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Susan Galbraith is a playwright, librettist, director and actor in theatre. Currently, she serves as President of Alliance for New Music-Theatre.

Werther

May 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Werther, the final production of Washington National Opera’s 2011-2012 season, features some wonderful music in Jules Massenet’s lyrical score. It is beautifully supported by the strong dynamics of the orchestra under the baton of Emmanuel Villaume and the tempered singing of the cast. However, I am still trying to figure out how certain layers of production laid on top of this quintessential romantic work served the story. [Read more...]

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The Taming of the Shrew

May 8, 2012 By 1 Comment

Who says you can’t make The Shrew work? I did.  And I’ll eat my hat. The last time I had seen a truly stunning production of The Taming of the Shrew was in New York’s Central Park, a Joe Papp production, with Meryl Streep and Raul Julia in the leads. Theirs was a true match. And now we have Cody Nickell and Kate Eastwood Norris who, as husband and wife in real life, have given us Petruchio and Kate, who, fight as they may, recognize something fascinating and deeply stirring in the other.  [Read more...]

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Nabucco

May 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Verdi’s first major operatic hit, Nabucco, opened this weekend at the Kennedy Center in a sumptuous new Washington National Opera production by American director and designer Thaddeus Strassberger. The visual spectacle of the first two acts carried both story and directorial concept, evoking Biblical spectacles painted on great canvases, in static yet strikingly heroic composition. [Read more...]

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The Nautical Yards

April 29, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Space is both an inspiration and one that provides parameters to force/collision, a collective of multi-disciplinary artists. The found space of The Yards Park Canal creates a fitting backdrop and also character, one which  “speaks” about war and the sea, separation and loss in the company’s newest dance-movement-theatre work, The Nautical Yards. [Read more...]

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God of Carnage

April 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

God of Carnage feels like a Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf for the 21st century.  The characters are better dressed, finer housed, super toned, and a whole lot funnier. But playwright Yasmina Reza argues that the same god still reigns, and that under the surface we are still primitives.  Scratch us and we don’t bleed, we begin to hurl things at each other. The new production at Signature Theatre makes us yelp in recognition through our laughter. [Read more...]

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Postcard from Morocco and Miss Havisham’s Fire

April 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A comprehensive and stunning celebration of composer Dominick Argento’s work is being presented at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, and it simply should not be missed.

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New Opera duo: Booze and Cigarettes

April 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Contemporary opera is supposed to be a rare and endangered species. Robert Wood, Artistic Director of UrbanArias, says otherwise and believes fervently that it’s a cause worth pursuing. His second season is proving that opera properly seeded and nurtured can thrive.  His recipe for his developing company is “Opera. Short. New.” [Read more...]

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Positions 1956

April 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

UrbanArias has not only landed once more in our midst, but opened its second season and first commissioned opera Sunday night to a full house. This world premiere of Positions 1956 with music by Conrad Cummings and lyrics by Michael Korie showcases two mature professionals at the top of their game, completely at ease in the world of new opera, with a work that is funny, musically accessible, and emotionally stirring.  [Read more...]

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Synetic’s untamed Taming of the Shrew

April 3, 2012 By Leave a Comment

When Synetic cooks up Shakespeare, know that under Paata Tsikurishvili’s fired-up direction, the team will tackle something bold and often delicious. However, is it any wonder that in Synetic’s repeated attempts to re-concoct the bard, placing the ingredients of each play in a new mold, there might prove one production that, like a soufflé, doesn’t quite rise or stay risen at its presentation? [Read more...]

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The Strand premieres Lawton’s Blood-bound and Tongue-tied

March 26, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Slipping from the street into the store-front space of the Strand Theater Company in Baltimore, you’re in for some surprises. You pass a showcase displaying the detritus of former tenants, a band of gypsies including its Queen, who read tarot cards for walk-up customers before being murdered by her mates. The atmosphere of the Strand still retains some of the feeling of danger and excitement of “outsiders” willing to take big risks.  You’re greeted by the friendliest of staff yet warned that the stuff you are about to see on stage may be hard to witness. [Read more...]

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