Opera Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 48

BWW Reviews: The Long and Short of It--DIE FLEDERMAUS and THE MAGIC FLUTE at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - January 09, 2014

Before seeing the Met's new production of Johann Strauss Jr.'s DIE FLEDERMAUS, directed by Jeremy Sams, on Saturday night, I listened to the afternoon's live broadcast of Mozart's THE MAGIC FLUTE. Both were written in German and performed in English to make them more palatable to their target audie...

BWW Reviews: Ignite Theatre Presents a Solid Show and Passionate Performances in AIDA!
by Michael Mulhern - January 10, 2014

I have to compliment Ignite Theatre for picking the talent needed to pull off the heavy, lead roles required for this show....

BWW Reviews: Verdi's 'Big Belly' Rumbles with Laughter in Met's New FALSTAFF
by Richard Sasanow - December 30, 2013

“Dying is easy; comedy is hard” says the old show business quip. If anything, opera comedy is even harder. Why is it so difficult? Because it offers so many opportunities to do a disservice to the composer, the artists and the art form in one fell swoop. However, Robert Carsen's antic new productio...

BWW Reviews: Jeanine Tesori's Opera, THE LION, THE UNICORN, AND ME, Debuts at Kennedy Center and Charms Audience
by Jennifer Perry - December 16, 2013

Fun for the whole family, this is a solid offering by the Washington National Opera....

BWW Reviews: For Damrau's Violetta, La Scala's New LA TRAVIATA is a Fate Worse Than Death
by Richard Sasanow - December 13, 2013

Just what the opera world needs: Another director who doesn't have an idea about what to do with an opera. How else could you explain the new Dmitri Tcherniakov production of Verdi's LA TRAVIATA that opened the season at Milan's La Scala, on Saturday December 7th? Seen in a HD broadcast from the Eme...

BWW Reviews: VOICES FOR RELIEF Typhoon Haiyan Fundraiser From Academy of Vocal Arts Alumni and Residents
by Marakay Rogers - December 12, 2013

Tenor Jeffrey Halili and fellow graduates and resident artists of Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts performed November 30 (and again on December 14) at Philadelphia's First Presbyterian for American Red Cross typhoon relief...

BWW Reviews: AVA's COSI FAN TUTTE Shows How To Do An Update That Works
by Marakay Rogers - December 03, 2013

The Academy of Vocal Arts performed an updated version of Mozart's comic opera that makes sense in its handling and boasts some fine performances...

BWW Reviews: MADAMA BUTTERFLY Returns to Adelaide for a Third Season
by Barry Lenny - November 26, 2013

The State Opera of South Australia are restaging the 1997 production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. It was last seen here in 2006 and so popular is this production that it is back again....

BWW Reviews: Very Little Night Music from the Met's DER ROSENKAVALIER
by Richard Sasanow - November 25, 2013

On Broadway, when a revival loses two out of three of its stars, the production might very well be put off until another season or, at worst, the producers might pack it in. In the opera world, companies don't have that luxury, particularly at a showplace like the Metropolitan Opera. Thus, we receiv...

BWW Reviews: Opera in the Heights' DON PASQUALE is Jovial Merriment
by David Clarke - November 23, 2013

Merriment and joviality are the key ingredients for Opera in the Height's production of Gaetano Donizetti's comedic opera DON PASQUALE. When DON PASQUALE first opened in 1843 it was instantly recognized as Gaetano Donizetti's masterpiece, and for many it still holds that distinction. In the classic...

BWW Reviews: DON CARLO Sounds Splendid But Misses Key Plot Points
by Jeff Davis - November 23, 2013

When it comes to operas by Giuseppe Verdi, Don Carlo has to be the most challenging one to produce. Which version do you use? The French version? The Italian translation? Given the over four hour running time of the full version, where do you make cuts, and why? And once you answer those questi...

BWW Reviews: White-Hot Antonacci Captivates White Light Festival with ERA LA NOTTE at Lincoln Center
by Richard Sasanow - November 18, 2013

Live from New York, it's soprano Anna Caterina Antonacci! Lucky for us. Antonacci is considered one of those distinctive, uncategorizable singers who show up every once in a while to excite and inspire us, but never quite find the broader acceptance they deserve. Thus, she doesn't sing at the Met an...

BWW Reviews: This FRAU Has No Shadow, But Plenty of Thrills at The Met
by Richard Sasanow - November 15, 2013

There are more famous operas than Richard Strauss's DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN (The Woman without a Shadow), but you won't find one that is more exciting when all the pieces--and there are lots of them--come together. The Met's production is one of those evenings in the opera house--not perfect but so t...

