Thomas Russell

Review: AS YOU LIKE IT presented by Midsommer Flight
by Angela Lin - Jun 28, 2026

There’s nothing quite like the gentle strum of a mandolin through the open breeze of a public park to make you fully appreciate both the arrival of summer and the magic of live theater.

TAPA Reveals 2026 Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominations
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Jun 1, 2026

The Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) today revealed all nominations for the 46th Annual Dora Mavor Moore Awards. This year’s Doras celebrate 221 nominations across 44 gender-inclusive award categories.

MANON, CARMEN, & More Among Royal Ballet and Opera 2026/27 Cinema Season
by Josh Sharpe - May 27, 2026

The Royal Ballet and Opera have unveiled their programme of cinema screenings throughout the 2026/27 Season, including beloved favourites, and new productions.

Midsommer Flight Will Stage Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT This Summer
by Nicole Rosky - Apr 25, 2026

For its 13th free summer production, Midsommer Flight will present one of Shakespeare’s  AS YOU LIKE IT. True to the comedy’s famous line – “All the World’s a Stage” – Midsommer Flight will again be creating natural stages in six Chicago parks over six summer weekends.

DON GIOVANNI, LA TRAVIATA and More Set for Lyric Opera of Chicago 2026/27 Season
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Apr 9, 2026

Lyric Opera of Chicago has unveiled its 2026/27 Season — a landmark lineup of seven operas spanning centuries and continents, three unique concerts, two Academy Award–winning films performed with live orchestra and more.

Lyric Opera of Chicago Unveils Details for CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA & PAGLIACCI
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 25, 2025

Lyric Opera of Chicago will present a murderous double feature of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci — known collectively as Cav/Pag — two timeless operas that ignite music’s most incendiary emotions.

Red Theater Announces Cast, Creative Team Of KAIROS By Lisa Sanaye Dring
by A.A. Cristi - Mar 26, 2025

Red Theater has announcef the cast and creative team for our premiere of Lisa Sanaye Dring's Kairos, directed by Artistic Director Clare Brennan, running April 23 - May 18, 2025 at The Edge Off Broadway.

Finnish National Opera And Ballet Announces 2025/2026 Season
by Joshua Wright - Mar 26, 2025

The Finnish National Opera and Ballet has announced its 2025–2026 season which features new contemporary operas, romantic ballet gems, and pulsating street dance The Opera and Ballet season 2025–2026 is a celebration of emotions. We move from one extreme to another, from dark tones towards light and vice versa.

MEDEA, SALOME and More Set for Lyric Opera of Chicago 2025/26 Season
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Mar 11, 2025

Lyric Opera of Chicago has revealed the company’s 2025/26 Season, its first complete season featuring Medea, Salome and more. See full programming and learn how to purchase tickets.

Interview: Ludovic Morlot of LES TROYENS IN CONCERT at McCaw Hall
by Erica Miner - Jan 13, 2025

Following his triumph in Seattle Opera’s celebrated Samson and Delilah in Concert in 2023, Seattle Symphony Conductor Emeritus Ludovic Morlot will helm an unprecedented operatic event in January 2025: the SO premiere of Les Troyens in Concert, a rarely performed abridged version of Hector Berlioz’s epic masterpiece, Les Troyens à Carthage. The SO adaptation, Part 2 of Berlioz’s monumental opera, Les Troyens, the pinnacle of the composer’s life work, begins with the arrival of the great warrior Aeneas at Carthage and ends with the tragic immolation of Queen Dido.

Hector Berlioz's LES TROYENS to be Presented at Seattle Opera This Winter
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Dec 5, 2024

Seattle Opera will present this January a concert rendering of Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens—an epic tale of fate, love, and betrayal that is as grand in scope as it is rarely performed. Learn how to purchase tickets.

Video: First Look At DIE FRAU OHNE SCHATTEN At Metropolitan Opera
by A.A. Cristi - Nov 29, 2024

Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin takes the podium to lead Strauss’s grand mythological epic in Richard Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten. See video highlights from the production.  

Photos: BEETHOVEN'S NINTH SYMPHONY at San Francisco Opera
by Blair Ingenthron - Oct 27, 2024

Check out photos from San Francisco Opera's October 26th performance of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, conducted by Eun Sun Kim, here!

Video: 'wer Ein Holdes Weib Errungen' from Beethoven's FIDELIO at Lyric Opera of Chicago
by Joshua Wright - Oct 10, 2024

Watch the joyful finale of Beethoven's FIDELIO where Leonore (Elza van den Heever) and Florestan (Russell Thomas) celebrate freedom and love after Pizzaro's corrupt schemes are exposed. Check out the video!

Video: Beethoven's FIDELIO at Lyric Opera of Chicago
by Stephi Wild - Sep 26, 2024

Ludwig van Beethoven's Fidelio will return to the Lyric stage for the first time in 20 years, running September 26 to October 10. Check out a first look in the video here!

Review: TOSCA, Royal Opera House
by Franco Milazzo - Jul 2, 2024

Fronted by some fresh faces, Jonathan Kent’s cinematic take on the Puccini masterwork Tosca returns for its seventeenth run at Covent Garden. 

TOSCA Comes to the Royal Opera House This July
by Stephi Wild - Jun 6, 2024

This July, The Royal Opera will present Jonathan Kent’s classic production of Puccini’s Tosca. The composers most dramatically charged work; this timeless staging receives its 15th revival since its premiere in 2006 with two leading international casts. 

Review: TURANDOT at LA Opera
by Andrew Child - May 22, 2024

A sharp blade wielded threateningly, forced perspective creating looming palatial walls, the rotting heads of failed suitors, and a princess literally shrouded in mystery quickly orient us within Puccini’s iconic fairytale.

LA Opera to Present World Premiere Of Joel Thompson's FIRE AND BLUE SKY
by Chloe Rabinowitz - May 9, 2024

LA Opera will present the world premiere of a major new commission: the orchestral song cycle Fire and Blue Sky by Emmy-winning composer Joel Thompson and librettist Imani Tolliver. Learn how to purchase tickets !

Photos: Babes With Blades Theatre Company's World Premiere THE S PARADOX Opens Tomorrow
by A.A. Cristi - Apr 12, 2024

Babes With Blades Theatre Company’s 2024 season opens with The S Paradox, written by Joining Sword & Pen International Playwright Competition (JS&P) and Margaret W. Martin Award Winner Jillian Leff, directed by Morgan Manasa with fight direction by Samantha Kaufman at The Factory Theater, 1623 W. Howard St. See photos from the production.