Welcome to the weekend and my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. The number 23 has significance amongst multiple walks of life. It was Michael Jordan’s number and also David Beckham’s. The bowling alley used in The Big Lebowski was always Lane 23. William Shakespeare was born on the 23rd of April and he also died on the 23rd of April (obviously many years apart.) The other significant fact? I have 23 different options for you culture vultures to enjoy this weekend.
On tap (no pun intended) is a wonderful tap performance from New York’s Joyce Theater by Ayodele Casel; a musical where popular princesses from animated films imagine a different definition of “Happily Ever After;” the return of Tony Award-winner Lena Hall with some new “Obsessions;” a live performance from The Royal Opera House of work by Brecht and Weill; a concert performance of one of Verdi’s least-performed operas and the first of a two-part live performance of a play adapted from Milton’s Paradise Lost.
My top pick this weekend comes from San Francisco Opera. Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher inspired an unfinished opera by Claude Debussy and a newer work by Gordon Getty. Both operas are being streamed this weekend and their rarity easily makes this the most interesting option for the weekend.
I’ll begin with my top pick for the week and the balance of my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th are listed in the order in which they are available.
Here are my Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th:
*TOP PICK* OPERA: House of Usher – San Francisco Opera – April 10th – April 11th
Conducted by Lawrence Foster; starring Brian Mullian, Jason Bridges, Antony Reed, Jamielyn Duggan, Jacqueline Piccolino, Edward Nelson and Joel Sorensen. This David Poutney production is from the 2014-2015 season.
You know Cultural Attaché covers operas on a very regular basis. So it’s exciting to let you know about two one-act operas that are rarely performed and have not, to my knowledge, been streamed before this offering from San Francisco Opera.
Composers Claude Debussy and Gordon Getty each wrote operas inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher. Poe tells the story of Roderick Usher through the eyes of his friend and reveals what may or may not have happened to Usher’s sister Madeline.
Debussy’s work, La chute de la maison Usher, is an unfinished opera that he worked on from 1908-1917. The opera was completed and orchestrated, based on the composer’s draft, by Robert Orledge in 2004. The premiere of the completed opera was in 2014 paired with Getty’s version at the Welsh National Opera. It is this production that came to San Francisco Opera with different casting.
Philip Glass also composed a work inspired by The Fall of the House of Usher. A film, directed by James Darrah, is available for streaming from Boston Lyric Opera for $10. These two one-act operas, our top pick for the weekend, are available for free but only through Sunday, April 11th.
BALLET: Concerto – Royal Ballet – Now – April 25th
This work by legendary choreographer Kenneth MacMillan was one of two pieces that premiered at the first performance after he was named Director of Berlin’s Deutsche Opera Ballet in 1966. For Concerto he used Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Concert No. 2 in F as his inspiration.
This new post came after his wildly successful years at Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet where he created nine new ballets.
This Royal Ballet performance is from 2019 and features soloists James Hay, Mayara Magri and Anna Rose O’Sullivan. They are joined by principals Ryoichi Hirano and Yasmine Naghdi.
Sarah Crompton, writing in The Guardian, said of this production: “…a plotless piece of sharp geometric angles and airy leaps, danced to Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 2. Set by Jürgen Rose against a perfect pale lemon backdrop, with the dancers in orange, russet and yellow, it has a breezy sophistication, with a delicate cross work of steps for soloists and a large corps de ballet. It seems simple but is devilishly complicated.”
The performance is available now for streaming. The price is £3 which equals $3.47.
PLAY READING: Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous – Broadway’s Best Shows – Now – April 12th
Sisters Debbie Allen and Phylicia Rashad star in the reading of Pearl Cleage’s 2019 play Angry, Raucous and Shamelessly Gorgeous which is being read as part of the Spotlight on Plays series from Broadway’s Best Shows.
After their production of scenes from August Wilson’s Fences ignited a major controversy actress Anna Campbell and director Betty Samson fled to Amsterdam for what they thought would be short-term assignment. 25 years later they are invited back to the United States where their version, nicknamed Naked Wilson, is going to open a women’s theater festival. But the festival wants to work with a much younger actress than Campbell. You don’t think that’s going to go over well, do you?
Also participating in the reading are Heather Alicia Simms and Alicia Stith. Camille A. Brown directs.
Tickets are $15 with proceeds going to the Actors Fund. The show will remain available through Monday, April 12th.