BWW Reviews: Back to the 18th Century with Labadie, Persson and the New York Philharmonic
by Richard Sasanow - November 12, 2013

Handel wrote over 1000 da capo arias—a musical mainstay of Italian baroque operas--during his career, but none more thrilling than “Let the Bright Seraphim.” The showpiece for soprano and piccolo trumpet, which comes at the very end of the oratorio SAMSON, was a joyous crowd-pleaser at the New York ...

BWW Reviews: Local Baritone Enlivens KC Lyric Opera's Smart New Production of THE MAGIC FLUTE
by Paul Proffett - November 12, 2013

Before the Kauffman Center for the Performing arts opened, co-productions with the likes of the San Francisco Opera seemed unthinkable, but now, the Lyric Opera teams with that company to present a new vision of THE MAJIC FLUTE....

BWW Reviews: Collegiate Chorale's MEFISTOFELE Makes a Deal with the Devil at Carnegie Hall
by Richard Sasanow - November 11, 2013

It's easy to see why the Collegiate Chorale chose Arrigo Boito's MEFISTOFELE for its season opener at Carnegie Hall last Wednesday. The opera, which is the only one completed by the librettist of Verdi's OTELLO and FALSTAFF, can't be mistaken for any other. Besides providing a rich score and marvelo...

BWW Reviews: SVADBA (Wedding) Makes US Premiere At Opera Philadelphia
by Marakay Rogers - November 09, 2013

The Queen of Puddings production of Ana Sokolovic's short opera made its US premiere at Opera Philadelphia with the assistance of FringeArts and a raucous reception...

BWW Reviews: Love! Sex! Torture! The Met's TOSCA Has Everything (Great Music, Too)
by Richard Sasanow - November 04, 2013

Maybe next time around, the Metropolitan Opera's General Manager Peter Gelb will hire film director Quentin Tarantino to do a production of Puccini's TOSCA. With its sordid story, self-involved diva and torture-happy, sex-crazed police chief--based on a Sarah Bernhardt vehicle by Victorien Sardou--t...

BWW Reviews: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE - A Fun Frolic on the Seas
by Tim Carney - October 31, 2013

The Production Company rounded off its 2013 season last night with Gilbert and Sullivan's classic operetta The Pirates of Penzance. There was, however, little reference to the classic that was first performed in 1879. There have been many adaptations of the original, with this production centering o...

BWW Reviews: TWO BOYS Conjoined by Internet Chat Rooms - Nico Muhly's New Opera Makes Its American Debut at the Met
by Scott Frost - October 28, 2013

It's not everyday that you watch the interconnectivity of two separate people communicating via Internet chat room. Let alone, how about five people's conversations over several weeks with an entire chorus of “chaters” behind them. It adds up to quite the stack of transcripts. The idea, while see...

BWW Reviews: Houston Grand Opera's AIDA is Spellbinding and Sumptuous
by David Clarke - October 19, 2013

Giuseppe Verdi's 1871 opera AIDA is a worldwide phenomenon. It has been adapted into several films, Elton John and Tim Rice adapted it into a Broadway musical with the same title, and, as of 2007, New York City's Metropolitan Opera has given over 1,100 performances of the opera, making it their seco...

BWW Reviews: Triple-Threat at Carnegie Hall--DiDonato, Levine and the MET Orchestra
by Richard Sasanow - October 16, 2013

After a triumph in Mozart's COSI FAN TUTTE at the Met, James Levine made it two in a row, as he returned with the MET Orchestra and soloist Joyce DiDonato to Carnegie Hall early this week for a concert of far-reaching styles and depth....

BWW Reviews: An Unexpected Star Turn at the Met's New EUGENE ONEGIN
by Richard Sasanow - October 15, 2013

The Metropolitan Opera may have chosen soprano Anna Netrebko to add star-power to its new season's opening production of Tchaikovsky's EUGENE ONEGIN, but she was upstaged, figuratively speaking at least, by the thrilling performance of Polish tenor Piotr Beczala, as the poet Lenski....

BWW Reviews: LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (THE FORCE OF DESTINY) Is a Thrilling Night of Grand Opera
by Barry Lenny - October 14, 2013

Giuseppe Verdi's opera, filled with powerful emotions, has not been seen in Adelaide for over forty years, and this stupendous production leaves one wondering why that is so....

BWW Reviews: Some Enchanted Evening with Paulo Szot and THE NOSE at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - October 10, 2013

It's not often that singers make their debuts on Broadway and then make a splash at the opera, but that's what happened when Paulo Szot--a Tony winner for “South Pacific”--opened in the Met's production of the Shostakovich opera THE NOSE in 2010. The exciting, intoxicating production by the South Af...