The opera star appearing in the most productions is the late baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky who appears in the final two productions being streamed. The composer being represented the most is, no surprise, Verdi. In fact, Hvorostovsky singing Verdi received the top vote. That opera (see below for the reveal) is the final streaming production.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting theplanned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on July 19th, you’ll still have time to see the 2015-2016 season production of Puccini’s Turandot that concludes Puccini week.

Here is are selections for Week 71 at the Met:

Monday, July 19 – Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro – 3rd Showing

Conducted by James Levine, starring Renée Fleming, Cecilia Bartoli, Susanne Mentzer, Dwayne Croft, and Sir Bryn Terfel. This Jonathan Miller production is from the 1998-1999 season.

Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro is based on the 1784 play La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro (translated: “The Mad Day, or The Marriage of Figaro”) by Pierre Beaumarchais. Lorenzo da Ponte wrote the libretto. La Nozze di Figaro had its world premiere in Vienna in 1786.

Figaro and Susanna are getting married. They are in a room made available to them by the Count who plans to seduce the bride-to-be based on an old law that gave permission to lords to have sex with servant girls on their wedding night. When Figaro gets wind of this plan he enlists several people to outwit the Count using disguises, altered identities and more.

Bernard Holland, reviewing for the New York Times, said of this production: “One cannot say enough about the septet ending Act II and the final ensemble of Act IV: episodes in which theater and music merged as they rarely do, and where each player was made exquisitely aware of every other. Mozart operas move on the wheels of their ensembles, and Mr. Miller — with no coups de theatre and many acts of self-effacing care — made them turn.”

Tuesday, July 20 – Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci – 2nd Showing

Both operas conducted by James Levine. Cavalleria Rusticana starring Tatiana Troyanos, Jean Kraft, Plácido Domingo and Vern Shinall. Pagliacci starring Teresa Stratas, Plácido Domingo, Sherrill Milnes and Allan Monk. This Franco Zeffirelli production is from the 1977-1978 season.

Perhaps no pairing of one-act operas is more popular than the combination of Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni and Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. 

Cavalleria Rusticana had its world premiere in Rome in 1890. The opera is based on a short story which later became a play by Giovanni Verga. Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci adapted them both for their libretto.

Mascagni’s opera centers on a love triangle. Turridu, who has returned from military service, goes to see his ex-lover, Lola, before seeing his current lover, Santuzza. Lola is married to Alfio. Santuzza decides to tell Alfio about the infidelity and the two men decide to duel. At the end of the opera, multiple hearts are left broken.

Pagliacci had its world premiere in Milan in 1892. Leoncavallo also wrote the libretto.

The opera tells the story of a married couple, Canio and Nedda, who are performers in a small theatre company on the road. Canio is insanely jealous and that jealousy drives Nedda to seek affection from another man, Silvio. Nedda and Silvio make plans to elope, but their plans are overheard by Tonio, another member of the company. He tells Canio about Nedda’s plans. Looking for revenge, Canio, during a performance of their touring play, makes his personal life mirror the drama in the play.

This was not the first time Domingo had sung the lead tenor roles in both operas on the same night. In fact, with this performance he did so for the 25th time. Previous double-hitters were performed in Vienna, Covent Garden and in San Francisco. These performances also marked the first time James Levine conducted each opera at the Met.

Wednesday, July 21 – Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles – 4th Showing

Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; starring Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień and Nicolas Testé. This Penny Woolcock production is from the 2015-2016 season.

Les Pêcheurs de Perles (best known to many as The Pearl Fishers) had its world premiere in 1863 in Paris. Bizet’s opera has a libretto written by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré.

The setting is the island of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) and two men find that their plan to be friends forever regardless of circumstances is threatened when they both fall in love with the same woman. She, too, is conflicted as she has sworn to be a priestess, but finds herself falling in love with the men.

Director Woolcock’s production was new to the Met when it debuted on New Year’s Eve 2015. The production was first staged at the English National Opera in 2010. The last time Les Pêcheurs de Perles had been performed at the Met was 1916.

Thursday, July 22 – Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann – 2nd Showing

Conducted by Yves Abel; starring Erin Morley, Hibla Gerzmava, Kate Lindsey, Christine Rice, Vittorio Grigolo and Thomas Hampson. This revival of the 2009 Bartlett Sher production is from the 2014-2015 season.

Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman had its world premiere in Paris in 1881. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and was inspired by three short stories by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman. Offenbach did not live to see this opera performed. He died four months before its premiere.

In the opera Offenbach and Barbier put the author of the stories in the middle of all the action. He’s seeking perfect love and tells a tavern crowd about three fruitless attempts at romance. The first with the daughter of an inventor who turns out to be a doll instead of a human being. The second with a beautiful young woman with a gorgeous voice, but whose singing may lead to her death. The third with a young woman who steals his reflection. Will poor Hoffman ever find love? Or will his writing be his lifelong companion?

In David Shengold’s Opera News review of this production he raved about Grigolo’s performance:

“…Grigolo may have found his most convincing Met part yet. His French is remarkably clear and accurate for an Italian tenor and — though he deployed his full resources at climaxes, often excitingly — Grigolo showed admirable dynamic variety in filling out Offenbach’s higher lines. His soft singing wasn’t exactly Gallic classic voix mixte but he integrated it gracefully into his overall vocalization, clear and attractive save for rather empty low notes. Grigolo paced himself well in this extremely demanding assignment; he tended to be placed near the lip of the stage, but he interacted with colleagues and created an actual character.”

Friday, July 23 – Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Natalie Dessay, Felicity Palmer, Juan Diego Flórez and Alessandro Corbelli. This Laurent Pelly production is from the 2007-2008 season.

This two-act comic opera written by Gaetano Donizetti was first performed in 1840 in Paris. The libretto is by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.

La Fille du Régiment tells the story of a young woman, Marie, who was raised by the 21st Regiment after having been found as a baby on a battlefield. The plan is that when she is old enough she will marry one of the men of the Regiment. She falls in love with Tyrolean Tonio. When the Marquise de Berkenfield shows up, it is discovered that she is Marie’s aunt and she wants to take Marie away to raise her as a lady. Will love win out for Marie?

Pelly updated the original Napoleonic war setting to World War I for this production. The end result, according to several critics, was that the “war is hell” concept is undermined by the silliness of the plot.

One of the hallmarks of this opera is the challenge that faces every tenor singing the role of Tonio to hit nine high C’s in the opera’s best known aria, “Ah! mes amis.” Flórez nailed them and, of course, repeated the aria to wild applause from the audience. 

Saturday, July 24 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Anna Netrebko, Dolora Zajick, Yonghoon Lee, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Štefan Kocán. This revival of David McVicar’s 2009 production is from the 2014-2015 season. 

Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore is based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez published in 1836. The libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano with additions by Leone Emanuele Badare. The opera had its world premiere in Rome in 1853.

The setting is Zaragoza, the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon, circa 1412. To offer up a quick synopsis here would be a fool’s game to play. Several stories happen simultaneously and sometimes share the same characters. The opera has rarely been hailed for its story, but it certainly ranks as one of Verdi’s finest compositions.

This production of Il Trovatore took place months after Hvorostovsky’s diagnosis of cancer. This was his last production at the Met and as you could tell at the start of the clip above, he was beloved by the audience.

Anthony Tommasini’s review in the New York Times said that positively influenced the performance Hvorostovsky gave on opening night.

“It’s impossible to imagine a singer giving more than Mr. Hvorostovsky did on this night. When your life is actually threatened by a serious illness, you truly are putting everything on the line when you sing.

