Chauncey Packer

Review: PORGY AND BESS at Kennedy Center
by David Friscic - May 27, 2025

The pivotal and star-crossed main characters and the Catfish Row community come alive in the highly influential, thought-provoking, and engrossing opera Porgy and Bess. This much discussed opera has its partisans and detractors but there is a distinct need to ponder and consider a work of this quality. This Washington National Opera production beautifully melds content and form in this story of a crippled man (Porgy) who must travel the lonely road (“When Gawd make cripple, He means him to be lonely. Night time, day time, He got to travel that lonesome road.”) to find wholeness with the easily gratified yet complex and caring Bess.

Feature: One-Night-Only Celebration of Steve Marzullo's Music
by Chloe Yang - Oct 26, 2024

Broadway veteran Steve Marzullo presents 'Kiss Me While We Have the Chance' at The Green Room 42 on October 28. This intimate concert features Broadway stars Sherz Aletaha (Merrily We Roll Along), George Psomas (Fiddler), and Chauncey Packer performing Marzullo's beloved compositions and premiering new works. Tickets available now!

KISS ME WHILE WE HAVE THE CHANCE Comes to The Green Room 42
by Stephi Wild - Oct 25, 2024

Veteran of Broadway, music director and pianist, Steve Marzullo, Tony Award-winning producer Michael Lamon, and The Green Room 42 will present, for the FIRST TIME IN A DECADE, a concert of ALL Steve Marzullo's music!

Broadway's Best and Steve Marzullo to Play The Green Room 42 in October
by Blair Ingenthron - Aug 4, 2024

The Green Room 42 will present, for the first time ever, a concert of all Steve Marzullo's music on October 28th at 7pm.

Opera Memphis Sets LA BOHEME in 1910's Beale Street
by Stephi Wild - Apr 22, 2024

Opera Memphis brings a unique twist to the classic LA BOHEME by setting it in the 1910's Beale Street. Experience this timeless masterpiece with a fOpera Memphis will conclude its 2023-24 season with Giacomo Puccini's “La Boheme,” last seen in Memphis in 2012.resh perspective.

PORGY AND BESS, World Premieres & More Set for Washington National Opera 2024�"2025 Season
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Mar 14, 2024

The Washington National Opera will present a 2024–2025 season that pays tribute to the grand tradition of opera, while shaping its future with two new productions. See full programming and learn how to purchase tickets.

South Florida Symphony Orchestra Celebrates The Joy Of The Season With Handel's MESSIAH And HOLIDAY POPS
by A.A. Cristi - Nov 11, 2023

Celebrate the joy of the season with Handel's Messiah and Holiday Pops performed by the South Florida Symphony Orchestra.

South Florida Symphony Orchestra Announces 2023/24 Masterworks Season
by Blair Ingenthron - Jul 30, 2023

South Florida Symphony Orchestra (SFSO), led by Sebrina María Alfonso, has announced its 2023/24 season featuring five classical Masterworks concerts and Handel's glorious holiday masterpiece Messiah. This new season features Brahms, Bernstein, Schubert, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and more, including Symphony premieres by trailblazing female composers Florence Price, Ellen Taaffe Zwilich and Jessie Montgomery. SFSO will also host a 200th anniversary celebration of Beethoven's magnificent Symphony No. 9.

Review: In This Corner �" Terence Blanchard's CHAMPION Arrives at the Met with Ryan Speedo Green
by Richard Sasanow - Apr 13, 2023

In search of new audiences, the Met has followed Terence Blanchard’s FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES with the jazz musician/composer’s first opera, CHAMPION, the story of closeted boxer Emile Griffith’s rise and fall from grace. Honestly, never have I heard people whose usual venues are Madison Square Garden, Yankee Stadium and Monday Night Football on ESPN talk about how they “wanted to see the new opera at the Met.”

Review: Shakespeare's Merry Wives Get the Best of a Grand Michael Volle in Verdi's FALSTAFF
by Richard Sasanow - Mar 21, 2023

Combine a supreme farceur with a stentorian voice that thrills and you get baritone Michael Volle’s portrayal of the title role in Verdi’s FALSTAFF, which breezed into town late last week for a limited run at the Met. While we’ve had dramatic singers in the role before, they were mostly from Italian repertoire; I don’t know when the last time a Wagnerian--a Wotan from the Ring, for instance--took on this role around here, but Volle did himself proud.

Review: 10th Anniversary PROTOTYPE Festival in NY Blasts Off with Du Yun's IN OUR DAUGHTER'S EYES
by Richard Sasanow - Jan 6, 2023

There’s more contemporary opera in New York these days than there used to be and I’ll drink to that. But there’s nothing else that does it with the panache of the PROTOTYPE Festival, the brainchild of Beth Morrison Projects and HERE.

Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church to Present G.F. Handel's MESSIAH
by Blair Ingenthron - Dec 11, 2022

On Sunday, December 11 at 10 AM ET live, in-person & virtual, Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church will present G. F. Handel's Messiah under to baton of maestro Courtney Carey

Photos: First Look at CARMEN JONES at the Ensemble Theatre Company
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Oct 10, 2022

Ensemble Theatre Company is presenting CARMEN JONES, music by Georges Bizet with book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, choreography by Lisa Ruffin, musical direction by William Foster McDaniel, and directed by Jonathan Fox. CARMEN JONES runs through Sunday, October 23, 2022 at The New Vic, 33 W. Victoria Street in Santa Barbara. See photos here!

Photos: Get a Sneak Peek at the Cast of CARMEN JONES at Ensemble Theatre Company
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 27, 2022

Ensemble Theatre Company will present the first show of its 2022-23 Season, CARMEN JONES, music by Georges Bizet with book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, choreography by Lisa Ruffin, musical direction by William Foster McDaniel, and directed by Jonathan Fox. CARMEN JONES begins previews on Thursday, October 6. See photos here!

FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES Comes to Lyric Opera Beginning This Week
by Stephi Wild - Mar 25, 2022

Lyric Opera of Chicago will present the company premiere of Terence Blanchard and Kasi Lemmons's new opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the latest in Lyric's continuing long-term focus on developing and presenting new work on its mainstage.

BWW Review: Blanchard's FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES Opens Met Season with Fireworks
by Richard Sasanow - Sep 28, 2021

It’s been a long 18 months since the last opera on the Met’s stage. The Terence Blanchard-Kasi Lemmons FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES roared into Lincoln Center to let the audience know what it has been missing.

Laverne Cox, Anna Deavere Smith, Richard Smallwood, Dance Theatre Of Harlem Join Cast Jessye Norman At 75: A Celebration
by Stephi Wild - Aug 28, 2020

Black Opera Productions LLC, and Presenting Partner, Brookfield Place, will present Jessye Norman at 75: A Celebration LIVE on Tuesday, September 15, 2020 at 6:00 PM ET, to commemorate the legendary singer's first birthday in memoriam, presented in support of the Estate of Jessye Norman and Jessye Norman School of the Arts, and the forthcoming documentary film Black Opera. 

Black Opera Productions and the Jessye Norman Estate Will Present JESSYE NORMAN AT 75: A CELEBRATION
by A.A. Cristi - Aug 20, 2020

Black Opera Productions LLC and the Jessye Norman Estate will present Jessye Norman at 75: A Celebration.