Katarina Dalayman is one of a handful of top Wagnerian sopranos in the world, but for the first act of the Met's GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG, the climax of the Met's second 'Ring' cycle of the season, she didn't seem very heroic. Neither, for that matter, did tenor Jay Hunter Morris, who caused quite a stir when he jumped into GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG's premiere season a year ago. Who knows what was wrong? In any case, they recovered vocally for Act 2 and excitingly sailed through the rest of the mammoth, exhausting work.
59E59 Theaters will welcome the US premiere of THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME, written by Neil Bartlett and Jessica Walker, and directed by Mr. Bartlett to Brits Off Broadway. THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME begins performances tonight, April 30 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 19.
The first of three complete Ring Cycles concluded on Tuesday night at the Metropolitan Opera as our hero, Siegfried, his true love, Brunnhilde, as well as the entirety of Valhalla went up in a burst of video projected and staged lit flames behind the massive 45-ton set of 24 rotating planks come to be known by some as Robert Lepage's Ring machine. Luckily for everyone involved- audience, performers and technicians alike, this cycle ran quite smoothly in comparison to previous seasons. One mishap happened in Das Rheingold as we descended into Nibelheim and the last five or six planks got stuck in the air and one black clad arm was seen pulling each back into place. Barring this one blip in an otherwise 19 hour breathtaking production is rather impressive given the scale and scope of this production which includes hydraulics, harnesses, flying, dying, fighting, love making, and a host of technical demands all enhancing the complex masterpiece which is Richard Wagner's music and libretto.
Soprano Deborah Voigt has embodied Puccini's 'Golden Girl' - the pistol-packing, poker-playing barmaid Minnie, one of her favorite roles - in productions of La fanciulla del West from San Francisco to Chicago to New York over the past few seasons, including the centennial revival of the work at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010. Voigt reprised her Minnie at Opera Royal de Liege in Belgium from February 22 to March 5. The soprano resumes another of her all-time favorite roles, Wagner's Brunnhilde, in Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung from tonight, April 13 to May 11 at the Metropolitan Opera, in Robert Lepage's production of the Ring cycle. Later in May, Voigt makes her performance debut in China with orchestral concerts in Beijing and Shanghai.
To mark the bicentennial of Wagner's birth, Fabio Luisi launches three complete cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Metropolitan Opera with an account of Das Rheingold on Saturday, April 6. It was with his leadership of the two last operas of Wagner's epic saga that Luisi, the Met's Principal Conductor, took home his first Grammy Award last month, when Deutsche Grammophon's DVD release of the full cycle, recorded live at the house, was named Best Opera Recording of 2012. Running through May 11, the upcoming performances - as on the award-winning recording - will feature Deborah Voigt's star turn as Brunnhilde in Robert Lepage's visionary, cutting-edge production.
A human ball of silver glitter hanging from a cord is lowered above what looks like a bungalow-sized muffin top. (It's supposed to represent a turtle shell.) Before the glitter ball makes its landing the cover is removed to reveal what looks like a tribe of humanish amphibians bouncing on trampolines and twirling on the muffin/turtle's frame. Shortly after, a sleazy-looking clown in a tropical shirt tosses a condom to a woman in the front row and says, 'Call me!' Yes, dear readers, Cirque du Soleil is back in town.
British composer Thomas Ades conducts the Met premiere of his contemporary Masterpiece THE TEMPEST, an English-language opera based on Shakespeare's final play. The Met's fantastical new production by Robert Lepage airs on Great Performances at the Met today, March 17 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings). Get a sneak peek below!
Cirque du Soleil returns to New York this spring with an all-new big top production TOTEM. Written and directed by internationally-acclaimed director Robert Lepage, TOTEM will begin performances tonight, March 14, 2013 for a limited engagement under the blue-and-yellow Big Top at its new location Citi Field (Lot C), home of the New York Mets. Check out photos from the production below!
British composer Thomas Ades conducts the Met premiere of his contemporary Masterpiece THE TEMPEST, an English-language opera based on Shakespeare's final play. The Met's fantastical new production by Robert Lepage airs on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, March 17 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings). Get a sneak peek below!
British composer Thomas Ades conducts the Met premiere of his contemporary Masterpiece The Tempest, an English-language opera based on Shakespeare's final play. The Met's fantastical new production by Robert Lepage airs on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, March 17 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings). BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.
