Lincoln Center Festival Begins with 'The Bacchae'

The Lincoln Center Festival begins Wednesday with THE BACCHAE, a National Theatre of Scotland production that is "as daring and outrageous as it is epic" (The Daily Telegraph of London). From the moment Scottish actor Alan Cumming's provocative Dionysus is lowered onstage from above, it is clear that playwright David Greig's interpretation of Euripides takes the mask off one of the last great Athenian tragedies.

"The gold lamé kilt - fabulous. The Afro-Scottish backup singers - sorry, Greek chorus - perfection. The drunken orgies, the violent dismemberment, a bonny Alan Cumming as a really angry Dionysus? Scary. ... This is not your Scottish granny's 'Peter Pan,'" proclaims The New York Times.

Opening Saturday, July 5, the iconic opera Die Soldaten runs for five performances at the Park Avenue Armory. The Financial Times of London has declared this startling work "a voyage of epic proportions and a triumph." This monumental RuhrTriennale production features the 110-piece Bochumer Symphoniker and its enormous percussion section, along with a jazz combo and forty singers, actors, and dancers. Be part of an audience that travels on moveable seating into the immersive, total-theater experience German composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann took decisive steps to realize more than four decades ago.

Photo by Peter James Ziellnski.

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