Opera Philadelphia ended its season with Le Nozze di Figaro, Friday, and it will play May 3, 5, and 7—a matinee. Figaro is considered by most to be one of the few perfect operas and although it’s perhaps too easily encountered in routine run-throughs, there are usually rewards in seeing it.
Tancredi, given on February 10th, was a credit to Opera Philadelphia, who offered a well-considered and compelling production.
How Verdi’s opera might address this particular nightmare was unclear.
In Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, an opera based on the famed jazz musician’s life, the title character asks, “So if there is a God, why does the negro suffer? Is my prayer, my music lesser, smaller in God’s eyes?”
Jarrett Ott is a star. That is the only surprise takeaway from the well-intended snore, Cold Mountain.
Lisette Oropesa sang “The Lost One”—the meaning of “traviata.”
It’s a place where the one thing you can expect is the unexpected. The place is… Philadelphia?
The setting: a dark plaza extending directly in front of a storied opera house. The time: just after a ho-hum revival of something Puccini. The crowd streams out, moderately satisfied but also far from bowled over. A group open to a proposition, you could say.
Tell us: Filth or dementia?
Hasten thee to feed another quarter of conversation for The Talk of the Town!
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