DANCE: Chasing Magic – The Joyce Theater Foundation – Now – April 21st
Fans of tap dance will definitely want to check out Chasing Magic by Ayodele Casel streaming now from The Joyce Theater in New York. I saw the film and it’s simply amazing.
For this world premiere, Casel has collaborated with director Torya Beard, dancer/choreographer Ronald K. Brown, singer/songwriter Crystal Monee Hall, composer/musician Arturo O’Farrill, percussionist Sent Stoney and composer Annastasia Victory.
Viewers can expect both traditional tap and also a contemporary style of tap – both of which will put a smile on your face, just as it does the dancers performing.
Tickets are $25/household.
BALLET: Carmen – State Street Ballet – Now – April 14th
Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen serves as the inspiration for this work by William Soleau (Co-Artistic Director of State Street Ballet). The work had its premiere in 2014 and this is a film from a performance at The Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara from that year.
For those unfamiliar with the opera, here is the synopsis:
Set in Seville, Spain, Carmen is a gypsy who has caught everyone’s eye. A soldier, Don José, plays coy and gives her no attention. Her flirtation causes troubles for both when Don José’s girlfriend, Micaëla arrives. Tensions escalate between the two women and after a knight fight, José must arrest Carmen. When she seduces him it sets off a series of events that will not end well for the gypsy woman.
Leila Drake dances the title role. Ryan Camou dances the role of Don José. Randy Herrera dances the role of the Toreador Escamillo and Cecily Stewart MacDougall dances the role of Micaëla.
There is no charge to watch the performance which will remain available through midnight on April 14th.
CHAMBER MUSIC: Simone Porter and Hsin-I Huang – Soka Performing Arts Center – Now – June 30th
As part of their Signature Encore Series, the Soka Performing Arts Center is making this 2019 concert by violinist Simone Porter and pianist Hsin-I Huang available through June 30th.
Their performance features works by Mozart (Sonata No. 24 in F Major, K. 376); Leoš Janáček (Violin Sonata, JW VII/7); Esa-Pekka Salonen (Lachen Verlent); Ernest Bloch (“Ningun” from Baal Shem); Maurice Ravel (Tzigane) and Sergei Prokofiev (3 pieces from Romeo & Juliet, Op. 64).
This concert is free to watch on both the Soka website and also their YouTube channel.
CLASSICAL MUSIC: The Heart of the Matter – St. Louis Symphony Orchestra – Now – May 8th
Three of the four pieces being performed in this concert by the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra are very well known to classical music fans.
Edward Elgar’s Serenade for Strings; Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Andante cantabile and Giacomo Puccini’s I crisantemi (The Chrysanthemums). The last work was written originally for string quartet, but is rarely heard in that version.
Less known is the first piece on the program: Within Her Arms by composer Anna Clyne.
This work has been compared to Samuel Barber’s Adagio for Strings for the depth of its emotion. It’s a composition that inspired violinist Jennifer Koh to tell the New York Times, “Sometimes things reach you and it’s colorful or intricate or structured in an interesting way or the orchestration is wonderful. But the extraordinary thing about Anna’s music is that it is incredibly moving. And I hadn’t had that reaction for a long time.”
Stéphane Denève leads the SLSO in this performance. Tickets are $15.
MUSICAL: Disenchanted – Stream.Theatre – April 9th – April 11th
Cinderella, The Little mermaid, Pocahontas, The Princess Who Kissed the Frog and Snow White are just some of the princesses who are changing the definition of happily ever after in this musical with book, lyrics and music by Dennis T. Giacino.
Disnenchanted opened off-Broadway in 2014 and was the recipient of numerous nominations including Best New Musical. The production that is streaming this weekend is from England.
The cast or women playing the princesses are Courtney Bowman, Natalie Chua, Allie Daniel, Shanay Holmes, Sophie Isaacs, Aisha Jawando, Grace Mouat, Millie O’Connell, Jenny O’Leary, and Jodie Steele. Tom Jackson Greaves directs.
There are only three performances. The show will be streamed at 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are £18 (including service charges) which equals almost $25.
OPERA/DANCE: The Seven Deadly Sins and Mahagonny Songspiel – Royal Opera House – April 9th – 2:30 PM EDT/11:30 AM PDT
The Royal Opera House offers its first live broadcast of the year with this double bill of works by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill.
The Seven Deadly Sins is called a ballet chanté. That means it is a sung ballet. The work had its world premiere in Paris in 1933. As you might imagine from the title, each of the seven deadly sins (envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth and wrath) is explored through the story of two sisters: Anna I and Anna II. The first Anna (Stephanie Wake-Edwards) is a singer and the second a dancer (Jonadette Carpio).
