Elektra - 1987 - Off-Broadway Articles Page 4

The Metropolitan Opera has reason to celebrate; $2.5 million worth of tickets were sold on Sunday, the first day of sales, through its box office, telephone call center and Web site, up from $2 million on the first day of sales last year, according to the Associated press.

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts, under the leadership of Executive Director Stacie Burgua, announces the cast of Franklin & Figaro, by Kristina Sutherland. The production, directed by the playwright, features Bob Atkinson, Tom Churchill, Ed Cornachio, Patricia Duff, Deana Duncan, David Gignac, Dave Mayer, L. Bennett Nolen, and Katie Woodzick.

Eight new productions, four of which are company premieres, will highlight the Metropolitan Opera's 2009-10 season. General Manager Peter Gelb and Music Director James Levine jointly announced plans that include: the Met premieres of Rossini's Armida, Verdi's Attila, Jan?ček's From the House of the Dead, and Shostakovich's The Nose; new productions of Bizet's Carmen, Offenbach's Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Thomas's Hamlet, and Puccini's Tosca; and 18 revivals from the company's repertory. The season is the first to be entirely planned under Gelb's leadership, in collaboration with Levine (the past three seasons were planned before Gelb became General Manager in 2006-07 but included some productions, repertoire, and casting changes made by Gelb).