In the video below, hear from Rowenna Jeffries, Tour Production Coordinator, and David Millman, Production Manager, of TOTEM from Cirque du Soleil talk about the Cirque du Soleil Big Top going up at New York City's Citi Field in Queens!
Cirque du Soleil has arrived to Citi Field, its new New York City location, and is in complete set-up mode in preparation for the March 14 opening night of its awe-inspiring touring production TOTEM. The show's trademark blue-and-yellow big top was raised earlier today in the stadium's parking lot by a team of more than 60 men and women who worked for several hours to pound pegs, hoist more than 100 support poles, unfurl the canvas, and finally raise the roof of the acrobatic and theatrical experience that is TOTEM. BroadwayWorld has photos of the raising below!
59E59 Theaters will welcome the US premiere of THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME, written by Neil Bartlett and Jessica Walker, and directed by Mr. Bartlett to Brits Off Broadway. THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME begins performances on Tuesday, April 30 for a limited engagement through Sunday, May 19. Press opening is Sunday, May 5 at 7:30 PM. The performance schedule is Tuesday - Thursday at 7:30 PM; Friday at 8:30 PM; Saturday at 2:30 PM & 8:30 PM; and Sunday at 3:30 PM & 7:30 PM. Performances are at 59E59 Theaters (59 East 59th Street, between Park and Madison Avenues). Tickets are $25 ($17.50 for 59E59 Members). To purchase tickets, call Ticket Central at (212) 279-4200 or go to www.59e59.org.
Soprano Deborah Voigt has embodied Puccini's "Golden Girl" - the pistol-packing, poker-playing barmaid Minnie, one of her favorite roles - in productions of La fanciulla del West from San Francisco to Chicago to New York over the past few seasons, including the centennial revival of the work at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010. Voigt reprises her Minnie at Opera Royal de Liege in Belgium from February 22 to March 5. The soprano resumes another of her all-time favorite roles, Wagner's Brunnhilde, in Die Walkure, Siegfried and Gotterdammerung from April 13 to May 11 at the Metropolitan Opera, in Robert Lepage's production of the Ring cycle. Later in May, Voigt makes her performance debut in China with orchestral concerts in Beijing and Shanghai.
British composer Thomas Ades conducts the Met premiere of his contemporary Masterpiece The Tempest, an English-language opera based on Shakespeare's final play.The Met's fantastical new production by Robert Lepage airs on Great Performances at the Met Sunday, March 17 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings).
Earlier today, to mark the success of its Miami run, Cirque du Soleil's TOTEM invaded Bayside Market Place with one of its most praised and exciting acts, Unicycles and Bowls. To the delight of the surprised crowd, four Chinese acrobats rode 7-feet high unicycles as they juggled metal bowls in an astonishing demonstration of agility, balance and grace, sometimes tossing the bowls with their feet, over their shoulders and catching them on their heads. Scroll below for photos from the appearance!
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents Franz Kafka's Metamorphosis by Icelandic theater collective Vesturport in collaboration with Lyric Hammersmith (U.K.). Directed and adapted by Gisli Örn Gardarsson and David Farr, the production runs in the Eisenhower Theater from February 20-22 as part of Nordic Cool 2013. Press opening night is February 20, 2013 at 7:30 p.m. The production will be performed in English.
Cirque du Soleil announced today that it has extended the upcoming engagement of its all-new big top production to visit New York, TOTEM, for 12 additional performances through April 21. The astonishing and visually stunning production premieres on March 14, 2013 under the trademark blue-and-yellow big top at Citi Field (Lot C), home of the New York Mets.
Verdi's Shakespearean tragedy OTELLO starring Johan Botha in the title role and Renee Fleming as Otello's innocent wife, Desdemona, airs on GREAT PERFORMANCES AT THE MET Sunday, February 24 at 12 noon on PBS (check local listings).
Cirque du Soleil is back in Miami with its astonishing and visually stunning production TOTEM, opening tonight under the trademark blue-and-yellow big top at Sun Life Stadium for a limited engagement through February 24, 2013. Tonight's show marks the 1,000th performance of TOTEM since its World Premiere in April 2010 in Montreal, Canada. In over two years and a half, more than 2 million people in 14 cities in Canada, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States have been mesmerized by the TOTEM experience that The San Francisco Chronicle described as "whimsically seductive and the most enjoyable show to come along from Cirque du Soleil in quite awhile", and The Toronto Star proclaimed as "spectacular, artful. Breathtaking and deliciously ironic".