Also in the company are Tenors Filipe Manu and Egor Zhuravskii; baritone Dominic Sedgwick, and bass Blaise Malaba who are joined by dancer Thomasin Gülgeç.
This is satire at its best and it was also the last significant collaboration between Brecht and Weill.
Mahagonny Sonspiel premiered in 1927 in Baden-Baden, Germany. A perfect companion piece to The Seven Deadly Sins, Brecht and Weill were offering their opinion on the pursuit of pleasure. Amongst the songs in this work is The Alabama Song which many will know from the version recorded by Jim Morrison and The Doors.
For this performance, mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nkolaieva will sing the role of Bessie.
Choreographer Julia Cheng has kept the streaming experience in mind while creating this production.
Tickets are $11.53. The performance will be available for streaming through May 9th.
COCKTAILS AND CONVERSATION: Virtual Halston – Cast Party Network on YouTube – April 9th – 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT
I adore Julia Halston and her Friday soirees have been a staple of my winding down and getting ready for the weekend. So I’m sad that this weekend, her 40th episode, will be her last for the time being.
However, I’m thrilled that she’s going on a hiatus to work on a new theater project.
For this episode Halston will welcome producers Ruby Locknar and Jim Caruso for a look back on those 40 episodes that have featured everyone from Charles Busch to Jane Monheit to Michael Urie and so many more.
The show is free to watch but donations to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation are encouraged.
BROADWAY VOCALS: Lena Hall: Obsessed – April 9th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT
When Tony Award winner Lena Hall (Hedwig and the Angry Inch) launched her Obsessed series of EPs in 2018, she offered her versions of both well-known songs and deep-tracks of such artists as Beck, David Bowie, Nirvana, Pink, Radiohead, Jack White and more.
Given her voice, it was probably a surprise she didn’t also record the music of Heart – the duo best known for songs like Baracuda, Crazy on You and Magic Man.
But she’s going to be singing their songs in a live concert on Friday night. This video, from a Broadway Sessions performance at the Laurie Beechman Theatre gives you a taste of what she can do with this music (it does contain some profanity):
Does this foreshadow a second Obsessed series? This is a one-time only concert. There will be no streaming if you can’t see it as it happens. And you should. Lena Hall rocks!
Tickets are $20 and $50. The higher-priced VIP tickets allows for interaction with Hall during the concert.
JAZZ: Claudia Villela: The Music of Jobim – SFJAZZ – April 9th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
There are certain artists who can use just one name and you know immediately who it is. Brazilian composer Jobim is one of them. (For the record his full name is Antônio Carlos Brasileiro de Almeida Jobim).
Amongst his best-known songs are Corcovado, Desafinado and The Girl from Ipanema.
Singer Claudia Villela will pay tribute to Jobim in this concert from 2019. She is joined by special guest guitarist Chico Pinheiro. Her band includes Celso Alberti on drums and percussion; Gary Brown on bass; Gary Meek on saxophone and flute and Jasnam Daya Singh on piano and keys.
There will be an encore presentation Saturday, April 10th at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT.
This concert is available to digital members of SFJAZZ. Membership is $5 for one month of programs or $60 for one year.
CHAMBER MUSIC: Beethoven Serioso – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Debuts April 9th – 9:30 PM EDT/6:30 PM PDT
As they did with their most recent episode of Close Quarters, the camera moves in and amongst the musicians in this performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 nicknamed Serioso. The orchestration is by Gustav Mahler. Margaret Batjer leads LACO in this performance.
Given the significance the camera plays in this film, I want to give attention to cinematographer Michael Thomas whose deft work breathes new life into ensemble performance. Visual artist Ken Honjo also contributed to this episode.
If you haven’t checked out this terrific series, all previous videos are available for streaming. There’s no charge to watch Beethoven Serioso or any of the other videos.
DANCE: Awakening – Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company – April 10th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT
For over 30 years, New Jersey’s Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company has been at the forefront of creating works that express through contemporary dance that long history of the Chinese American cultural tradition.
This program will find the company offering two world premieres (Luminescence and Shadow Force) along with two works from 2019 (Truth Bound and Introspection). The works are united in their exploration of ideas we have all probably faced during the pandemic: identity, information, optimism, outside forces that complicate our lives, truth and more.