“Mr. Hvorostovsky gave a gripping performance as Count di Luna. There was little need to take what he has been going through into account. His resplendent voice, with its distinctive mellow character and dusky veneer, sounded not at all compromised. He sang with Verdian lyricism, dramatic subtlety and, when called for, chilling intensity as the complex count, who, in this production, with its Goya-inspired imagery, is the brash leader of the Royalist Aragon troops at a time of bloody civil war in Spain.”

Sunday, July 25 – Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera – 4th Showing

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Kathleen Kim, Stephanie Blythe, Marcelo Álvarez and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This David Alden production is from the 2012-2013 season. 

Verdi’s opera, translated A Masked Ball, had its premiere in Rome in 1859. Librettist Antonio Somma used the libretto written by Eugène Scribe for the opera, Gustave III, ou Le Ballo masqué, written by Daniel Auber in 1833. 

The opera is based on the real life assassination of King Gustav III of Sweden who was killed while attending a masquerade ball in Stockholm. 

Verdi takes some dramatic liberties which certainly enhances the drama. Riccardo is in love with Amelia. She, however, is the wife of his good friend and confidante, Renato. Riccardo is warned by his friend that there is a plot to kill him at the ball. Paying no attention to the warning, Riccardo instead seeks out Ulrica, a woman accused of being a witch. In disguise he visits Ulrica to have his fortune read. She tells him he will be killed by the next man who shakes his hand. That next man turns out to be Renato. What follows is a story of intrigue, deception, questions of fidelity and, of course, the assassination.

This was a brand new production of Un Ballo in Maschera at the Met. Director Alden was influenced by black and white films and, in particular, film noir for his production.

Karita Matilla was originally announced to sing the role of Amelia. She withdrew approximately six months prior to its staging. Radvanovsky assumed the role.

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini said of Radvanovsky and Hvorostovsky, “She was particularly moving in the scene in which her husband, here the charismatic baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky, having discovered her in a rendezvous with the king, tells her to prepare to die. Confronting his wife, Mr. Hvorostovsky shook Ms. Radvanovsky by the shoulders, as if really ready to strangle her. But the next moment he nestled his head next to her face and kissed her, almost pleadingly, singing with his trademark dark sound and supple phrasing, which poignantly brought to life this suffering husband’s love.”

It’s been quite a run of streaming productions. But all good things must come to an end.

Enjoy the operas! Enjoy your week!

Photo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Sondra Radvanovsky in Un Ballo in Maschera

The post Week 71 at the Met: The Final Week appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

How one defines rare is, I suppose, an individual choice. Most of them are having their third, fourth or fifth showings.

If you are a fan of Joyce Di Donato, Renée Fleming or Juan Diego Flórez, you’ll find plenty to enjoy this week as each of them appears in two productions.

Since the Met is re-running productions as the bulk of their weekly streaming schedule, I’m going to mix in interviews with the performers and creators in place of clips to avoid the redundancy of showing the same few clips available. Let me know your thoughts!

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on May 24th, you’ll still have time to see the 1998-1999 season production of Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades that was part of Unhinged Mad Scenes week.

Here is the full line-up of rare gems for Week 63 at the Met:

Monday, May 24 – Massenet’s Thaïs – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Jesús López-Cobos; starring Renée Fleming, Michael Schade and Thomas Hampson. This John Cox production is from the 2007-2008 season. This is an encore presentation.

Jules Massenet’s Thaïs had its world premiere in Paris in 1894. The libretto is by Louis Gallet based on the novel of the same name by Anatole France.

In this opera the Roman Empire is controlling Egypt. Athanaël, a monk, has a lustful obsession with Thaïs, which conflicts with his attempts to convert her to Christianity.

For sopranos who want to sing the title character, this is a great role. Fleming earned rave reviews for her performance this production, which originated at Lyric Opera Chicago in 2002. She and Hampson performed together in Thaïs in Chicago and have recorded the opera.

In his New York Times review of this production, Anthony Tomassini wrote:

“But let’s face it. Thaïsis a diva spectacle, and Ms. Fleming plays it to the hilt. In Scene 2, during a party at Nicias’ well-appointed house, complete with solid-gold decorative palm trees, Athanaël appears, issuing apocalyptic threats to Thais, which Mr. Hampson sings chillingly. The guests ridicule the monk, forcing him to his knees and bedecking him with garlands in tribute to Venus. In the midst of a vocal outpouring, Ms. Fleming climbs a winding staircase just so she can deliver a triumphant high C from the top landing, then scurries back down to face the humiliated monk as the curtain falls.”

Tuesday, May 25 – Borodin’s Prince Igor – 2nd Showing

Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; starring Oksana Dyka, Anita Rachvelishvili, Sergey Semishkur, Ildar Abdrazakov, Mikhail Petrenko and Štefan Kocán. This Dmitri Tcherniakov production is from the 2013-2014 season. This is an encore presentation.

Alexander Borodin based his opera on The Lay of Igor’s Host, a poem scholars believe dates back to the 12th century. The composer died before completing the opera and the work was ultimately finished and edited by composers Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov. Prince Igor had its world premiere in 1890 in St. Petersburg three years after Borodin’s death.

Set in Putivil (or northeastern Ukraine now) in 1885, the title character leaves with his son and an army to battle the Polovtsians. Igor is not successful and ends up a prisoner of Khan Konchak, the leader of the Polovtsians. Konchak gives Igor a chance to forge an alliance, but Igor instead chooses to escape to his home. But what, if anything, will he find?

This 2014 production marked the first time in nearly 100 years that Prince Igor had been performed at the Met. Tcherniakov made significant changes to the opera and apparently it worked.

Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times included this production as one of the 10 Best Classical Music Events of 2014.

In his original review he said of the reworking:

“It is common in contemporary opera for a director to update the setting of a story and impose some interpretive concept on a piece. Most directors do not go so far, however, as to reorder scenes, tweak the plot, excise whole ensembles and interpolate musical numbers from a different score.

But the Russian director Dmitri Tcherniakov essentially does all of this in the Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Borodin’s Prince Igor, which opened on Thursday night. Yet his wonderful staging is dreamlike, wrenchingly human and viscerally theatrical. The impressive cast, with many Russian singers, is headed by the compelling bass Ildar Abdrazakov in the title role.”

Wednesday, May 26 – Rossini’s La Donna del Lago – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Michele Mariotti; starring Joyce DiDonato, Daniela Barcellona, Juan Diego Flórez, John Osborn and Oren Gradus. This Paul Curran production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation.

Sir Walter Scott’s poem, The Lady of the Lake, served as the inspiration for this opera by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto is by Andrea Leone Tottola. La Donna del Lago had its world premiere in Naples 1819.

Rossini’s opera is set in Scotland in the first half of the 16th century when King James V reigned. Elena has been promised to Rodrigo, but she’s in love with Malcom. Both men are rebels as is her father, Douglas. The King, disguised as a man named Umberto, falls in love with Elena at first sight, but knows she is related to rebels who want him overthrown. How both the relationships and the politics play out will ultimately impact Elena for the rest of her life.

This production was first seen in 2013 at the Santa Fe Opera who co-produced with the Metropolitan Opera and this was the first time this opera was performed by the Met.

Di Donato regularly sings “Tanti affetti” from La Donna del Lago in concerts. Anthony Tomassini, writing in the New York Times, said of her performance in this production:

“It was good to have the stage so bright for Ms. DiDonato’s triumphant performance of ‘Tanti affetti.’ Besides adding an important Rossini opera to the Met’s repertory, this production gives those who have only heard her sing that aria as an encore a chance to get to know the long opera that precedes it.”

