THE HANGOVER REPORT – ERC’s languorous BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP uniquely attempts to conjure Emily Dickinson’s inner life, via music

It’s difficult to critique a production like Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s Because I Could Not Stop: An Encounter with Emily Dickinson, which opened Off-Broadway last week at the Pershing Square Signature … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mazzoli and Vavrek’s compact, bleak PROVING UP investigates the American Dream, disturbingly and profoundly

One of the most dramatically and musically potent new operas I’ve come across in recent years was Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Breaking the Waves (which I encountered at last year’s Prototype Festival), … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Mark Morris Dance Group soulfully closes out Mostly Mozart 2018 with a trio of dances

Last week, this year’s edition of Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival came to a close with a short run – I attended Sunday afternoon’s final performance – of a bill … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Leonard Bernstein’s MASS is an audacious hybrid that’s messy, grandiose, and beguiling

Last night, I caught Leonard Bernstein’s audacious, rarely performed MASS – one of the headline offerings, and a mammoth undertaking, at this year’s Mostly Mozart Festival – at David Geffen … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – ERC’s TCHAIKOVSKY: NONE BUT THE LONELY HEART lets the tortured composer’s work do the talking, movingly

I recently took in a performance of Ensemble for the Romantic Century’s Tchaikovsky: None but the Lonely Heart, the company’s final production of its 2017-2018 season, at the Pershing Square Signature … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Charles Wuorinen’s highly anticipated, emotionally turbulent operatic adaptation of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN doesn’t fully satisfy

Last night, I attended the final performance of New York City Opera’s brief run of Brokeback Mountain, Charles Wuorinen’s operatic adaptation of the Annie Proulx short story (made famous by … Continue Reading →

VIEWPOINTS – Is the age of avant-garde performance over?: Nikos Karathanos’s THE BIRDS and Meg Stuart’s UNTIL OUR HEARTS STOP

Are we living in a world in which the avant-garde is obsolete, a mere caricature of what it has historically been? Or have we simply been desensitized to a degree … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Joyce DiDonato leads a sparkling account of Massenet’s CENDRILLON at the Metropolitan Opera

Last night at the Metropolitan Opera, I caught American mezzo-soprano star Joyce DiDonato take on the title role in Cendrillon, Jules Massenet’s operatic version of the popular Cinderella fairytale. Quite surprisingly, … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Anna Netrebko debuts a smoldering TOSCA at the Met

Last night, I caught the second cast of Sir David McVicar’s traditional new staging of Puccini’s Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera. I had thought the opening cast – which featured … Continue Reading →

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Basil Twist’s genre-busting SYMPHONIE FANTASTIQUE returns, triumphantly

What’s the most compelling dance performance currently playing in town? Well, I’d place my bet on singular visual artist Basil Twist’s gorgeously handcrafted Symphonie Fantastique at HERE Arts Center. The thing is, … Continue Reading →