Tickets are $10 to watch the performance. If you are a member of the South Orange Performing Arts Center, you can watch for free.
THEATER: From Number to Name – East West Players – April 10th – April 11th
Wednesday afternoon I published an interview with the provocative performance artist Kristina Wong who is helming From Number to Name.
Through a series of interviews and over the course of six-and-a-half weeks, Wong and her collaborators have put together this dramatic show that explores the impact of incarceration on the Asian/Pacific Islander community in America. It is a story filled with shame, regret and finds those who are released from prison rarely having a familial support system to reintegrate into society.
There are two performances of From Number to Name. The first is on Saturday at 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT. The second is on Sunday at 5:00 PM EDT/2:00 PM PDT.
Tickets begin at $5 and go up in price based on your ability to include a donation to East West Players.
CHORAL: Amore della Vita, Love of Life – The Verdi Chorus – April 11th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT
For those clamoring for all things Italian, this weekend’s virtual concert by The Fox Singers from the Verdi Chorus will delight. They will be performing a program of Italian art songs.
Amongst the composers are Ruggero Leoncavallo (best known for his one-act opera Pagliacci), Pietro Mascagni (best known for Cavalleria rusticana), Gioachino Rossini (best known for the theme song to The Lone Ranger*) and Paolo Tosti (best known for his over 50 art songs).
Featured performers in this concert are sopranos Tiffany Ho, Megan Lindsey McDonald and Sarah Salazar; mezzo-soprano Ariana Stultz; and tenors Elias Berezin and Joseph Gárate. Anne Marie Ketchum leads the ensemble with Laraine Ann Madden accompanying.
If this concert (and perhaps Stanley Tucci’s Searching for Italy) makes you hungry, The Verdi Chorus is publishing The Verdi Chorus Pandemic Cookbook. How many of the recipes are Italian, I couldn’t tell you. But if they can cook like they sing…. The book is available for pre-order here.
CABARET: Ali Stroker – Seth Concert Series – April 11th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT
Ali Stroker won a Tony Award for her performance as Ado Annie in the 2019 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical Oklahoma! She became the first performer in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. (She was paralyzed in an automobile accident when she was two years old.)
This wasn’t her first Broadway performance. She appeared in the 2015 revival of Spring Awakening. This was the Deaf West Theatre production that was first performed at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.
She is Seth Rudetsky‘s guest for this weekend’s concert and conversation.
I saw Stroker in both shows and she is simply amazing. This will be well worth watching.
In addition to the live concert on Sunday afternoon there will be an encore showing Sunday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT. Tickets for either showing are $25.
OPERA: Atilla Highlights in Concert – Lyric Opera of Chicago – April 11th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT
Giuseppe Verdi’s Atilla had its world premiere in Venice in 1846. The opera tells the story of Atilla the Hun (how many other Atillas do you know?) and his ill-fated relationship with Odabella, a prisoner whose father died at the hands of Atilla. Foresto and Ezio, having their own reasons for wanting revenge on Atilla, defer to Odabella who will stop at nothing to see Atilla die.
Atilla is not amongst Verdi’s most popular nor the most commonly-performed. In fact, the Metropolitan Opera only staged Atilla for the first time in 2010. The Lyric Opera of Chicago staged their first production ten years earlier.
On Sunday they will premiere a concert of excerpts from Atilla that will feature bass-baritone Christian Van Horn singing the role of Attila, soprano Tamara Wilson singing Odabella, tenor Matthew Polenzani singing Foresto, and baritone Quinn Kelsey singing Ezio. Pianist William C. Billingham and Jerad Mosbey accompany the singers.
Enrique Mazzola leads the concert which will be available on the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s YouTube channel and Facebook page.
CLASSICAL MUSIC: A Tour of Iran – New West Symphony – April 11th – 6:00 PM EDT/3:00 PM PDT
Michael Christie leads the New West Symphony in a performance of work exploring the influence of Iranian poetry and music on the West. Joining the performance are mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke and two Iranian instrumentalists: Pejman Hadadi (tombak and dad) and Masoud Rezaei (setar).
The program features a mix of classical works by Mozart (The Magic Flute Overture), Rameau (Suite from Zoroastre), Handel (“Ombra mai fu” from Xerxes) and Gounod(selections from Faust) with works by Iranian composers Khayam (Seven Valleys of Love for Strings), Ranjbaran (Enchanted Garden: Joy) and excerpts from Rezaei’s album Nothingness.
