THE HANGOVER REPORT – Christine Goerke unveils a very human Isolde via the NSO’s dramatically and musically alert performance of Wagner’s intoxicating score

Yesterday at David Geffen Hall, Gianandrea Noseda led the National Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Act II of Richard Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. The raison d’être for the concert, an offering at this … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival in full swing with the welcome return of THE MANGANIYAR SEDUCTION and James MacMillan’s searing new STABAT MATER

This past week found Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival in full swing with two offerings that exemplified, at its purest, the festival’s core tenet – the belief that transcendence and illumination of the … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – “The Scottish Play” two-ways (or maybe three or four): CSC’s MACBETH, Roundabout’s SCOTLAND, PA, etc.

This fall in New York, “The Scottish Play” is all the rage, as evidenced by two high profile productions of and inspired by the Shakespeare tragedy that recently opened Off-Broadway. At … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – POWER STRIP & ZAUBERLAND: Lincoln Center mounts a pair of nightmarish productions documenting the Syrian refugee experience

Perhaps unintentionally, Lincoln Center has mounted a pair of strikingly compatible productions – one a play, the other essentially a “concept opera” – that bleakly convey the Syrian refugee experience, notably from … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Lincoln Center’s genre-blurring WHITE LIGHT FESTIVAL commences its 10th anniversary, looking to the past for transcendence

Last week marked the commencement of Lincoln Center’s White Light Festival, which this year is celebrating its 10th anniversary. In this incredibly crowded fall theater, dance, and classical music season, what … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Legends of ballet at work: Wendy Whelan collaborates in THE DAY and Herman Cornejo’s 20th anniversary celebration

This weekend, I had the privilege of catching superstar dancers Herman Cornejo and Wendy Whelan, two legends of the ballet world whose careers continue to inspire and awe. On Saturday … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The Gershwins’ PORGY AND BESS receives a sturdy new staging at the Met, led by the superb pairing of Eric Owens and Angel Blue

This afternoon, I caught a performance of the Metropolitan Opera’s new staging of the Gershwins’ 1935 American folk opera Porgy and Bess. The production launched the mighty opera company’s 2019-2020 season … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Lincoln Center’s MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL necessarily evolves into an eclectic festival of riches

This weekend marks the conclusion of this year’s Mostly Mozart Festival, courtesy of Lincoln Center. With the demise of the Lincoln Center Festival a few years ago, the institution’s other performing … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Louis Langrée leads a wondrous, endlessly inventive THE MAGIC FLUTE that you can’t miss

Last night at the David H. Koch Theater, I attended a performance of Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute, courtesy of Lincoln Center’s thoughtfully-curated Mostly Mozart Festival (which features not just classical … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Heiner Goebbels’ EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED AND WOULD HAPPEN philosophically takes on human history on a huge scale

Yesterday evening, for the second night in a row (after having attended Triptych at the Brooklyn Academy of Music), I paid witness to a fascinating, large-scale theatrical fusion. That’s because I attended … Continue Reading →