Opera Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 11

Review: LITTLE WOMEN, Opera Holland Park
by Gary Naylor - July 25, 2022

Bold programming pays off with an opera that has its demands but offers rewards in equal measure...

Review: SUOR ANGELICA at Clayton Wesley Uniting Church
by Barry Lenny - July 24, 2022

An intimate and sensitive performance....

Review: MARGOT LA ROUGE/LE VILLI at Opera Holland Park
by Cheryl Markosky - July 22, 2022

What did our critic think of MARGOT LA ROUGE/LE VILLI at Opera Holland Park? You have to applaud Opera Holland Park for not only focusing on money-spinning blockbusters, but for giving rarely performed works an airing. In a double bill of short operas (think bite-sized short story rather than weight...

Review: MANON at Opera Wroclaw
by Natalia Jarczynska - July 21, 2022

What did our critic think of MANON at Opera Wroclaw? Manon has it all. Great duets, splendor, fantastic music, great scenography, perfect choir, and harmonious choreographies. This opera comique from the 19th century has a big come back after 40 years of absence on polish scenes, last production in ...

Review: J'NAI BRIDGES At Caramoor
by Peter Danish - July 14, 2022

Mezzo delivers powerful evening of song highlighting African American composers. On a spectacularly beautiful evening, in a spectacularly beautiful venue (Caramoor's Spanish Pavillion) the birds were singing brightly, children were running around playfully (some continued to do so right through the ...

Review: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM at Des Moines Metro Opera
by DC Felton - July 13, 2022

Starting a theatre company is no easy feat, but for a theatre to be around for 50 years is something worth celebrating. You can celebrate 50 years with Des Moines Metro Opera this summer, which just opened up its 50th season with two spectacular productions. The season opened up a sold-out run of Th...

BWW Review: OTELLO, Royal Opera House
by Gary Naylor - July 13, 2022

Russell Thomas, Christopher Maltman and Hrachuhi Bassénz excel in an emotional and relevant production of Verdi's adaptation of Shakespeare's masterful study of jealousy, ruthlessness and much more....

Review: Snider's MASS Never Feels Endangered in Green-Wood Cemetery Catacombs
by Richard Sasanow - June 20, 2022

Last week, “The Angel’s Share”--which falls under the 'Death of Classical' umbrella--kicked off its new season at Green-Wood with a deeply poignant piece, Sarah Kirkland Snider’s MASS FOR THE ENDANGERED, a re-imagining of the Latin Mass with text, combining traditional and new, by poet Nathan Bellow...

Review: Met Orchestra with Goerke, Jovanovich, Owens under Nezet-Seguin Conquers Wagner, Lets Mazzoli Shine Through
by Richard Sasanow - June 18, 2022

You’d have thought that the Met Orchestra would have had enough by the end of the season in the opera house, but, no. Their New York season really ended at Carnegie Hall this week with a pair of concerts combining some opera excerpts with orchestral pieces by composers also known for their opera wor...

BWW Review: MADAME BUTTERFLY at Opera Wroclaw
by Natalia Jarczynska - June 20, 2022

If you want to witness the materialization of the word beauty, see this show. With thrilling voices, amazing Puccini music, and vital presentation this opera will lead you straight to musical heaven....

BWW Review: Stravinsky's RAKE Progresses Briefly at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - June 06, 2022

While I was watching the Met’s current beautiful yet somehow languid production of the Igor Stravinsky and WH Auden/Chester Kallman opera THE RAKE’S PROGRESS the other night--with only two more performances until it goes back into mothballs for probably many years--I couldn’t help wishing that the o...

BWW Review: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at Opera Wroclaw
by Natalia Jarczynska - June 02, 2022

This opera buffa composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is the piece produced by the Wrocław Opera as part of the Opera Of The Young program after Don Giovanni and Cossi Fan Tutte. Director André Heller-Lopes put on a very classic show with superb set design by Renato Theobaldo. It is red and g...

BWW Review: New HAMLET Makes Its Mark at the Met with Stellar Cast, Impressive Production
by Richard Sasanow - May 30, 2022

Is there another Shakespearean drama filled with as many quotable quotes as “Hamlet” (even when they’re used out of context and given a foreign meaning)? But “To be or not to be” is surely the most referenced and, certainly, in the new operatic HAMLET currently at the Met by Brett Dean and Matthew J...

