Candide, at Huntington Theatre Company this fall, is amazing. Amazing. AMAZING! I have not gone to a more visually stunning and musically moving show in a long while. Candide runs through October 16th as the kickoff to Huntington’s 30th Anniversary Season. Huntington welcomes a production that is clearly part remount, part newly produced, bringing several [...]
As the final curtain fell, the house lights rose, and I began my way out of the Loeb Drama Center, my ears couldn’t help but hone into the conversation happening behind me. A woman remarked to her theatergoing companion, “Well, I give it an A for effort.” In the moment, I couldn’t help but [...]
The centerpiece for the bi-annual Boston Early Music Festival is Niobe, Regina di Tebe, a baroque opera by Agostino Steffani, first produced in 1688. People come from across the world for BEMF’s production every other year full of excitement at what will be produced. I could hardly maintain my composure as I sat down in [...]
Boston Lyric Opera has been pushing the excitement factor for their new production of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream for quite some time. I totally bought into it and have been holding my breath for the show that was to come. Not only did BLO have their regular outreach programs at the Library and [...]
I will admit, I’ve had a lot of trouble deconstructing my thoughts on this piece. I struggle to be the one to speak against the popular opinion, notably those in awe of the use of technology in this supposedly progressive piece. But does that really make something new and unique? Does it make something [...]
Boston Lyric Operas production of Agrippina was nothing at all like I imagined it to be. Full of slap stick humor, ridiculous random props and over dramatized staging this was not your typical Handel opera. The audience fell in love with the comedy that Lillian Groag, fresh off directing the same production for the New [...]
Getting thunderous applause from a Wednesday evening audience can sometimes prove a difficult task, but Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Puccini’s Tosca effortlessly evoked the praises of the packed Shubert Theatre. Beginning slowly, the production quickly gained momentum as it raced toward and eventually reached its epic climax. This new adaptation of a Scottish Opera [...]
I had high expectations for Boston Opera Collaborative’s production of Little Women. BOC is well known for having great musicians and this production had Michael Sakir, a favorite of mine, as the music director. It was housed in a beautiful newer hall in Dudley Square that I’ve been wanting to visit, and it is a [...]
Idonemeo is one of the greatest operas ever written. A Greek tragedy complete with meddling gods, monsters, love triangles and chaos with a silver-lined ending, it’s everything I expect in an Opera Seria piece and more. Mozart’s soaring music and vision fill the piece and mesmerize any audience member. Boston Lyric Opera’s new production of [...]
Boston Lyric Opera’s production of Ariadne auf Naxos has made headlines around the world as it is a revival of the European Welsh National Opera. I was very excited to have the chance to see this production come to life here in Boston, and am still delighted that I had the opportunity. Revival director and [...]