Thursday, May 27 – Shostakovich’s The Nose – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Pavel Smelkov; starring Andrey Popov, Alexander Lewis and Paulo Szot. This William Kentridge production is from the 2013-2014 season. This is an encore presentation of the production.

Dmitri Shostakovich’s satirical The Nose was the composer’s first opera. It had its debut in Leningrad in 1930. The libretto was by Shostakovich, Yevgeny Zamyatin, Georgy Ionin and Alexander Preis. It is based on a novel by Nikolai Gogol.

The premise is rather simple. The nose of a Saint Petersburg official leaves his face to go off and explore life by itself. The man goes in search of his missing nose and finds it suddenly much bigger and assuming a position of power over him.

The Nose was not performed in Russian again after its premiere until 1974. This was the Metropolitan Opera’s first production of the opera. It also marked the Met Opera debut of tenor Paulo Szot as the man with the missing nose. In addition to his opera career, Szot appeared on Broadway in the 2008 revival of South Pacific and won a Tony Award for his performance.

Friday, May 28 – Giordano’s Fedora – 2nd Showing

Conducted by Roberto Abbado; starring Mirella Freni, Ainhoa Arteta, Plácido Domingo, Dwayne Croft and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. This Beppe De Tomasi production is from the 1996-1997 season. This is an encore presentation.

Umberto Giordano was on the podium leading the orchestra in the world premiere of Fedora in Milan in 1898. The libretto, written by Arturo Colautti, is based on a 1882 play of the same name by Victorien Sardou.

After Count Vladimir betrays his fiancé Princess Fedora, he is killed and it is believed Count Loris Ipanov is responsible. Fedora plans her revenge. She travels to Paris and while at a party Ipanov declares his love for her. How will she reconcile his newly-announced passion for her with her suspicions he murdered her husband-to-be?

Yes you read that cast list correctly. Classical pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet appears in this production in a non-singing role. But the highlight for most people in the audience was another opportunity to see legendary soprano Freni.

In his review for the New York Times, Anthony Tomassini talked about the response she got upon her first entrance on opening night. 

“When Ms. Freni appeared, she was greeted by a round of applause that forced the conductor Roberto Abbado to stop the performance. Now 61, she could be making her last appearances at the Met. Her voice remains full, rich and intensely expressive. There are signs of wear, but the sense of line, varied colorings, and enveloping resonance of her singing harken to a tradition that may disappear with her retirement.”

She did return to the Metropolitan Opera stage in 2005 for a celebration of her 40th anniversary of her Met debut and the 50th anniversary of her career.

Saturday, May 29 – Strauss’s Capriccio – 4th Showing

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, starring Renée Fleming, Sarah Connolly, Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, Morten Frank Larsen and Peter Rose. This revival of the 1998 John Cox production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation.

As the Countess, Fleming must make one decision that resonates in a second way. Does she prefer words or music? And by extension, does she prefer the poet or the composer that make up the love triangle in this opera.

When Fleming decided to do the role of the Countess in this opera by Strauss in 2011, it was the first time she had performed the full opera at the Met. Anthony Tomassini of the New York Times was impressed:

“The role suits her ideally at this stage of her career, and she sang splendidly. The performance over all, sensitively conducted by Andrew Davis and featuring a winning cast, made an excellent case for this Strauss curiosity, his final opera, which had its premiere in Munich in 1942 in the midst of World War II.”

Sunday, May 30 – Rossini’s Le Comte Ory – 5th Showing

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation.

Gioachino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory had its world premiere in Paris in 1828. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson who adapted a play they had written eleven years earlier. Rossini used some of the music he had composed for Il Viaggio a Reims, performed at the the coronation of Charles X, in this opera.

Count Ory and his companion Raimbaud disguise themselves as hermits to seduce women left behind during the Crusades while the men went to the Holy Land. The women are on their own. Lady Ragonde takes charge of Formoutiers castle and looks after Adèle, the sister of the castle’s lord. Ory and Raimbaud offer their assistance, but obviously have something else on their minds.

This was the very first production of Le Comte Ory at the Met. All three leads had previously appeared together in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia under Sher’s direction four years earlier. 

Here Sher uses an opera-within-an-opera conceit. It was one that Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times did not expect to like:

“Nothing in Ory invites an opera-within-an-opera concept. Still, Rossini artificially turned two unrelated pieces into a completely reconceived opera, so the artifice of Mr. Sher’s staging is somehow resonant. Moreover, for all the antics, Mr. Sher takes Rossini’s characters and their romantic entanglements seriously and coaxes precise, nuanced performances from his gifted cast.” 

That’s the full line-up for Week 63 at the Met. As of this writing, I’m not yet aware of the theme for Week 64 at the Met. Leave comments about what you’d like to see in the weeks ahead.

Enjoy the operas! Enjoy your week!

Photo: Mirella Freni in Fedora (Photo by Erika Davidson/Courtesy Met Opera Archives)

The post Rare Gems – Week 63 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

This one-hour event will feature archival performance footage and new interviews with stars of some of their most popular and awarded productions.

The shows and performers being featured include:

Patti LuPone talking about the 1987 revival of Cole Porter’s Anything Goes. The show was nominated for 10 Tony Awards and won three including Best Revival of a Musical. LuPone starred as Reno Sweeney.

Audra McDonald reminiscing about the 1984 revival of Carousel by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The show was nominated for five Tony Awards and won all five including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Featured Actress in a Musical for McDonald. This was the first of McDonald’s six Tony Awards (so far).

Rosemary Harris discussing the 1996 revival of Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance. Joining Harris in the cast were John Carter, George Grizzard, Mary Beth Hurt, Elaine Stritch and Elizabeth Wilson. The production received 7 Tony Award nominations and won three including Best Revival of a Play.

I saw this production and can tell you this was absolutely theater at its best.

Steven Pasquale sharing memories from A Man of No Importance. This musical played in the Mitzi Newhouse Theater and featured a book by Terrence McNally with music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens. Amongst the cast were Roger Rees, Faith Prince and Jessica Molaskey.

Paulo Szot talking about the 2008 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. This Bartlett Sher production was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won seven of them including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Actor in a Musical for Szot. Co-starring with him was Kelli O’Hara as Nellie Forbush with Danny Burstein, Matthew Morrison and Loretta Ables Sayre. Szot made his Broadway debut in South Pacific.

Seth Numrich telling stories from the 2011 production of the play War Horse. Nick Stafford adapted Michael Morpurgo’s novel for this show that received five Tony Award nominations and won all five including Best Play

Ruthie Ann Miles reminiscing about another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The King and I. This revival is from 2015 and found Kelli O’Hara as Anna Leonowens and Ken Watanabe as The King of Siam. Bartlett Sher’s production received 9 Tony Award nominations and won four including Best Actress in a Musical for O’Hara and Best Revival of a Musical.

Bartlett Sher sharing memories of the play Oslo by J.T. Rodgers. The play received 7 Tony Award nominations and won two including Best Play. Jennifer Ehle and Jefferson Mays starred in the play.

Jordan Donica talks about the 2018 revival of Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady. Donica played Freddy Eynsford-Hill in Bartlett Sher’s revival that was nominated for 10 Tony Awards. This was a terrific production (which I saw with Laura Benanti who assumed the role of Eliza Doolittle after Lauren Ambrose left the show), but it only received a single Tony Award for Catherine Zuber’s costume designs.

As for the looking forward part of the show, this should include previews of the musical Flying Over Sunset and an opera by Ricky Ian Gordon based on Lynn Nottage’s play Intimate Apparel with Nottage writing the libretto. Both were postponed due to the pandemic.

