THE HANGOVER REPORT – Renée Fleming and Ben Winshaw are superb in NORMA JEANE BAKER OF TROY, Anne Carson’s genre-straddling concoction

It’s hard to assess a piece like Anne Carson’s Norma Jeane Baker of Troy, which marks the first theatrical run at the 500-seat Griffin Theater at The Shed, the brand new performing arts … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Janáček’s slight DIARY OF ONE WHO DISAPPEARED is given a tastefully vague staging by Ivo van Hove

For just a handful of performances this past week as part of Brooklyn Academy of Music’s winter/spring season, Flemish opera company Muziektheater Transparant’s production of Leoš Janáček’s Diary of One Who Disappeared played the … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Reassessing Lepage’s RING CYCLE for the Met, roughly at the halfway point

Back in 2010, renowned French Canadian experimental theater director Robert Lepage embarked on staging Richard Wagner’s epic Ring Cycle – one of the towering achievements in Western Art – for the Metropolitan Opera, replacing a … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Viva Verdi!: Verdi operas dominate the Met before Wagner’s Ring Cycle settles in

Before the Metroplitan Opera embarks on staging a series of performances of Wagner’s Ring Cycle this spring, the mighty opera company has programmed a trio of Verdi operas, two of … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT– In its unfussiness, Les Arts Florissants’ RAMEAU, MAÎTRE À DANSER proves invigorating

This weekend, I caught William Christie’s exquisite 24-member baroque chamber music ensemble Les Arts Florissants perform an operatic double bill by Jean-Philippe Rameau at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Howard Gilman Opera House. Mr. … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The Met’s effervescent production of LA FILLE DU RÉGIMENT returns, led by a thrilling Javier Camarena

I recently had the chance to watch the Metropolitan Opera’s revival of Donizetti’s comic, light-as-air bel canto opera La Fille du Régiment. I had seen the effervescent Laurent Pelly staging – … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The Met’s IOLANTA / BLUEBEARD’S CASTLE remains an unlikely but darkly glimmering operatic double bill

This week, I caught the first revival of the fairytale double bill that is the Metropolitan Opera’s 2015 production of Iolanta / Bluebeard’s Castle. To say that it’s the ideal … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Debussy’s singular PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE is done proud by Met maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Tonight, I caught a rare performance of Pelléas et Mélisande at the Metropolitan Opera. In my book, any chance to to see and hear Debussy’s sole opera live in the opera house … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – PROTOTPYE 2019 continues to aggressively push the boundaries of opera and music theater

As a lover of opera, theater, and unexpected modes of performative expression, it’s no surprise that I find Prototype to be an essential annual experience. Touted as a festival for … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – A satisfying holidays at the Met: LA TRAVIATA, ADRIANA LECOUVREUR, and THE MAGIC FLUTE

This holiday season, opera fans were treated to a trio of top notch, thoroughly satisfying productions at the Met, two of them brand new to the mighty opera company. Given … Continue Reading →