BWW Review: AKHNATEN at the Met Opera
by George Weinhouse - May 26, 2022

One of the greatest successes of recent Met seasons is Philip Glass's AKHNATEN, first seen in 2019.I saw it three times that year and fell under its spell each time.It is being revived this season....

BWW Review: CARMEN at The Kennedy Center
by Rachael F. Goldberg - May 24, 2022

While this production of 'Carmen' is very traditional on its face, the thoughtfulness and sheer talent packed into this performance elevates it to something far more engaging, and absolutely enchanting. It’s more than worthy of audiences’ time, and hopefully WNO’s fresh interpretation will help audi...

BWW Review: Odyssey Records Recording of HENRY VIII by Saint-Saens
by George Weinhouse - May 20, 2022

A new recording of Saint-Saens's opera HENRY VIII, by Odyssey Opera, has come my way. It is a complete version of the work which is dated 1883. Odyssey Opera is a company dedicated to the performance of operas that are out of the mainstream but are deemed worthy of recognition. ...

BWW Review: San Diego Opera's Production of AGING MAGICIAN at The Balboa Theatre Shows Off Magical Mystery
by Ron Bierman - May 20, 2022

'What the hell was that?' an opera fan asked her friend as we shuffled into a parking-garage elevator. Not an easily answered question after a viewing of AGING MAGICIAN. Ambiguity abounds and reality is mixed with fantasy. The reality side is clear, mostly. Harold is a middle-aged watch repairman...

BWW Review: CARMEN at Minnesota Opera
by Jared Fessler - May 12, 2022

Featuring some of the most popular music to ever grace the opera stage, Minnesota Opera's Carmen brings every aspect of Bizet's thrilling tale to life, from its tantalizing beginning to its devastating climax....

BWW Review: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO at McCaw Hall
by Erica Miner - May 08, 2022

If ever an opera could be described as “easy listening” and flawlessly engaging, Figaro would qualify hands down...

Review: Nina Campos, with Guest Gerald Santos, In Concert at Pinto Art Museum
by Vince Vicentuan - May 04, 2022

A summer night couldn’t be more propitious: an amphitheatre sitting loftily atop rugged Antipolo terrains adorned with humongous homalomenas, philodendrons, and alocasias growing uninterruptedly, a buzzing crowd of guests gushing over the museum’s Castillan-influenced architecture jutting into the n...

BWW Review: (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS by Bates and Campbell under Zvulun Closes the Circle on Apple's Creation
by Richard Sasanow - May 03, 2022

On Saturday night, Version 2.0 of the Mason Bates-Mark Campbell opera, THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS, opened brilliantly as a mainstage production of the Atlanta Opera, in its East Coast premiere, under Tomer Zvulun’s taut direction and Michael Christie’s smart baton. To say the audience greeted th...

BWW Review: Soprano Nadine Sierra Makes a Splash – and a Splat – in Bloody New Simon Stone LUCIA at the Met
by Richard Sasanow - April 27, 2022

Well, no one can say that the Met doesn’t have guts. After the tepid response that subscribers gave its Las Vegas version of Verdi’s RIGOLETTO by Michael Mayer, no one would have suspected that they’d come up with a version of Donizetti’s LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR that made anything else it’s produced loo...

BWW Review: LA TRAVIATA's Powerhouse Cast and Crew Provide a Timeless, Stunning Production of The Verdi Classic at the Canadian Opera Company
by Isabella Perrone - April 27, 2022

The Canadian Opera Company marked its return-to-stage after nearly two years with this all-around stunning production of one of Verdi’s most well-known works. Clocking in at just shy of three hours, the four-act opera tells the tale of Parisian courtesan Violetta (Amina Edris, making her COC debut) ...

BWW Review: Joyce DiDonato's EDEN is a Little Less than Paradise at Carnegie Hall
by Richard Sasanow - April 25, 2022

Joyce DiDonato’s recitals-as-events--where she introduces her personal philosophies as well as her art into the evening--have their ups and downs. Sometimes they are marvelous. Saturday night at Carnegie Hall, the concert, directed by Marie Lambert-Le Bihan with lighting by John Torres, that also se...

BWW Review: On Site Opera Is Back Performing Live and In-Person--and It's No GIANNI Come Lately
by Richard Sasanow - April 14, 2022

Celebrating its 10th anniversary season, On Site Opera gave its audiences a present: The lively, fun-filled GIANNI SCHICCHI--the only comedy in Puccini’s trifecta, IL TRITTICO, which had its world premiere at the Met in 1918 and is surely its most popular of the triptych of one-acts. Of course, the ...