Flying Over Sunset will begin previews at the Vivian Beaumont Theater on November 4th in advance of an official opening on December 6th. Intimate Apparel will begin previews at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater on January 13th in advance of an official opening night on January 27th.

Resident Director Lileana Blain-Cruz will offer this segment of Tales from the Wings.

There will also be an appearance by playwright Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced; Junk).

There is no charge to watch the show, however registration is required. Tales from the Wings will be available for viewing through Sunday, May 23rd on Lincoln Center Theater’s YouTube channel.

Photo: Patti LuPone in Anything Goes (Photo by Brigitte Lacombe/Courtesy Lincoln Center Theater)

Update: This post has been updated with opening dates for Flying Over Sunset and Intimate Apparel

2nd Update: This post has been updated to include the extension of the availably of the show until May 23rd.

The post Tales from the Wings: Celebrating Lincoln Center Theater appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The competition is designed to find the most talented young opera singers and help them develop their craft and their careers. Amongst the alumni appearing in this week’s productions are Lawrence Brownlee, Renée Fleming, Susan Graham, Ben Heppner, Sondra Radvanovsky, Samuel Ramey, Teresa Stratas and Carol Vaness.

Since the Met is re-running productions as the bulk of their weekly streaming schedule, I’m going to mix in interviews with the performers and creators in place of clips to avoid the redundancy of showing the same few clips available. Let me know your thoughts!

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on May 10th, you’ll still have time to see the 2019-2020 season production of Handel’s Agrippina that was part of Happy Mother’s Day week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 61 at the Met:

Monday, May 10 – Puccini’s La Bohème

Conducted by James Levine; starring Teresa Stratas, Renata Scotto, José Carreras, Richard Stilwell, Allan Monk, James Morris and Italo Tajo. Franco Zeffirelli production from the 1981-1982 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available last year on July 19th and December 24th.

Easily one of the most popular operas in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème had its world premiere in Turin, Italy in 1896. The libretto is by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème.

The story centers on four friends who are unable to pay their rent. Successfully getting out of a potentially bad situation with their landlord, all but one go out on the town. Rodolfo stays home and meets a young woman named Mimi. They fall in love, but Mimi’s weakness may be a sign of something far more life-threatening than they know. 

Director Zeffirelli reworked his 1963 production for this “new” production nearly twenty years later. John Rockwell, writing in the New York Times, wasn’t terribly impressed with the revisions. 

“Perhaps La Boheme, Puccini’s finest and most innocent opera, works best in a far more intimate house than the Met. Perhaps it is best encountered on a journey, with young, unknown singers playing out its tale of passion and despair in a way that can really be believed. Mr. Zeffirelli’s Boheme is grand and traditional, but it lost its innocence long ago.”

Tuesday, May 11 – Mozart’s Don Giovanni

Conducted by James Levine; starring Carol Vaness, Karita Mattila, Dawn Upshaw, Jerry Hadley, Samuel Ramey, Ferrucio Furlanetto and Kurt Moll. This Franco Zeffirelli production is from the 1989-1990 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on February 19th of this year.

The legend of Don Juan inspired this opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte. Don Giovanni had its world premiere in 1787 in Prague.

Don Giovanni loves women. All women. Early in the opera he tries fleeing Donna Anna. In doing so her father, the Commendatore, awakens and challenges him to a duel. Giovanni kills the Commendatore – an event that will ultimately lead to his own descent into hell.

Donal Henahan, in his New York Times review, singled Ramey out for praise for his performance as the title character. “Samuel Ramey, the handsomest and most athletic Don Giovanni on the stage today, dominated the performance physically, as the Don must. But his flexible bass could also articulate cleanly a breathtakingly fast Champagne Aria and sustain a singing line in his Serenade. If his phrasing was sometimes blunt and insensitive, so was the heartless character he portrayed.”

Wednesday, May 12 – Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde

Conducted by James Levine; starring Jane Eaglen, Katarina Dalayman, Ben Heppner, Hans-Joachim Ketelsen and René Pape. This Dieter Dorn production is from the 1999-2000 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available on July 12th of last year.

Richard Wagner wrote the music and the libretto for Tristan and Isolde. Gottfried von Strassburg’s novel, Tristan, from the 12th century, serves as his inspiration. The opera had its world premiere in Munich in 1865.

It is a bit of oversimplifying to say that the story in Tristan und Isolde is about two lovers whose passion for each other is so strong, it can only truly thrive in the afterlife. But frankly, in a nutshell, that’s the essential premise. But don’t be mistaken, this is pure drama and glorious music.

Bernard Holland, writing for the New York Times, loved this production. He praised the two leads saying “I wonder if we’ve ever had better ones.” He raved about the orchestra saying, “The heart of Tristan is its orchestra, and James Levine worked in slow, patient accumulations of force. The sound was wonderful.” And concluded his review by stating, “There is no other music like it, and I have never heard a better performance.”

Tristan und Isolde is easily my personal favorite opera. I’ve seen productions in the United States and in Europe. I find it profoundly moving on all levels. What Wagner accomplished here by not resolving the music until the final minutes of the opera is without parallel. I plan to watch this production and encourage you to do the same.

Thursday, May 13 – Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier

Conducted by Edo de Waart; starring Renée Fleming, Christine Schäfer, Susan Graham and Kristinn Sigmundsson. This revival of the 1969 Nathaniel Merrill production is from the 2009-2010 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available last year on July 25th and this year on January 13th.

It was in Dresden in 1911 that the world was first introduced to Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. The libretto was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Two sources served as inspiration for the opera: Moliere’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac and the novel Les amours du chevalier de Fabulas by Louvet de Courvai.

Several relationships are tested in this comic opera. The Marschallin, having an affair with Octavian, a much younger count, feels that her age is becoming an issue not just for him, but for her. Baron Ochs is engaged to Sophie and he asks Octavian to deliver the customary silver rose to his bride-to-be. She, however, falls in love with Octavian. What will it take to sort out real love and who will find themselves together and who will be alone at the end of the opera?

Fleming first performed the role of The Marschallin at the Metropolitan Opera in 2000 to great acclaim. Singing the trouser role (a male character sung by a female) of Octavian in that production was Susan Graham. They reunited for this 2009 production in the same roles.

James Levine was scheduled to conduct Der Rosenkavalier, but was forced to leave during rehearsals for spine surgery.

Friday, May 14 – The Audition

In anticipation of this year’s National Council Auditions Finals, the Metropolitan Opera is running a documentary about the 2007 competition called The Audition. The film is directed by Susan Froemke.

The finalists in that year’s competition were Jamie Barton, Kierra Duffy, Michael Fabiano, Dísella Làrusdóttir, Ryan McKinny, Angela Meade, Nicholas Pallesen, Matthew Plenk, Alek Shrader, Ryan Smith and Amber L. Wagner.

Don’t some of those names sound familiar?

Saturday, May 15 – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Conducted by Michele Mariotti; starring Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Christopher Maltman and Maurizio Muraro. This revival of Bartlett Sher’s 2006 production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously available last year on July 20th and December 23rd.

Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) had its world premiere in 1816 in Rome. The opera is based on the new 1775 comedy by Beaumarchais of the same name. The libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini.

In this comedic opera, Count Almaviva is in love with the delightful Rosina. As he’s a Count, he wants to make sure her love is true and anchored in her passion for him, not the fact that he’s a Count. 

