Long Beach Opera presents Philip Glass's Les Enfants Terribles, performing May 21, 22 and 23, 2021 at the 2nd and PCH rooftop garage at 2nd Street and Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach.
Philip Glass's hypnotic meditation on youth receives a powerful, dance-driven production by director James Darrah - recently named as the new Artistic Director and Chief Creative Officer of Long Beach Opera -- and conducted by Christopher Rountree with new choreography by Los Angeles' rising star choreographer Chris Emile. The cast features LBO debuts for baritone Edward Nelson as Paul, soprano Anna Schubert as Elisabeth, and mezzo soprano Sarah Beaty as Dargelos / Agathe and a return by tenor Orson Van Gay as Gerard. The performances will take place on May 21, 22, and 23 at 8:00 PM.
Long Beach Opera returns to live in-person performances by continuing its commitment to the operas of Philip Glass. Les Enfants Terribles (1996) is the final piece of Glass's trilogy based on the works of Jean Cocteau. The 2021 Long Beach Opera season was originally curated by interim artistic director Yuval Sharon and is now being led by newly appointed Artistic Director and Chief Creative Officer James Darrah.
The production is being adapted from an original which was presented at The One Festival at Opera Omaha in 2019. Les Enfants Terribles is performed in French with English subtitles.
James Darrah's powerful and physically demanding production sheds new light on the piece's conception as a dance opera. Glass himself adapted Cocteau's novel into a libretto, which tells the story of two orphaned children who live in dangerous isolation from the outside world.
Glass's kinetic score, set for three overlapping pianos, transforms the original story into a hypnotic meditation on youth's transience and its tragic illusion of eternity.
In this new iteration of the production, created to comply with a Covid-safe presentation, Les Enfants Terribles has been converted into a live drive-in opera cinematheque, and will be presented on the roof of the parking garage of the marina adjacent shopping center in Long Beach:; 2ND & PCH. Audience members will remain in their vehicles while the singers and dancers move throughout the space, with live and pre-recorded video design enhancing the production.
"Darrah achieved an optimal blend of dance and theater that elevated Glass's opera to a level of clarity and meaning that will undoubtedly enkindle a passion for opera in those in the audience who were new to genre and renew the excitement of those already enthralled." --Opera News
Tickets for Les Enfants Terribles can be purchased as part of a two-opera subscription, which includes the double bill Pierrot Lunaire / Voices from the Killing Jar, which will be presented in August. Ticket prices for Les Enfants Terribles are per person, not per vehicle. Subscriptions can be purchased either by calling the LBO Box Office at 562.470.SING (7464) or by going online to
longbeachopera.org.
If there are single tickets remaining in the two weeks before the performance opens, they will be put on sale. Safety protocols will be observed at the performances including six feet of distance between all vehicles, and individuals must all remain masked and socially distanced from those not in their party when outside their vehicles.
"Les Enfants Terribles" is a 1929 novel by Jean Cocteau, published by Editions Bernard Grasset. It concerns two siblings, Elisabeth and Paul, who isolate themselves from the world as they grow up, an isolation which is shattered by the stresses of their adolescence. It was first translated into English by Samuel Putnam in 1930 and published by Brewer & Warren Inc. The book is illustrated by the author's own drawings.
It was made into a film of the same name, a collaboration between Cocteau and director Jean-Pierre Melville in 1950 and inspired the opera by Philip Glass. The ballet La Boule de Neige by the choreographer Fabrizio Monteverde with music of Pierluigi Castellano is based on this novel. The story was adapted by the writer Gilbert Adair for his 1988 novel, "The Holy Innocents," which was the basis for the 2003 film "The Dreamers," directed by Bernardo Bertolucci.
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