Ken Howard News

If Friday night’s performance of Handel’s RODELINDA sometimes seemed like it was never going to end--it was quickly approaching the witching hour by the time the curtain calls were over, having started at 7:30--it certainly wasn’t the fault of the cast but Handel himself and librettist Nicola Haym. With ornamentation galore and da capo arias that strung phrases along one time after another (and a plot to make your head spin), it set challenges for everyone on stage, both musically and dramatically. And they were certainly up to it.

Handel’s Baroque drama Rodelinda returns to the Met for the first time in more than a decade, with five performances March 11–27. Soprano Elza van den Heever makes her Met role debut singing the title character in one of Handel’s most successful operas, based on the life of a seventh-century queen in the northern Italian kingdom of Lombardy.

The 2021-22 season of The Met: Live in HD will continue with Verdi’s DON CARLOS on Saturday, March 26 at 12:00 pm in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre.

DON CARLOS--Verdi’s original French language version, for the first time at the Met, of the opera better known in these parts as the Italian DON CARLO--was as grim as its setting in the Spanish inquisition in the new David McVicar production introduced last night. And about as long (though for once it ended earlier than expected)--Verdi's longest opera.

Puccini's 'La Boheme,' returned for its second run of the season this week and cast and conductor delivered the goods. There's nothing to say that has not already been said about La Boheme as an opera and the famous Zeffirelli production, so we won't dwell on it.

As only the third American opera company in history to reach this centennial milestone, the Company’s 2022–23 Season will honor San Francisco Opera’s glorious past while inviting the public into an exciting new era of musical excellence under Kim’s music directorship and a renewed commitment to innovation.

The Met rings in the new year with the gala premiere of a bold new take on Verdi's timeless tragedy from Bartlett Sher. The Tony Award­-winning director resets the opera's action in 1920s Europe, with Art Deco sets by Michael Yeargan and elegant costumes by Catherine Zuber, themselves boasting a combined eight Tony Awards. Read all the reviews!

Get a first look at The Met's production of Rigoletto, now on stage through June 11th.

When I saw the George Grosz-ish curtain that introduced us to the new Barlett Sher “Weimar-inspired” production of Verdi’s RIGOLETTO at the Met on New Year’s Eve, I was excited about what lay ahead. Combined with Verdi’s great score, it seemed bound for success. What followed was disappointing, despite some creditable singing and smooth, involved orchestral playing under Daniele Rustioni, with much blame I thought, going to the Sher production.

What is there to say about Puccini’s TOSCA that hasn’t been said in the last hundred-plus years since its premiere in Rome (to echo the locations in the opera)? It is a marvel of brevity, with librettists Illica and Giacosa shaving locations, characters and action from the original play, written by the French dramatist Victorien Sardou for the legendary actress Sarah Bernhardt, without sacrificing its impact. It has a gorgeous score, but for a grand opera, it is also quite intimate, with the action mainly revolving around three characters who carry their emotions on their sleeves and interact like their lives depend on it.

The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess will return to the Met for 13 performances, October 31–December 12, 2021. The classic American opera features many artists from the triumphant 2019–20 production’s Grammy Award-winning cast. Eric Owens and Angel Blue star as the title couple, with conductor David Robertson on the podium.

The 2021-22 season of The Met Live in HD continues with the historic Met premiere of Terrence Blanchard’s FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES on Saturday, October 23 at 12:55 pm in the Nancy Marine Studio Theatre.

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.

The Old Globe today announced plans for the long-awaited full reopening of its three theatres in Balboa Park. Audiences will be able to once again gather in the Globe’s outdoor theatre starting June 4 and in the two indoor theatres in September.

Un 16 de marzo de 1969, el 46th Street Theatre, ahora conocido como Richard Rodgers, 1776 se estrenaba por primera vez en Broadway.

On this day in 1969, American history came to life on Broadway with the original production of 1776.

America's favorite castaway, Dawn Wells, passed peacefully this morning, in no pain as a result of complications due to Covid at the age of 82.

The Lambs - America's first professional theatrical club and oldest professional theatrical organization - is celebrating its 146th founding anniversary this month with festive online gatherings replacing in-person social events at our clubhouse in Midtown Manhattan amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Metropolitan Opera has announced its first online Family Holiday Festival, which will run December 17 through December 21, 2020. In previous years, a Holiday Open House for families has been held at the Met. This year, in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a free, all-virtual festival will be presented across five days.

The cast of NBC's hit crime procedural CROSSING JORDAN will gather again for a virtual reunion, which will benefit Georgia's Stacey Abrams' nonprofit organization, Fair Fight. The reunion will premiere Friday, November 27.