Karen Almond

It’s rather surprising, really, for the audience to embrace a contemporary piece like DEAD MAN WALKING, no matter how easily it falls upon the ears, considering the subject matter. In this Ivo van Hove production, it starts with a rape and double murder in a rather graphic piece of film, the use of video being one of van Hove’s trademarks. It ends with a death by lethal injection, also graphically shown in live video.

xThe reviews are in for the premiere production of the new Met season, Dead Man Walking. American composer Jake Heggie’s masterpiece, the most widely performed new opera of the last 20 years, has its highly anticipated Met premiere, in a haunting new production by Ivo van Hove.

The Young People’s Chorus of New York City , fresh off an international tour that included five gold medal wins - three as World Champions - at the World Choir Games, will make its Metropolitan Opera debut when it performs in the company premiere of Jake Heggie’s masterpiece Dead Man Walking on Tuesday, September 26, at 6:30PM.

The Metropolitan Opera somehow managed to upstage itself on Thursday, when it offered audiences a spectacular recital by Norwegian soprano Lisa Davidsen, with her excellent musical partner James Baillieu, on piano, 12 days before the company’s official opening night (the Jake Heggie-Terrence McNally DEAD MAN WALKING on the 26th). It’ll be a hard act to follow.

Beginning Wednesday, July 26, the Metropolitan Opera will present Summer Encores of past performances from its acclaimed Live in HD series of cinema presentations.

Of all the theatre directors that the Met has marshalled into its forces, Simon McBurney--who brought his version of Mozart’s DIE ZAUBERFLOTE (THE MAGIC FLUTE) to the Met on Friday in his house debut--may be the most successful in melding music and theatre, storytelling and visual elements.

While I’ve always been bothered by the cruelties and misogyny of the main character, Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI has (musically) been my favorite of the composer’s operas, though either casting or design has been a regular issue in bringing off the work at its best. Happily, the Met’s new production by Belgian provocateur Ivo van Hove is a success for me, with a cast filled with wonderful singers--and the Met orchestra and chorus sounding great under debutante Nathalie Stutzmann.

Verdi’s exuberant final opera, Falstaff, brought down the house with laughter and applause at its opening on Sunday, 12th March, and audiences around the world are invited to experience the production live in cinemas on Saturday 1st April. Check out all new photos from the production here!

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.

On the second night of the new season, the Met went for Mozart, with his early success, IDOMENEO, in a fluid and elegant performance, but it was hardly 'business as usual.'

Is there another Shakespearean drama filled with as many quotable quotes as “Hamlet” (even when they’re used out of context and given a foreign meaning)? But “To be or not to be” is surely the most referenced and, certainly, in the new operatic HAMLET currently at the Met by Brett Dean and Matthew Jocelyn, in Neil Armfield’s thoughtful, urgent production, it's given the best showcase. Indeed, it helps shed a different light on the hero of the story.

Dallas Theater Center brings the well-known, beloved story of The Sound of Music to Wyly Theatre for a short while longer. Don't miss out on the songs you know and love, performed by this skilled, multicultural cast. March 26-April 24. Read our critic's review.

Learn about Liz Mikel's current role in OUR TOWN and her upcoming role as John Hancock in the revival of 1776.

The return to live entertainment brought a lot of honesty and authenticity, and some singing actors who had a lot to say. This is the list of shows that rose, in some way, to a new level for audience member and cabaret journalist Stephen Mosher.

Such a big stage and a big job... and Kristin Chenoweth is totally equal to the task.

The Metropolitan Opera will welcome back its youngest opera lovers with a family-friendly holiday presentation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute for nine performances December 10, 2021–January 5, 2022. This English-language adaptation of the classic fairy tale, performed in a 115-minute abridged version, is a holiday treat for audiences of all ages.

Dallas Theater Center's (DTC) city-wide community engagement program, Public Works Dallas, offers free fall workshops starting this month. The workshops will be aimed at people of all ages and offered at different locations around the city.

It's hard to take advice, but not when it comes from Sugar. The stories of the characters in TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS will allow you to reflect and heal in ways you didn't know you needed to.

The Met has announced themed lineups for five weeks of its Nightly Met Opera Streams, a free series of encore Live in HD presentations and classic telecasts streamed on the company's website during the coronavirus closure.

The Old Globe presents West Coast premiere of Little Women by Kate Hamill. This brand-new version of Louisa May Alcott's classic novel about Jo March and her three unforgettably distinct sisters is presented in association with Dallas Theater Center and is directed by Sarah Rasmussen (Artistic Director of Jungle Theater, which originally commissioned the play).