In order to be sure, he pretends to be student with no money. Regardless of his efforts, Bartolo, who serves as Rosina’s guardian, will make sure no one will woo Rosina and win. Bartolo, however, doesn’t know that Almaviva has a secret weapon, a cunning man named Figaro who is…the barber.

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, writing for the New York Times, said of this revival, “The Met’s production is glossy, sweet and rich in laughs. And it has stars: Lawrence Brownlee makes a dashing Almaviva, singing with a focused, ardent tenor. Isabel Leonard is a pitch-perfect Rosina, cute but sharp clawed, dispatching Rossini’s dizzying runs and ornaments with stenciled precision. Maurizio Muraro owns the role of Bartolo, his diction flawless in the rapid-fire patter arias. Paata Burchuladze was a sly, gravelly Basilio.”

Sunday, May 16 – Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecień.  This David McVicar production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available last year on April 29th and October 17th and this year on March 31st.

Roberto Devereux had its world premiere in Naples in 1837. François Ancelot’s Elisabeth d’Angleterre was the main inspiration for Salvadore Cammarano’s libretto. It is believed he also used Jacques Lescéne des Maisons’ Historie secrete des amours d’Elisabeth et du comte d’Essex as inspiration as well.

This opera tells the story of the title character who is the Earl of Essex. Queen Elizabeth I is secretly in love with him. In the very late 16th century (1599 to be exact), she sends him with an army to quash an uprising in Ireland. He is unsuccessful and, despite instructions to do otherwise, he returns to England. He is deemed to be a deserter. This being opera, it isn’t just a political tale nor one of history. There are conflicted relationships that ultimately lead to tragedy.

This was the Metropolitan Opera’s first production of Roberto Devereux. When Radvanovsky sang in this production, she had also performed the two previous Donizetti operas in this informal trilogy in the same season at the Met. 

This is how the audience responded on opening night to Radvanovsky’s accomplishment as reported by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times: 

“The applause and bravos for the soprano Sondra Radvanovsky were so frenzied at the end of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux at the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday night that she looked overwhelmed, almost a little frightened.The audience members knew, it seemed, that they had just witnessed an emotionally vulnerable and vocally daring performance, a milestone in the career of an essential artist.”

If you want to watch the National Council Auditions Grand Finals Concert on May 16th you’ll need to go here to register. The event starts at 11:00 AM ET/8:00 AM PT.

This year’s finalists are:

Jongwon Han, a bass baritone from Seoul, South Korea (age 26)

Duke Kim, a tenor from Seoul, South Korea (age 29)

Hyoyoung Kim, a soprano from Seoul, South Korea (age 24)

Brittany Olivia Logan, a soprano from Garden Grove, CA (age 28)

Raven McMillon, a soprano from Baltimore, MD (age 25)

Timothy McMurray, a baritone from Milwaukee, WI (age 29)

Murrella Parton, a soprano from Seymour, TN (age 30)

Erica Petrocelli, a soprano from East Greenwich, RI (age 28)

Emily Sierra, a mezzo-soprano from Chicago, IL (age 23)

Emily Treigle, a mezzo-soprano from New Orleans, LA (age 23)

Who will be the next big opera stars in the future? This event will certainly offer some insights.

That’s the complete line-up for Week 61 at the Met.

Enjoy your week and enjoy the operas!

Photo: Lawrence Brownlee in Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Met Opera)

The post National Council Auditions Alumni – Week 61 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Two productions stand out to me this week. The first is the third streaming of the 2016-2017 season production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with Stuart Skelton and Nina Stemme. This happens to be my favorite opera, but this production is powerful. The second highlight is the first-ever streaming of the 2012-2013 season production of Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on March 29th, you might still have time to catch the 2019-2020 season production of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer that concludes a week celebrating Myths and Legends.

Here is the line-up for Week 55 at the Met:

Monday, March 29 – Bellini’s Norma

Conducted by Carlo Rizzi; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Joyce DiDonato, Joseph Calleja and Matthew Rose. This David McVicar production is from the 2017- 2018 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 5th, September 20th and January 20th.

Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma had its world premiere in Milan in 1831. The libretto was written by Felice Romani based on Alexandre Soumet’s play Norma, ou L’infanticide (Norma, or The Infanticide).

The opera is set during Roman occupation of Gaul. Norma, the Druid high priestess, has been abandoned by the Roman consul, Pollione, the father of her two children. He has fallen in love with his wife’s friend, Adalgisa. Norma is devastated when she learns of his betrayal and his plans to marry Adalgisa. This leaves Norma in the position of having to figure out what to do with her children and whether or not to exact revenge on Pollione. 

Maria Callas made Norma a signature role for her after she first performed in a 1948 production at Teatro Comunale di Firenze. She sang the part in 89 performances. The role is considered the Mount Everest of opera. 

James Jorden examined what makes this role so challenging in a 2017 article for the New York Times that ran just before this production opened. You can read that story here.

Tuesday, March 30 – Strauss’s Capriccio

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, starring Renée Fleming, Sarah Connolly, Joseph Kaiser, Russell Braun, Morten Frank Larsen and Peter Rose. This revival of the 1998 John Cox production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on May 7th and January 15th.

As the Countess, Fleming must make one decision that resonates in a second way. Does she prefer words or music? And by extension, does she prefer the poet or the composer that make up the love triangle in this opera.

When Fleming decided to do the role of the Countess in this opera by Strauss in 2011, it was the first time she had performed the full opera at the Met. Anthony Tomassini of the New York Times was impressed:

“The role suits her ideally at this stage of her career, and she sang splendidly. The performance over all, sensitively conducted by Andrew Davis and featuring a winning cast, made an excellent case for this Strauss curiosity, his final opera, which had its premiere in Munich in 1942 in the midst of World War II.”

Wednesday, March 31 – Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Sondra Radvanovsky, Elīna Garanča, Matthew Polenzani and Mariusz Kwiecień.  This David McVicar production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 29th and October 17th.

Roberto Devereux had its world premiere in Naples in 1837. François Ancelot’s Elisabeth d’Angleterre was the main inspiration for Salvadore Cammarano’s libretto. It is believed he also used Jacques Lescéne des Maisons’ Historie secrete des amours d’Elisabeth et du comte d’Essex as inspiration as well.

This opera tells the story of the title character who is the Earl of Essex. Queen Elizabeth I is secretly in love with him. In the very late 16th century (1599 to be exact), she sends him with an army to quash an uprising in Ireland. He is unsuccessful and, despite instructions to do otherwise, he returns to England. He is deemed to be a deserter. This being opera, it isn’t just a political tale nor one of history. There are conflicted relationships that ultimately lead to tragedy.

This was the Metropolitan Opera’s first production of Roberto Devereux. When Radvanovsky sang in this production, she had also performed the two previous Donizetti operas in this informal trilogy in the same season at the Met.

This is how the audience responded on opening night to Radvanovsky’s accomplishment as reported by Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times:

“The applause and bravos for the soprano Sondra Radvanovsky were so frenzied at the end of Donizetti’s Roberto Devereux at the Metropolitan Opera on Thursday night that she looked overwhelmed, almost a little frightened.The audience members knew, it seemed, that they had just witnessed an emotionally vulnerable and vocally daring performance, a milestone in the career of an essential artist.”

Thursday, April 1 – Verdi’s Il Trovatore

Conducted by James Levine; starring Éva Marton, Dolora Zajick, Luciano Pavarotti and Sherrill Milnes. This Fabrizio Melano production is from the 1988-1989 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on July 7th and January 1st.

Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore is based on the play El trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez published in 1836. The libretto was written by Salvadore Cammarano with additions by Leone Emanuele Badare. The opera had its world premiere in Rome in 1853.

