It’s too bad that the Los Angeles Opera doesn’t have the same ability to stream films of their productions that the Metropolitan Opera does. There are probably many reasons for that. They have had some amazing productions. Chief amongst them is the 2015 production of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles. Though you can’t see it, you can hear it.
LA Opera will be streaming their Grammy Award-winning recording of The Ghosts of Versailles on Thursday, July 16th at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT. The opera will be streamed on LA Opera’s Facebook page as part of their LA Opera at Home programming.
It’s audio only, but there is a reason it won the Grammy for Best Opera Recording and a second Grammy for Best Engineered Album, Classical. It’s that good.
This meta opera by John Corigliano and William Hoffman takes the third Figaro play by Beaumarchais (who wrote the plays that inspired The Barber of Seville and The Marriage of Figaro) as the opera within the opera.
The story takes place after Marie Antoinette has been beheaded. Beaumarchais, trying to calm down a very upset Antoinette – who is now a ghost – puts on an opera for her. The opera, based on the real Beaumarchais’ play La Mère coupable, uses the characters and situations from his first two Figaro plays.
In the opera created within the opera, Count Almaviva is an ambassador from Spain living in Paris. Along with Figaro they try to rescue Marie Antoinette well before she is set for beheading. Unfortunately, things don’t go as planned and Beaumarchais enters the opera in an attempt to rescue Antoinette with the help of Figaro and Susanna, Figaro’s wife.
Here are a few video excerpts from LA Opera’s production from the 2014-2015 season:
The cast of The Ghosts of Versailles included Patricia Racette as “Marie Antoinette,” Christopher Maltman as “Beaumarchais,” Lucas Meachem as “Figaro” and Lucy Schaufer as “Susanna.”
You might have noticed Broadway star Patti LuPone in the clips above. Her character, Samira, comes on late in the first act. It is one of the most hilarious numbers I’ve seen staged in any opera.
Darko Tresnjak, the Tony Award-winning director of A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder, directed this production. James Conlon lead the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra.
I attended opening night of this production and frankly wished I had attended a second or even a third performance. This was truly one of the best nights of opera I’ve ever experienced.
When Richard S. Ginell reviewed The Ghosts of Versailles for the Los Angeles Times he concluded his review by saying, “…there will be a ghostly afterlife for this production, for L.A. Opera is recording it in audio for release sometime ‘next fall,’ according to L.A. Opera President and Chief Executive Christopher Koelsch. It ought to be a treat.”
It is indeed a treat and one I recommend you enjoy when LA Opera streams the recording on Thursday.
Photo of the LA Opera production of The Ghosts of Versailles by Craig T. Mathew/Courtesy of LA Opera