John Dexter News

Today (February 3) in live streaming: All the Girls on Stars in the House, Meet Me in St. Louis, and more!

Today (February 2) in live streaming: Stars in the House honors Cicely Tyson, Verdi's La Forza del Destino at the Met, and more!

The Met has announced themed lineups for the first two weeks of February in its ongoing series of 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 exquisite voice, dramatic stage presence and winning personality of this Grammy-nominated artist have garnered kudos throughout the opera world

Today, the Metropolitan Opera announced its 2020-21 season, the first in which Yannick Nézet-Séguin assumes his full breadth of musical duties as the company's Jeanette Lerman-Neubauer Music Director, conducting six productions. His schedule includes the Met premiere of Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, the first contemporary opera conducted by the maestro on the Met stage, as part of his ongoing commitment to opera of our time at the Met, which will expand in the seasons to come.

I admit this is an absolutely personal, totally one-sided view of what gave one man opera thrills last year and what I will look back on with delight. Some are old works, some are new, some are individual performers, some are ensembles, some are complete productions, some are merely the highlight of an evening, most are domestic, a few are foreign. In any case, as the new decade begins, I recall that these are the vocal highlights that made my heart beat a little faster and made me look forward to the year ahead.

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, presenting free outdoor screenings of operas in Lincoln Center Plaza, returns for the 11th time this summer, with one screening each night now through Monday, September 2, 2019 (Labor Day). The series features ten performances from the company's acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions, including performances from the 2018 19 season as well as some of the most popular transmissions from past years. Preceding the festival, on Friday, August 23, the classic movie musical Funny Face will be screened in the plaza, in association with Film at Lincoln Center. Funny Face features songs by George and Ira Gershwin, whose opera, Porgy and Bess, will be presented in a new production to open the Met's forthcoming 2019 20 season in September.

The Metropolitan Opera's annual Summer HD Festival, presenting free outdoor screenings of operas in Lincoln Center Plaza, returns for the 11th time this summer, with one screening each night from Saturday, August 24, to Monday, September 2, 2019 (Labor Day). The series features ten performances from the company's acclaimed Live in HD series of movie theater transmissions, including performances from the 2018 19 season as well as some of the most popular transmissions from past years. Preceding the festival, on Friday, August 23, the classic movie musical Funny Face will be screened in the plaza, in association with Film at Lincoln Center. Funny Face features songs by George and Ira Gershwin, whose opera, Porgy and Bess, will be presented in a new production to open the Met's forthcoming 2019 20 season in September.

You'd never know that the Met's production of Francis Poulenc's DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES is over 40 years old, except for a few giveaways. There are no dancing nuns, no nudity, no screeching train whistle as the women go to their deaths (a la SWEENEY TODD). This fictionalized version of the story of Carmelite nuns who were martyred during the French Revolution, sent to the guillotine, is certainly the most simple and eloquent work on the Met's stage these days.

Yannick Nezet-Seguin leads the classic John Dexter Metropolitan Opera production of Poulenc's devastating story of faith and martyrdom. Dialogues des Carmelites comes to The Ridgefield Playhouse screen in HD Saturday, May 18 at 12pm. Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard sings the touching role of Blanche and soprano Karita Mattila, a legend in her own time, returns to the Met as the Prioress. This performance is part of Atria Senior Living Classical Series with support from Whistle Stop Bakery and is underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Liz & Steven Goldstone and Sabina & Walter Slavin.

The 2018-19 season of The Met: Live in HD will conclude at the Warner Theatre on Saturday, May 11 with Poulenc's DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES at 12:00 pm in the Nancy Marine Studio. The 2018-19 season is sponsored by Viron Rondo Osteria. A complimentary 45 minute pre-opera lecture by Dr. Marguerite Mullee will be offered in the Studio Theatre Lobby two hours before the broadcast, sponsored by Mitchell Auto Group.

Why did a teenage boy who literally worships horses commit the unspeakable act of blinding six of them? That is the mystery psychiatrist Martin Dysart must unravel in order to help his disturbed young patient in Peter Shaffer's Tony Award-winning Equus . The psychological thriller opens at Palm Beach Dramaworks on May 18 and continues through June 3, with specially priced previews on May 16 and 17.

Why did a teenage boy who literally worships horses commit the unspeakable act of blinding six of them? That is the mystery psychiatrist Martin Dysart must unravel in order to help his disturbed young patient in Peter Shaffer's Tony Award-winning Equus. The psychological thriller opens at Palm Beach Dramaworks on May 18 and continues through June 3, with specially priced previews on May 16 and 17.

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live high-definition cinema simulcasts, will begin its 13th season on October 6, with the Met's grand production of Verdi's Aida, starring one of the world's most acclaimed sopranos, Anna Netrebko.

Accelerating his arrival as Music Director by two seasons, Yannick Nezet-Seguin will take up the post in time for the start of the Metropolitan Opera's 2018-19 season, it was announced today.

What does a musical coordinator do, you ask? Well, John Miller, one of Broadway's most respected in the field, swings by to discuss this pivotal role and some of his 100 plus Broadway credits... yes, that's right, 100 plus Broadway credits! 

Producers Nelle Nugent, Steve Traxler, Kenneth Teaton, Benjamin Feldman, and Doug Morris (CEO, Sony Music), announced today that Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe Award winner Clive Owen will star as Rene Gallimard in the first Broadway revival of David Henry Hwang's Tony Award®-winning play, M. BUTTERFLY, directed by Tony Award® winner Julie Taymor. The production will open on October 26, 2017 at a Broadway theatre to be announced.

For their inaugural offering, Great Circle Productions will present the world premiere of EDWIN, The Story of Edwin Booth, a dramatic musical that commemorates the 150th Anniversary (1866-2016) of the legendary actor's return to the stage, as well as the 400th Anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare, with music by Marianna Rosett, and book & lyrics by Eric Swanson.

I wonder whether James Levine imagined that Mozart's DIE ENFUHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL (THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO) would be his swan song as Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera. I think he might have chosen better.

RUTHLESS! The Musical's leading man, Peter Land, collapsed onstage at the top of the second act on Friday evening, July 17th. EMT's arrived on the scene and Mr. Land was transported to the hospital where he received emergency surgery for a tear in the aorta. His recovery is going extremely well and he was even discharged from the hospital earlier this week. Paul Pecorino has assumed the role of Sylvia St. Croix and Mr. Land hopes to return to the show in the near future. Author Joel Paley bravely filled in for several performances in the week following the accident (triumphantly, according to all eyewitnesses).