The setting is Zaragoza, the capital of the Kingdom of Aragon, circa 1412. To offer up a quick synopsis here would be a fool’s game to play. Several stories happen simultaneously and sometimes share the same characters. The opera has rarely been hailed for its story, but it certainly ranks as one of Verdi’s finest compositions.

When this production first opened that season at the Metropolitan Opera, Joan Sutherland sang the role of Leonora and Richard Bonynge was conducting. Pavarotti sang the role of Manrico throughout.

While critics were not so keen on Melano’s direction, Donal Henahan, writing for the New York Times, liked much of Pavarotti’s performance.

“Mr. Pavarotti was in good vocal health, immediately making ears prick up with his offstage song in the duel scene. Later, his ‘Ah, si, ben mio’ was meltingly ardent and unmistakably the work of a genuine lyric tenor. In the opera’s most famous aria, ‘Di quella pira,’ his voice simply lacked the bite and thrust required for this showpiece of the Italian robust tenor.”

Friday, April 2 – Massenet’s Werther

Conducted by Alain Altinoglu; starring Lisette Oropesa, Sophie Koch, Jonas Kaufmann and David Bižić. This Richard Eyre production is from the 2013-2014 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available May 11th and September 13th.

Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther was the inspiration for this opera which had its world premiere in 1892 in Vienna. It is not the first opera inspired by Goethe’s novel: Rodolphe Kreutzer wrote one in 1792 as did Vincenzo Pucitta in 1802.

Werther tells the story of a young man who spends some of his time writing poetry and imagining life as he thinks it should be. He falls in love with the daughter of a man who manages a large estate. Things don’t always measure up to his ideal of the world and the title character contemplates suicide. That’s just the first half.

In his New York Times review of this production, Anthony Tomassini said:

“To be a great Werther, a tenor must somehow be charismatic yet detached, vocally impassioned yet ethereal. Mr. Kaufmann is ideal in the role. He sings with dark colorings, melting warmth, virile intensity and powerful top notes. There is a trademark dusky covering to his sound that lends a veiled quality to Mr. Kaufmann’s Werther and suits the psychology of the character.”

Saturday, April 3 – Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore FIRST SHOWING

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Anna Netrebko, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień and Ambrogio Maestri. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2012-2013 season.

Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore had its world premiere in Milan in 1832. The libretto by Felice Romani. L’Elisir d’Amore was inspired by Eugène Scribe’s libretto for Daniel Auber’s Le philtre.

In this opera, Adina and Nemorino are the couple at the center of the story. Nemorino is madly in love with Adina, but she toys with his love. In an act of desperation he purchases an “elixir” that he believes will make her fall in love with him. He pretends not to love her anymore which leads, of course, to the planning of their wedding. But will it take place? It’s a comic opera, of course it will!

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini said this production was a much-needed upgrade from the Met’s previous production:

“What mattered on Monday was that the Met, having junked its 1991 production of Elisir, a cutesy show with cartoonish sets, now has a handsome and insightful new staging. The cast, which also stars the tenor Matthew Polenzani as Nemorino, the poor villager who pines for Adina, is terrific. Maurizio Benini conducts a stylish and zesty performance. And Mr. Sher delves beneath the surface of this frothy, tuneful opera to highlight its tale of two young people incapable of facing their mutual attraction.”

Sunday, April 4 – Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Conducted by Simon Rattle; starring Nina Stemme, Ekaterina Gubanova, Stuart Skelton, Evgeny Nikitin and René Pape. This Mariusz Trelinski production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on March 23rd and October 5th.

Richard Wagner wrote the music and the libretto for Tristan and Isolde. Gottfried von Strassburg’s novel, Tristan, from the 12th century, serves as his inspiration. The opera had its world premiere in Munich in 1865.

It is a bit of oversimplifying to say that the story in Tristan und Isolde is about two lovers whose passion for each other is so strong, it can only truly thrive in the afterlife. But frankly, in a nutshell, that’s the essential premise. But don’t be mistaken, this is pure drama and glorious music.

Anyone who saw Nina Stemme in Richard Strauss’s Elektra that has streamed a few times know how fully-committed she is to the characters she sings.

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, hailed her performance:

“Her Isolde is just as outstanding. Her voice has enormous carrying power without any forcing. Gleaming, focused top notes slice through the orchestra. As Isolde went through swings of thwarted fury, yearning and despair, Ms. Stemme altered the colorings of her sound, from steely rawness to melting warmth. And it is not often you hear a Wagnerian soprano who takes care to sing with rhythmic fidelity and crisp diction.”

Those are the productions available during Week 55 at the Met. I’m not sure what next week has in store – yet! Enjoy the operas and enjoy your week!

Photo: Stuart Skelton and Nina Stemme in Tristan und Isolde (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

The post Love Triangles: Week 55 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

So what did you choose? All of the productions are from the 21st century. The earliest from 2007 and the most recent just last year. Amongst the performers showcased this week are Anthony Roth Costanzo, Joyce DiDonato, Renée Fleming, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Jonas Kaufmann and Anna Netrebko. Productions by David McVicar and Bartlett Sher proved most popular (each has two productions being shown this week).

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on March 15th, you might still have time to catch the 2017-2018 season production of Tosca by Giacomo Puccini that concludes a week celebrating Verismo Passions.

Here are your selections for Week 53 at the Met:

Monday, March 15 – Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Conducted by James Levine; starring Anna Netrebko, Kathleen Kim, Ekaterina Gubanova, Kate Lindsey, Joseph Calleja and Alan Held. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2009-2010 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on April 22nd.

Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffman had its world premiere in Paris in 1881. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and was inspired by three short stories by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffman. Offenbach did not live to see this opera performed. He died four months before its premiere.

In the opera Offenbach and Barbier put the author of the stories in the middle of all the action. He’s seeking perfect love and tells a tavern crowd about three fruitless attempts at romance. The first with the daughter of an inventor who turns out to be a doll instead of a human being. The second with a beautiful young woman with a gorgeous voice, but whose singing may lead to her death. The third with a young woman who steals his reflection. Will poor Hoffman ever find love? Or will his writing be his lifelong companion?

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review, laid out some of the challenges this production faced and also what it achieved in spite of them:

“As conceived, this production was to have featured the tenor Rolando Villazón as the poet, wild-eyed dreamer and delusional lover Hoffmann. When Mr. Villazón, in the midst of a vocal crisis, pulled out last spring, the young Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, who had never sung this daunting role, accepted the assignment. On Thursday he gave his all, singing with ardor, stamina and poignant vocal colorings and winning a rousing ovation. There were technically shaky elements to his performance, and his focused, quick vibrato revealed every slight inaccuracy of pitch. Still, the insecurity actually befitted Mr. Calleja’s take on the character, laid bare emotionally. 

“The soprano Anna Netrebko may have disappointed her fans by deciding not to sing all four of Hoffmann’s love interests, as originally planned. But she was vocally lustrous, charismatic and wrenching as Antonia, the sickly and frustrated singer who has been warned that singing will lead to her death. She also made a captivating and tart Stella, the prima donna Hoffmann is smitten with.”

Tuesday, March 16 – Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Eva-Maria Westbroek, Jonas Kaufmann and Željko Lučić. This revival of the 1991 Giancarlo del Monaco production is from the 2018-2019 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on July 26th.

Giacomo Puccini’s La Fanciulla del West had its world premiere at the Metropolitan Opera in 1910. It was Puccini’s follow-up to Madama Butterfly. Like that work, this was also inspired by a play by David Belasco. The Girl of the Golden West was adapted by Guelfo Civinini and Carlo Zangarini.

