Psycho meets Sartre at the Nigredo Hotel

Review

Director Alan Corbishley describes Nigredo (blackening) as a process that ancient alchemists believed was necessary to create the Philosopher's Stone, and thus find immortality. In psychology, this process is a metaphor for the "dark night of the soul" that is necessary for a person to confront in order to reach acceptance of oneself.

Lyric Opera kicks off a starry season at Millennium Park

Review

The night's theme, (and requisite hashtag) #LongLivePassion was on-point — we were treated to some of opera's most impassioned moments from Puccini's beloved "O mio babbino caro" to the seductive "Mon coeur s'ouvre à ta voix" from Saint-Saën's Samson et Dalila. It was a glamorous, fun-filled night that featured the headliners of the Lyric's upcoming production of La Bohéme as well as four young artists from the Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Center.

A summer Mozart menu

Review

After such a substantial appetizer there was a reasonable interval before the entrée. It is at this point appropriate to mention the reconfiguration that Mostly Mozart brings to David Geffen Hall. The stage extends beyond the proscenium into the auditorium. Seating is placed at either side of the extended portions of the stage and, when a chorus isn't performing, behind it.

Relentlessly sinister: Rigoletto at Wolf Trap Opera

Review

The production, directed by Crystal Manich, is pretty standard as *Rigolettos* go, the Italian renaissance evoked in the costumes and scenery, and all the characters do what they always do - the Duke rapes, Rigoletto rages, Gilda falls foolishly in love, Sparafucile murders. There is an added element of surreal projections on the architectural set which proved more a distraction than an enhancement.

Swept away: Roméo et Juliette

Review

The contemporary setting didn't feel like a gimmick but a way to make the characters that much more relatable, and the overall effect was that of a John Hughes movie. Muller's approach gets teenagers and how they feel emotion so intensely that it can turn fatal in an instant.

Layered comedy: Flight

Review

What struck me most about this work by Jonathan Dove and April de Angelis is the intricate, layered nature of the music and text. I could see numerous performances of this opera and discover something new about it everything single time. Great comedy should make us think, and Flight provides plenty of food for thought.

Strange inside: The Tender Land

Review

The Maytag hosts clearly took the term "Iowa Nice" to heart. Free snacks and beverages were supplied prior to the performance, as well as pie and ice cream afterwards. The atmosphere was welcoming and friendly, and I could sense that the Newton community had enthusiastically embraced their first opportunity to host the opera.

La Gazzetta: The Funny Papers

Review

All the antics amount to nothing more than a big helium balloon and to keep the whole enterprise on the ground, director and designer Josh Shaw has approached it as if it were a musical-comedy. Every "song" is a "number" filled with coordinated movements and choreography.

The TSO's joyful ode to Oundjian

Review

The symphony itself feels like an entire world, encompassing at once the life of one man - I always like it to be Beethoven's - and the lives of all people. It feels as though Beethoven offers up his story first, a conversation starter with humanity, letting us know of his hardships and his joys and his sense of humour, like an invitation for us to respond.

The Medium: opera as film noir

Review

The film deserves broader exposure. Seven decades after Menotti composed the score and wrote the libretto, both still sound ever so inventive and contemporary. As a film director Menotti nurtured a naturalistic atmosphere in which it appears inevitable that his characters sing and in the process he has created a finely honed example of operatic film noir.