Many operas lose their voluptuous richness when they’re flattened into modern translation and costume. Not so with this sumptuous In Series update. Librettist Bari Biern closely knits Mozart’s German text of The Abduction from the Seraglio by Bretzer and Stephanie, into English, transforming the silly story about the rescue of entrapped heroines from a Turkish […]
The Flying Dutchman at Glimmerglass Festival 2013
A season programmed under an umbrella theme can feel a strain, but Artistic and General Director Francesca Zambello has pulled off a clean sweep of wins at Glimmerglass Festival this year, all under a banner featuring Romanticism. Glimmerglass Lake itself provides a most suitable setting that reflects nature as inspiration, and the shows bring to […]
Stabat Mater concludes our Glimmerglass 2013 series
Elegance, idealism, imagination, suffering. These are the words I take away from Glimmerglass Festival 2013. It would be wrong of me not to mention one last show, which for me may have stood as the emotional heart of the outstanding season, and it drove home all these shared motifs.
Kelley Rourke produces surprisingly funny adaptation for Verdi’s King for a Day at Glimmerglass
My introduction to this year’s Glimmerglass Festival featured a moving kaleidoscope of “pop” bubbles projected on the theatre’s curtain. The cheerful light show accompanied the overture, which, from its opening notes, raced like a cat-and-mouse chase, musically reminiscent of Rossini, and set the tone for a new, splendidly buoyant production of Giuseppe Verdi’s King for […]
A champ of a new work – Approaching Ali from WNO
Washington National Opera has given us a “champ” of a new music-theatre work that is as approachable and inspiring as the great American Muhammed Ali himself. Its creators have bypassed taking a biographical approach, which wouldn’t have worked in this medium anyway, but have crafted something lean, impressionistic and emotionally powerful.
Spoleto Festival USA 2013: Celebrating 37 Years as the Most Comprehensive Arts Festival in the Country if not the World
This was my third time to the city, my second to Spoleto USA. This year, the trees of Charleston were what first grabbed my attention. These great ancient creatures with their long snake-like arms reach out and intertwine with other trees to form a sheltering canopy over certain parts of the old town.
A free Show Boat at Nationals Park this Saturday, May 18.
While the Nationals are away, the Washington National Opera will take to the field of Nationals Park for their popular live broadcast from The Kennedy Center. This year, on the jumbo screen, ball park audiences will see the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein musical Show Boat, now playing through May 26th in the Opera House.
A stunning Show Boat has docked at The Kennedy Center
It’s nearly certain that most aficionados of the American musical theatre would agree that Jerome Kern (Music) and Oscar Hammerstein II’s (Book and Lyrics) Show Boat, based on Edna Ferber’s novel, is one of those memorable shows that has – and will continue to – withstand the test of time for good reason. Its glorious […]
Actéon
Opera Lafayette bounded onto the stage at the Terrace Theatre this week offering a “post-modern” baroque opera that was both elegant and fresh. Artistic Director Ryan Brown teamed up with choreographer Seán Curran in a remount of Actéon, a minor classic by seventeenth century French composer Marc-Antoin Charpentier, that Brown’s company has given us straight […]
Rave for Paul’s Case, new UrbanArias opera
I come away from this taut opera with powerful images indelibly planted in my brain. I can’t shake the mysterious, disturbing, and yet powerful atmosphere that has been created in Paul’s Case, the latest production by Urban Arias.
Opera based on Cather short story next up for Urban Arias
The world premiere of Paul’s Case, an original opera based on a Willa Cather short story, will be UrbanArias’s next production, opening April 20th, the company announced today.
The fearless Francesca Zambello takes over Washington National Opera
Francesca Zambello, the newly appointed Artistic Director of the Washington National Opera, sits in an emerald raw silk jacket, checking on emails. She is surrounded but yet oblivious to the opulence and eye candy in the Willard Hotel Lobby, totally absorbed in her quotidian task. As I approach, she looks up and assesses me in […]