Set during the Gold Rush era in California, Sherriff Rance is told by a Wells Fargo agent, Ashby, that he is chasing a bandit named Ramerrez. Minnie is the owner of the bar where Rance’s unrequited love for Minnie remains just that. A stranger arrives and successfully flirts with Minnie. He identifies himself as Johnson, but in reality he is the bandit Ramerrez. Can he avoid recognition and capture? Will their love save the day?

This production marked Kaufmann’s return to the Metropolitan Opera after a four-and-a-half-year absence from their stages. He had previously been announced in three productions during that time, but withdrew from each one. Skeptics wondered if he would actually appear in this one. He did. And though not in top form, he still received praise from Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times:

“The dusky colorings of Mr. Kaufmann’s voice gave his singing of this Italianate music a Germanic cast, but that quality made his Johnson seem, intriguingly, more of an outsider. He brought melting richness and dramatic nuances to his performance, supported by the sensitive conducting of Marco Armiliato.”

Wednesday, March 17 – Donizetti’s Anna Bolena

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Anna Netrebko, Ekaterina Gubanova, Tamara Mumford, Stephen Costello and Ildar Abdrazakov. This David McVicar production is from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on April 27th and October 15th.

Anna Bolena has its premiere in Milan in Milan in 1830. The libretto is based on two works: Ippolito Pindemonte’s Enrico VIII ossia Anna Bolena and Alessandro Pepoli’s Anna Bolena. Donizetti’s librettist was Felice Romani.

Donizetti wrote four operas about the Tudor period. The three most popular operas are being performed in consecutive order (and the order of their composition) this week. The lesser-known fourth opera (which was actually the first opera) is Il castello di Kenilworth. Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda and Roberto Devereux‘s leading female characters are referred to as the “three Donizetti Queens.”

In Anna Bolena, Henry VIII has fallen in love with Jane Seymour who is Queen Anna’s lady-in-waiting. Though King Henry had demanded Anna separate from Lord Percy to marry him, he now must find a way to make it possible for him to leave her and marry Jane. He contrives a meeting between Lord Percy and Anna in order to set her up for treason and ultimately execution.

This production was the first time the Metropolitan Opera performed Anna Bolena in all its history. It was, however, the second time Netrebko had performed the role having sung it in Vienna earlier that year. Anthony Tommasini, writing for the New York Times, raved about Netrebko’s performance:

“Ms. Netrebko sang an elegantly sad aria with lustrous warmth, aching vulnerability and floating high notes. When the audience broke into prolonged applause and bravos, Ms. Netrebko seemed to break character and smile a couple of times, though her look could have been taken as appropriate to the dramatic moment, since the delusional Anna is lost in reverie about happy days with her former lover.”

Thursday, March 18 – Philip Glass’s Akhnaten

Conducted by Karen Kamensek; starring Dísella Lárusdóttir, J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo, Aaron Blake, Will Liverman, Richard Bernstein and Zachary James. This Phelim McDermott production is from the 2019-2020. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on June 20th, November 14th and February 12th.

Akhnaten is one of Glass’s three biographical operas (the others are Einstein on the Beach and Saturday’s opera, Satyagraha.) The composer also wrote the libretto with the assistance of Shalom Goldman, Robert Israel, Richard Riddell and Jerome Robbins.

Akhnaten was a pharaoh who was controversial for his views on worshipping more than one God. He suggested just worshipping one – the sun. He was husband to Nefertitti and father of Tutankhamun. This opera does not have a linear storyline.

In his New York Times review, Anthony Tommasini praised the leads:

“Wearing gauzy red robes with extravagantly long trains, Mr. Costanzo and Ms. Bridges seem at once otherworldly and achingly real. His ethereal tones combine affectingly with her plush, deep-set voice. Ms. Kamensek, while keeping the orchestra supportive, brings out the restless rhythmic elements that suggest the couple’s intensity.”

I’ve seen this production with Costanzo singing the title role and cannot recommend taking the time to watch Akhnaten highly enough. 

Friday, March 19 – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Peter Mattei, John Del Carlo and John Relyea. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2006-2007 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on March 31st and October 19th.

Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) had its world premiere in 1816 in Rome. The opera is based on the new 1775 comedy by Beaumarchais of the same name. The libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini.

In this comedic opera, Count Almaviva is in love with the delightful Rosina. As he’s a Count, he wants to make sure her love is true and anchored in her passion for him, not the fact that he’s a Count. 

In order to be sure, he pretends to be student with no money. Regardless of his efforts, Bartolo, who serves as Rosina’s guardian, will make sure no one will woo Rosina and win. Bartolo, however, doesn’t know that Almaviva has a secret weapon, a cunning man named Figaro who is…the barber.

This production marked the debut of Tony Award-winner (and 9-time nominee) Bartlett Sher at the Metropolitan Opera. In Anthony Tommasini’s review in the New York Times he hailed Sher’s production:

“For the inventive, breezy new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera, which opened on Friday night and boasts a winning cast, the director Bartlett Sher, making his Met debut, has embraced the opera’s atmosphere of intrigue and subterfuge. Michael Yeargan’s set is an abstract matrix of movable doors, stairwells and potted orange trees that characters lurk behind as they listen in on conversations. Yet this is in no way an updated production. The costume designer, Catherine Zuber, has dressed the characters in colorful and sexy period garb with comic touches, like the disheveled, curly red wig worn by Rosina, the young heroine. 

“If not updated, the opera is freshened up by Mr. Sher, bringing his perspective as an acclaimed theater director best known to New Yorkers for The Light in the Piazza.”

Saturday, March 20 – Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin

Conducted by Valery Gergiev; starring Renée Fleming, Ramón Vargas and Dmitri Hvorostovsky. This revival of Robert Carsen’s 1997 production is from the 2006-2007 season.This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on March 22nd, November 30th and February 24th

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s verse novel of the same name for this opera that had its world premiere in Moscow in 1879. The composer co-wrote the libretto (using much of Pushkin’s text as written) with Konstantin Shilovsky.

Onegin is a rather selfish man. Tatyana expresses her love for him, but he rejects her saying he isn’t suited to marriage. By the time he comes to regret the way he treated her, he has also come to regret the actions that lead to a duel that killed his best friend.

Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review raved, “You will seldom see better acting in opera then the scenes between Ms. Fleming and Mr. Hvorostovsky. With his white mane, commanding physique and earthy voice, Mr. Hvorostovsky projects charisma naturally, making him perfect for this diffident character.

“Everything and everyone seems to come to Onegin, which accounts for his passivity. In the scene in which he gently chastises Tatiana for having sent him a rash love letter, his paternalistic arrogance, as projected by Mr. Hvorostovsky, would have been infuriating had it not seemed so tragically clueless.”

Sunday, March 21 – Handel’s Agrippina

Conducted by Harry Bicket; starring Brenda Rae, Joyce DiDonato, Kate Lindsey, Iestyn Davies, Duncan Rock and Matthew Rose. This David McVicar production is from the 2019-2020 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on August 8th and October 27th.

George Frideric Handel’s Agrippina has a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. The opera had its world premiere in 1709 in Venice at the Teatro S Giovanni Grisostomo which was owned by Grimani.

Agrippina is the Roman empress who is fixated on the idea of having her highly unqualified son, Nerone, take over the throne. To do that, she will stop at nothing to get her husband, Claudio, to cede it to him.

Though McVicar’s production was first staged in Brussels in 2000, this marked the first ever Metropolitan Opera production of Agrippina. Conductor Harry Bicket lead from the harpsichord and audiences and critics were enthralled.

