Is it true, as Stephen Sondheim insists, that mostly audience expectations dictate whether a work is to be experienced as an opera or a musical? When pushed, however, he is equally adamant that his Sweeney Todd was squarely conceived as a musical. Well, Artistic Director of the Glimmerglass Festival, Francesca Zambello, and the entire ensemble […]
Archives for August 2016
The Thieving Magpie at Glimmerglass Festival
Well, this one’s for the birds! Full disclosure. I love a production that is steeped in fanciful storytelling. My background as a former teacher of theatre-movement makes me a sucker for anthropomorphic exploration in character building. And I swoon for the bel canto vocal sound, its clear bell-like tones and the agility of the voices […]
La Bohème at Glimmerglass Festival
In a season where we’ve been hammered by political name-calling and divisive fearmongering, the threat of climate change and global terrorism, and protests and gun violence in hometowns across America, it is an emotional salve to return, if even for an evening, to the world of Giacomo Puccini’s young Bohemians. La Bohème reminds us of […]