We’re midway through the Merry Month of May and Best Bets: May 11th – May 17th includes five world premieres. They range from the sublime to the profane and have everything in between. This is truly a week where I wish I could just jet around the country to take them all in.
THE TARGETED – A Red Orchid Theatre at The Chopin Theatre – Chicago, IL – Now – June 14th
OPENING NIGHT: May 17th
Hanna Kime’s new play seems ripped from current events. She depicts a group of people who feel that they aren’t allowed to live their lives without being watched, harassed or psychologically tortured by entities representing the government, big businesses and more.
They come together to figure out what to do about the “deep state” as they call it and end the harassment while regaining their humanity.
Appearing in The Targeted are Kristen Fitzgerald, Lawrence Grimm, Glenn Obrero, Sadieh Rifai, Stephanie Shum and Natalie West.
Grace Dolezal-Ng directs.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
CONSTANCE: A CONFESSION – HERE Arts Center – New York, NY – May 13th – May 22nd
This world premiere comes from the utterly unique Experiments in Opera. They produce composite operas. Meaning that the music was composed by four different composer and there were also four librettists writing the libretto.
Constance: A Confession sounds like something David Mamet would write.
It’s a dark comedy about a woman (that would be Constance) who is great a pulling off a confidence game. But will this latest con work out as she planned?
There are four acts within this 75-minute opera and that’s where the four pairings of composer and librettist are put to work.
The composers are Elizabeth Gartman, Roger A. Martinez, Jasmine Galante and Mattie Levy. The librettists are Sam Norman, Susan Bywaters, Lisa Clair and Ed Valentine.
Singing the role of Constance is soprano Sydney E. Anderson. She is joined by mezzo-soprano Sishel Claverie as “Enabler,” baritone Nathaneil Sullivan as “Mark” and soprano Zen Wu as “Skeptic.”
Shannon Sindelar directs with Dmitry Glivinskiy serving as Music Director.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
TAKE ME TO DOLLYWOOD – La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club – New York, NY – May 14th – May 31st
OPENING NIGHT: May 16th
I’m not going to try to explain what this show is on my own. I will rely completely on the website for this one:
“A new full-length collage of scenes and experiments with a queer southern twang. On a porch in the south, a faceless Dolly Parton haunts the stage as characters find themselves on the edge of relationships, sexuality, and reality. A woman has eaten her hand, a sexy gummy bear awaits certain death, two men meet for a hook-up, a boss rummages through his employees’ desks, and the playwright details his sex life.”
Harris Singer wrote Take Me to Dollywood and performs the role of the Playwright. The cast includes Carter as Player 4; Lisa Cohen as The Playwright’s Mom; Sam Flynn as Player 1; Brason Jones as Player 2; Tomias Robinson as Player 3 and Michelle Zabinkski as Dream Dolly.
Luke Wisniewski directs. The event website includes a notice that the show is for ages 18+ only due to it containing “pornography, strobe effects and depictions of violence.”
With all that, it seems like a fever dream worth exploring.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
YANNICK LEADS BRUCKNER AND SOREY – The Philadelphia Orchestra – Philadelphia, PA – May 15th – May 16th
One of the most exciting world premieres this year takes place this weekend as Tyshawn Sorey’s For Marilyn Crispell, for piano and orchestra is birthed into the world. Sorey was the 2024 Pulitzer Prize winner for his Adagio (for Wadada Leo Smith).
Sorey’s piece (which he says in the program notes is not a “concerto in the traditional sense of the word, but a piece for piano and orchestra performed in a single movement and a single tempo…) was written with soloist Aaron Diehl in mind and was commissioned by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra. Diehl is a member of Sorey’s Trio.
This piece runs about 30 minutes.
The second half of the concert is a performance of Anton Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3 in D Minor (1873 version).
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
2026 MAY FESTIVAL – Multiple Venues – Cincinnati, OH – May 15th – May 23rd
This annual celebration of choral and orchestra repertoire is curated by the 2026 Festival Director, Julia Bullock.
May 15th is the opening night opens with Anton Bruckner’s Psalm 150. That is followed by Alexander von Zemlinsky’s Selections from Symphonische Gesänge. That is followed by Selected Songs and Songs from Songs of the Season by Margaret Bonds. The concert closes with Eclectic Mass featuring selections from works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Bonds, George Frideric Handel, Giovanni Pierluigi de Palestrina and Carlos Simon.
May 16th features Duke Ellington’s The River and Ralph Vaughan Williams’ Symphony No. 1, A Sea Symphony.
May 17th’s program is A Dream Deferred: Langston Hughes in Song. This is Bullock’s concert that she’s performed with great success.
On May 19th the Vocal Arts Ensemble will perform Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.
May 21st features Igor Stravinsky’s Les noces (“The Wedding”) and Carol Orff’s Catulli Carmina (“Songs of Catullus”). Members of Cincinnati Ballet 2 will join for this performance entitled On Love and Lust.
May 23rd closes the festival with Porgy and Bess: Festival Finale. Bullock and Alfred Walker perform selections from Porgy and Bess to open the show. Works by William Grant Still, Stephen Paulus, Leonard Bernstein and Handel close out the concert and the festival.
For tickets and more information, please click on the date for each concert.
RADIANCE + REVERIE – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Zipper Hall – Los Angeles, CA – May 16th and The Wallis – Beverly Hills, CA – May 17th
Here’s another world premiere about which I’m quite excited. Christopher Cerrone’s Selah: Double Concerto for Violin, Cello and Chamber Orchestra, a work co-commissioned by the LACO, has its first performances. He’s a wildly inventive composer and I’d want to hear anything he does. Cellist Coleman Itzkoff and violinist Anthony Marwood are the soloists.
The concert opens with Mozart’s Symphony No. 35 in D major, “Haffner.” Cerrone’s work is next. Tchaikovsky’s Orchestra Suite No. 4 in G major, “Mozartiana” closes the concert.
Jaime Martín conducts.
For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
An additional note: The Industry, one of the best opera companies in the US, is hosting A Listening Party with Chris Cerrone at Monk Space in Los Angeles on Friday, May 15th. For tickets and more information, please go HERE.
That’s all for Best Bets: May 11th – May 17th.
Enjoy your week and go see a show!
Main Photo: Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Photo by Landon Nordeman/Courtesy The Philadelphia Orchestra)