Ren?e Fleming and Thomas Hampson star in the Met's first new production of Jules Massenet's richly melodic Tha?s in thirty years. The rarely performed opera opens at the Met on Monday, December 8, and runs through January 8, with the December 20 matinee transmitted live worldwide as part of The Met: Live in HD series. 'Fleming and Hampson made a heavenly match,' Chicago Sun-Times critic Wynne Delacoma wrote when this production, which comes from the Lyric Opera of Chicago, opened there in 2002.
As David Frost moved the role to film, however, he grew even more comfortable in Frost's skin. 'I've lived with this character for over a year, and the basics of the way I see him didn't really change from stage to film,' he notes.
In response to the recession, the Metropolitan Opera's Board of Directors has decided to subsidize some of the best seats for weekend evening performances for the duration of the opera season. Approximately 16,000 prime seats in the Orchestra and Grand Tier, ranging in price from $295 to $140, will be available for $25 through a weekly drawing beginning December 8. Entries for the drawing to purchase the $25 seats will be available only at the Met's web site, www.metopera.org. The $3 million dollar cost to underwrite the program has been contributed entirely from among the Board's 45 managing directors.
Primary Stages (Casey Childs, Executive Producer; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director; Elliot Fox, Managing Director) has announced complete casting for the New York premiere of Shipwrecked!
Today, November 29, the Metropolitan Opera Radio Saturday Matinee Broadcasts launches its 78th season of world-class opera heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network with the network premiere of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust.
Ren?e Fleming and Thomas Hampson star in the Met's first new production of Jules Massenet's richly melodic Tha?s in thirty years. The rarely performed opera opens at the Met on Monday, December 8, and runs through January 8, with the December 20 matinee transmitted live worldwide as part of The Met: Live in HD series. 'Fleming and Hampson made a heavenly match,' Chicago Sun-Times critic Wynne Delacoma wrote when this production, which comes from the Lyric Opera of Chicago, opened there in 2002.
FURIOUS THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENTS THE SECOND SHOW OF THEIR
2008-2009 SEASON!
THE LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Written by Anthony Neilson
Directed by Robert Pescovitz
Limited Engagement will open on Saturday, November 29
at the Pasadena Playhouse Carrie Hamilton Theatre!
The Metropolitan Opera celebrates its 125th anniversary year with a unique gala performance on March 15, 2009 at 6:00 p.m., featuring Met stars in recreations of historic classic productions and high points in the company's past. Music Director James Levine conducts the evening of 26 staged scenes that, with the use of projections, and scenic and costume recreations, will evoke the Met's illustrious history.
This February, THE STORY OF MY LIFE, a new musical comes to Broadway. Starring Will Chase (Rent, Aida, The Full Monty) and Tony Award nominee Malcolm Gets (Amour, Merrily We Roll Along, 'Caroline in the City'), the show is directed by Tony Award winner Richard Maltby, Jr. (Ain't Misbehavin', Song & Dance), THE STORY OF MY LIFE features a score by Neil Bartram and a book by Brian Hill. Performances begin Tuesday, February 3rd on Broadway at The Booth Theatre (222 West 45th Street). Opening night is Thursday, February 19th at 7:30PM.
The Metropolitan Opera will release the DVD of its abridged, English-language production of Mozart's The Magic Flute, the inaugural transmission of the company's Emmy award-winning Live in HD series from December 2006. The first self-produced DVD by the Met, The Magic Flute DVD will retail for $25.00. It will be available exclusively at the Met Opera Shop beginning December 18, timed to performances of The Magic Flute on the Met stage beginning December 22.
The 2008-2009 Reprise Theatre Company season continues with the classic international hit 'Man of La Mancha,' starring Brent Spiner, written by Dale Wasserman with music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion. The production will be directed by Michael Michetti, co-artistic director of The Theatre at Boston Cout.
FURIOUS THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENTS THE SECOND SHOW OF THEIR
2008-2009 SEASON!
THE LOS ANGELES PREMIERE OF
THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Written by Anthony Neilson
Directed by Robert Pescovitz
Limited Engagement will open on Saturday, November 29
at the Pasadena Playhouse Carrie Hamilton Theatre!
Daniel Barenboim Makes his Met Debut conducting Tristan and Isolde on November 28
Katarina Dalayman and Peter Seiffert sing the title roles for the first time at the Met, and René Pape reprises his acclaimed portrayal of King Marke
Young singers from around the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico will compete for $15,000 cash prizes and the chance to perform in the Grand Finals Concert on the nation's most prestigious opera stage when the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions launches its 55th annual auditions program this fall.
Noted director Robert Lepage makes his Met debut with a technologically innovative new production of Hector Berlioz's masterpiece, La Damnation de Faust, opening on November 7. Music Director James Levine will conduct the first staging of the work at the Met since 1906, with Marcello Giordani in the title role, Susan Graham as Marguerite, and John Relyea as Méphistophélès.
On November 29, the Metropolitan Opera Radio Saturday Matinee Broadcasts launches its 78th season of world-class opera heard over the Toll Brothers-Metropolitan Opera International Radio Network with the network premiere of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust.
One of the Metropolitan Opera's popular open rehearsals will take place on November 4 with the final dress rehearsal of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust, Robert Lepage's unusual production of a work that was last performed at the Met in 1907.
