real deal and couldn't wait for her to take on the full Lady Macbeth on stage. Her performances in the Adrian Noble production current...

BWW Reviews: RENE PAPE Recital at the Met a Matter of Life and Death
by Richard Sasanow - October 06, 2014

The wonderful German singer Rene Pape made history when he made his recital debut at the Met last week—the first bass to perform a solo program at the house. He showed off his dexterity with languages, singing in German, Russian and English, and his ability to move from art songs to musical comedy, ...

BWW Reviews: I Capuleti e i Montecchi Soars at Washington Concert Opera
by Keith Tittermary - October 01, 2014

I Capuleti e i Montecchi, the two act Italian opera by Vincenzo Bellini, is a delightful and tragic retelling fn those famous Shakespearean star-crossed lovers. Although the libretto (by Felice Romani) is based not on the original Shakespeare, but a combination of Italian adaptations, most notably t...

BWW Reviews: Met Takes New FIGARO in Marriage for Season Opener
by Richard Sasanow - September 30, 2014

More than most stagings of Mozart's LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, the new Richard Eyre production that opened the season at the Met made it hard to remember that the miserable duo who head the household were the happy couple of Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA....

BWW Interview: FIGARO's Isabel Leonard -- The Girl, the Boy and the Voice
by Richard Sasanow - September 29, 2014

'Cherubino is crazy in some ways, in good ways,' says Isabel Leonard, who is singing the role of the young male page in the Almaviva household in the Metropolitan Opera's new Richard Eyre production of LE NOZZE DI FIGARO. 'He sees everything in Technicolor, eyes wide open, taking everything in, not...

BWW Reviews: TWISTED Enthralls Columbus on Opening Night
by Amanda Etchison - September 26, 2014

From the first bombastic notes of Richard Wagner's "Prelude to Act III from Lohengrin" to the last pieces of gold confetti raining down onto the stage after the show-stopping finale, "Twisted: A Trio of Excellence" delighted opening night audiences with a unique fusion of movement and sound set to c...

BWW Reviews: Skylight Fabulously Re-Fashions Rossini's CINDERELLA
by Peggy Sue Dunigan - September 24, 2014

Think fairytales can be out of fashion? Please think again. Fairytales represent stories beloved and valued by every culture for untold centuries. So when a contemporary, in high fashion fairytale opens the 2014-2015 Skylight Music Theatre's 56th season bringing Milwaukee 'Fairytales and Fantasy' u...

BWW Reviews: World Premiere of TEST PILOT Finds Moments of Flight
by Libby Ryan - September 22, 2014

Test Pilot, a world premiere dance opera co-created by Penelope Freeh and Jocelyn Hagen, opened at the O'Shaughnessy Theater in Saint Paul on September 12 as a part of the Women of Substance series at St. Catherine University....

BWW Reviews: Isango Ensemble Brings Magical Stagecraft to Mozart's MAGIC FLUTE
by Jeffrey Walker - September 16, 2014

Offering a South African spin on Mozart's beloved opera, the Isango Ensemble brings simple stagecraft and a unique musical flair to Washington for a limited run. Performing in repertory with Shakespeare's VENUS AND ADONIS for a limited run, Isango displays their expert ensemble in a must-see produc...

BWW Reviews: NOLI ME TANGERE OPERA Manila
by Oliver Oliveros - September 14, 2014

So how do you sell a show that was conceived and first staged more than 50 years ago--an opera at that --to a younger audience who probably haven't even heard of Verdi, Puccini, or Maria Callas? The much-awaited return of the Filipino stage classic seems to be tackling just that....

BWW Reviews: Opera Australia and John Frost's THE KING AND I
by Emma Cambey - September 15, 2014

Before Thursday's opening night, Opera Australia and John Frost's revival of the Rodger and Hammerstein classic musical The King and I was already a resounding success following positive reviews during it's run in Melbourne, impressive advanced ticket sales and a Helpmann Award for Best Musical. It ...

BWW Reviews: SF Opera's SUSANNAH a Stunning Masterpiece
by Harmony Wheeler - September 11, 2014

Set in Tennessee around the time of the Dust Bowl, 'Susannah' takes its inspiration from a story in the book of Daniel. Composer Carlisle Floyd's decision to remove the original's redemptive prophet seems to condemn Christianity, but also gives his revised version the dramatic thrust needed to explo...