Tiffany Townsend and Sophia Hunt in Empty the House
It rained nonstop in Philadelphia the evening I saw Riders to the Sea and Empty the House. But it was nothing compared to what happened on stage in two works awash with water as metaphor. Read more »
Curtis Opera continued its season using the Prince Theater as their venue. That alliance took on particular resonance here, as the company ventured Sweeney Todd. The famous first production in 1979 was, of course, directed by Harold Prince, and surely represents one of his (and composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s) crowning achievements. Read more »
Although Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti is always categorized as an opera, the piece certainly has one foot planted firmly in his jazzy musical-theater style. Read more »
New York City Opera presents the world premiere of Iain Bell and Mark Campbell’s Stonewall. Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the uprising, Stonewall is a moving and explosive new American opera that captures the rage, grit, humor and, finally, hope of the LGBTQ+ community’s uprising in a Greenwich Village dance club on one hot night in June 1969. Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, June 21-28. Read more »
Were La Rondine an IQ test, I’d be in trouble. It is considered “lesser” Puccini, even a touch embarrassing, but I love it. If Mozart is the great composer of unforced, mysterious, heart stopping pathos, then Puccini must be the not so great composer of aching nostalgia and sorrowing loss. Read more »
Cher Public