Reviews

More things sacred More things sacred

In recent weeks local and visiting groups performed refreshing rarities by Zelenka, Domenico Scarlatti and Telemann so engagingly that one didn’t miss the old standbys at all.

Bloody Mary, Hold the Pepper Bloody Mary, Hold the Pepper

Come ye addicts of melody! After long eclipse, Bel Canto shines again!

Close encounters Close encounters

Zauberland: An Encounter with Schumann’s Dichterliebe touched on themes of forced migration, loss, exile, and dehumanization.

The Coronation of Lisette The Coronation of Lisette

Sunday’s Richard Tucker Gala at Carnegie Hall was unusually satisfying despite a less than usually superstarry line-up.

Nearly there Nearly there

On Site Opera’s Turn of the Screw, an immersive production set in the Bronx’s Wave Hill Gardens, featured mostly good singing and a few directorial and technological missteps.

We’ll always have Paris We’ll always have Paris

At Friday night’s performance of La Bohème at the Met, the cast seemed to lean into (and gamble upon) the production’s enduring popularity.

Pink flamingos Pink flamingos

Like any good gay theatergoers, we seek out Tennessee Williams revivals with the fervor of truffle-sniffing pigs.

The lion king The lion king

Opéra Royal revives Grétry’s Richard Cœur-de-lion, one of the finest examples of the opéra comique genre.

I believe in unicorns I believe in unicorns

Sunday evening Los Angeles Opera presented tenor Javier Camarena in recital to a wildly enthusiastic audience from the stage of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

Take care of this house Take care of this house

How does one make a performance of standard opera repertoire like Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro feel “fresh?”

Drag me to hell Drag me to hell

My first-ever Met Sunday opera brought the welcome return of Gluck’s sublime Orfeo ed Euridice in an enchanting afternoon that combined elegant conducting, joyous dancing and Jamie Barton’s extraordinary hero.

Immersed in eternal light Immersed in eternal light

Christian Gerhaher delivers a Kindertotenlieder of such conciliatory tact that it erases all others.

Puppets and cherry blossoms Puppets and cherry blossoms

I find it difficult to experience Madama Butterfly without also experiencing an odd fracturing of the self.

Quicksilver messenger Quicksilver messenger

At the Park Avenue Armory, Barbara Hannigan chose to sing works that tested her metal in odd corners of vocalism.

A life for the zarzuela A life for the zarzuela

In El Barbero de Sevilla, as given through the weekend by the New Camerata Opera, there is far too much comic dialogue, all of it in English and none of it sparkling.

Over the garden wall Over the garden wall

Hannah Lash’s latest opera, which premiered at the Miller Theater on Wednesday night, was a musical and dramatic misfire.

You better shop around You better shop around

Little Shop of Horrors loses its necessary edge when it’s wrested from the gritty world of its creation.

Storm of the century Storm of the century

A sense of celebration was definitely in the air last Thursday at the Vienna State Opera.

Ray of ‘Light’ Ray of ‘Light’

An opera company presenting a Broadway musical that centers around a woman of a certain age travelling to Italy with her young daughter might seem more a vehicle for a great diva of a certain age.

The Wurm turns The Wurm turns

Luisa Miller snowballs toward disaster and death.

Suddenly spinto Suddenly spinto

When soprano Yihan Duan started to sing her aria, you could feel an almost electric charge that something special was happening.

A whole new world A whole new world

The Paris Opera assembled an all-French cast to stage arguably the most well-known example of opéra-ballet, Jean-Philippe Rameau’s Les Indes Galantes.

Killer queen Killer queen

Rossini’s Semiramide is a highly original and imaginative work of theater that impresses for its creative and beautifully scored orchestration, incisive recitatives and ensembles, and theatrically intriguing characters.

Orientation Orientation

There were plenty of Turan-do’s and only a few Turandon’ts at the Met’s Turandot Sunday afternoon.