Tickets to stream the concert are $25 per household and will include a post-performance reception with Christie and the guest artists.
CLASSICAL MUSIC/CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL MUSIC: Jennifer Koh Solo Recital – Shriver Hall Concert Series – April 11th – 5:30 PM EDT/2:30 PM PDT
Violinist Jennifer Koh appears in this very intriguing concert which finds her playing two compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach and peppering the concert with twelve new compositions that she commissioned in 2020 for her Alone Together project.
Bach’s Partita No. 3 and the Sonata No. 3 are sharing space with works by Kati Agócs, Katherine Beach, Hanna Benn, Patrick Castillo, Vijay Iyer, Angelica Negrón, Andrew Norman, Ellen Reid, Darian Donovan Thomas with electronics by Layale Chaker, Ian Chang, George Lewis and Cassie Wieland.
Tickets are $15. The recital will remain available through April 18th.
PLAY: Smokefall – Goodman Theatre – April 12th – April 25th
Critics found themselves searching for superlatives when Noah Haidle’s Smokefall opened in 2013. From the writing to the performances and the production, the acclaim was universal.
In Haidle’s play, Violet is pregnant with twins and anticipating a major shift in her life. What she doesn’t know is that her husband is getting ready to leave her.
Adding to her worries is that her daughter has chosen not to speak and her father is suffering from senility. Just what an expectant mother wants in her life as she’s about to give birth to twins.
Starring in Smokefall are Catherine Combs, Anne Fogarty, Katherine Keberlein, Guy Massey, Mike Nussbaum, Eric Slater. (In case you are wondering, two of the actors play Fetus One and Fetus Two). Directing is Anne Kaufmann.
There’s no charge to stream Smokefall, but you do need to reserve your streaming opportunity.
PLAY READING: Paradise Lost – Red Bull Theater – April 12th – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT
John Milton’s Paradise Lost, an epic poem about temptation and the fall of man seen through the eyes of Adam & Eve and Satan, was probably something you read in college.
It has proven to be catnip for playwrights who want to find a way of putting this extraordinary work on stage.
Enter Michael Barakiva who offered up a 13-hour adaptation in 2013 with Upstart Creatures.
New York’s Red Bull Theater is offering a live reading of the play with the first part on Monday. (I’m betting that the play has been edited since its first presentation eight years ago). The second part will be performed live on Monday, April 26th.
Starring as Satan is Jason Butler Harner. Said Arrika Ekulona is God. The cast includes Stephen Bel Davies, Sheldon Best, Gisela Chípe, Robert Cuccioli, Carol Halstead, Gregory Linington, Daniel José Molina, Sam Morales, Howard Overshown and Cherie Corinne Rice. Barakiva directs.
Tickets are pay what you can. After the initial live performance, the livestream will remain available until 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST the Friday immediately following the live performance.
CABARET AND CONVERSATION: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – April 12th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT
Joining Jim Caruso for this Monday’s Pajama Cast Party are up-and-coming musical theater performer D’Marreon Alexander, Jackie Burns (Wicked), singer Jacob Daniel Cummings and country singers Chase McDaniel and Emily West.
The show is free to watch and if you can’t make it Monday night, the show (and Virtual Halston for that matter) will remain available for streaming on the Cast Party Network on YouTube.
That’s my official list of Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. But you know I always have a few reminders:
The Metropolitan Opera continues its From Page to Stage series with their 2013-2014 season production of Shostakovich’s The Nose on Friday; their 2007-2008 season production of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette on Saturday and their 2017-2018 season production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller on Sunday.
Monday the Metropolitan Opera begins a series of operas based on fairy tales called Once Upon a Time. They start with the 2017-2018 of Massenet’s Cendrillon. I’ll have the full line-up for you on Monday.
This is your last weekend to watch Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike free on Broadway on Demand. The Lincoln Center Theater production stars Billy Magnussen, Kristine Nielsen, David Hyde Pierce and Sigourney Weaver. If you need a good laugh this weekend, this play will offer you many of them. (Use code VANYAFREE on the BOD website)
Also be sure to check with previous Best Bets to find other options that might still be available. As you can see from this week’s list, there are always shows you can watch well after this weekend is over.
That’s officially a wrap on this week’s Best Bets: April 9th – April 12th. Enjoy your weekend!
Photo: An image from House of Usher (Photo by Cory Weaver/Courtesy San Francisco Opera)
*You don’t think I’m serious do you?