Zachary Woolfe, in his review for the New York Times said, “Three centuries on, Agrippina remains bracing in its bitterness, with few glimmers of hope or virtue in the cynical darkness. But it’s irresistible in its intelligence — and in the shamelessness it depicts with such clear yet understanding eyes.”

Those are your choices for Week 53 at the Met. At the moment I have no idea what Week 54 has in store for us all. So enjoy the operas you’ve selected and enjoy your week.

Photo: Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Renée Fleming in Eugene Onegin. (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Metropolitan Opera)

The post Viewer’s Choice: Week 53 at the Met appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Topping our list is a special celebration of Liza Minnelli’s 75th birthday. The stars are coming out in droves to celebrate the woman who forever put her mark on Sally Bowles, who famously served as Gwen Verdon’s understudy (look that one up!), captured Arthur’s heart and made us all try singing New York, New York just like she does.

We have an unbelievable 21 different shows for you this week. No one will be left out. Whether you like opera, dance, classical music, Broadway musicals, plays or jazz, there’s something great for you to watch this weekend.

But you’ll have to be careful with your time. You lose an hour this weekend. Sunday marks the return of Daylight Savings Time. So don’t forget to move your clocks one hour forward on Sunday. You don’t want to miss the start of these shows!

Here are your Best Bets: March 12th – March 15th starting with our Top Pick. The rest are in order of availability.

*TOP PICK*: A Love Letter to Liza Minnelli: 75th All-Star Birthday Tribute Celebration – March 12th – March 14th

You know it’s either a monumental birthday or you’re quite beloved if Lea DeLaria, Michael Feinstein, Joel Grey, Ute Lemper, Melissa Manchester, Seth Sikes, Billy Stritch, Haley Swindal, Lily Tomlin, Ben Vereen and more are performing to celebrate you.

It’s actually both for Oscar, Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress/singer Liza Minnelli.

The star of Bob Fosse’s Cabaret and the Broadway musicals Flora, the Red Menace, Chicago, The Act and The Rink turns 75 on Friday. And her friends are celebrating the best way they can during a pandemic – with an on-line event.

Offering their own memories of working and being friends with Liza are Jason Alexander, Sandra Bernhard, Charles Busch, Mario Cantone, Jim Caruso, Joan Collins, Craig Ferguson, Kathie Lee Gifford, Kathy Griffin, Jonathan Groff, Tony Hale, Julie Halston, John Kander, Nicholas King, Hoda Kotb, Nathan Lane, Michele Lee, Lorna Luft, Andrea Martin, John Cameron Mitchell, Kathy Najimy, Coco Peru, Parker Posey, Andrew Rannells, Chita Rivera and Michael York.

The show will stream only three times and only at these exact times: Friday, March 12th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST; Saturday, March 13th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST and Sunday, March 14th at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT. Tickets are $30 with 20% of all proceeds going to The Actors Fund.

PLAY: Three Days of Rain – Manhattan Theatre Club – Now – March 21st

In 2006 Richard Greenberg’s play Three Days of Rain was performed on Broadway by Bradley Cooper, Julia Roberts and Paul Rudd. But that was not its first appearance in New York. In 1997, Manhattan Theatre Club offered the first production with Patricia Clarkson, John Slattery and Bradley Whitford.

That cast, along with original director Evan Yionoulis, have reunited for an online reading of Three Days of Rain that began on Thursday and will continue being available through Sunday, March 21st.

Three Days of Rain tells the story of a brother and sister who return to settle their father’s affairs after his passing. They are joined by their best friend, Pip. Upon discovering a diary they learn more about their parents than they ever expected to. What they learn helps them understand more about their own lives.

There’s no charge to watch the reading, but you do need to register at Manhattan Theatre Club’s website.

DANCE: After It Happened – Invertigo Dance Theatre – Now available

Laura Karlin choreographed this work for nine dancers that was performed at The Ford Theatre in 2016. Two musicians perform the score by composers Toby Karlin, Diana Lynn and Hyosun Choi.

The “it” that happened is a natural disaster in this work created in 2014. What the dancers discover, performing as the community dealing with the aftermath if the event, is that they must forge together to overcome the tragedy that has befallen them.

There’s no charge to watch After It Happened. You will find it on The Ford’s website and also on their YouTube channel and Facebook page. It will remain available for viewing for one year.

PLAY/DISCUSSION: Another Day’s Begun: Exploring Our Town – Pasadena Playhouse – Now available

Thorton Wilder’s Our Town is one of the most often-produced plays. Wilder won the Pulitzer Prize for this deceptively simple play in which the lives of the citizens of Grover’s Corners are shared and depicted. Along the way there are guest lecturers and even questions from the audience. Leading the whole show is the role of the Stage Manager. This is a spare show and a powerfully moving one.

Jane Kaczmarek will perform scenes from Our Town and lead a discussion with author Howard Sherman. His book gives this program its name. Also participating in performance are Youssef Kerkour, Keith Randolph Smith and Alexandria Wailes.

For trivia buffs, Frank Craven originated the role of the Stage Manager when the play debuted on Broadway in 1938. Marc Connelly played the part in a 1944 revival (that also featured Montgomery Clift as George Gibbs). In 1969 Henry Fonda headlined a production as the Stage Manager. Spalding Gray took on the part in a 1988 revival. Paul Newman played the part in a 2002 revival.

There’s no charge to watch this show.

RADIO PLAY: Moby Dick … in the Dark – Theatre in the Dark – Now – April 10th

If like many of us you’ve found it a big of a slog to get through Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and the thought of listening to a full book on tape is also daunting, but you still want to know what all the fuss is about, Chicago’s Theatre in the Dark is presenting a radio play version that’s much shorter.

If you don’t know the story it is, at least on the surface, about one man’s relentless effort to capture the white whale that gives this story its title. He will stop at nothing with little concern of what it costs.

Corey Bradberry, who also directs, adapted Melville’s story. This will be a true radio play. There are no visuals. An original score by Nick Montopoli will be married with recorded sound, live foley effects and the performances of the cast.

Elizabeth McCoy plays Ishmael (and some other characters). Mack Gordon plays Starbuck, Stubb and other characters. Robinson J. Cyprian plays Captain Ahab and others.

All tickets are Pay-what-you-can. There is a $20-$30 suggested donation. Performances are available Thursday-Sunday until the last week where the performance schedule is Wednesday-Saturday. Tickets can be purchased here.

BALLET: Elite Syncopations – Royal Ballet – March 12th – April 11th

In October of 2020, when things were looking up for England during the pandemic, The Royal Ballet held a special performance called Back on Stage. While they were only briefly back on stage, one highlight from that evening will be available for streaming beginning this weekend.

Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations is set to the music of Scott Joplin (best known for the use of his music in the film The Sting). MacMillan debuted the 35-minute work in 1974. Even critics who weren’t as fond of it as others said it was impossible to watch this work and not have a smile on your face.

Tickets to stream Elite Syncopations are £3 which equates to approximately $3.60.

FAMILY FARE: The Musician: A Horror Opera for Children – The Belfast Ensemble – March 12th – March 14th

If I were a parent I might be scratching my head at a title that claims to be “A Horror Opera for Children.” The story of The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the inspiration for this world premiere work by Conor Mitchell. He is the composer, librettist and stage director of The Musician.

This is a film of a live performance for the Belfast Children’s Festival. It features a 16-piece orchestra and a four-person cast (Matthew Cavan, Paul Carey Jones, Rebecca Murphy and Sarah Richmond).

This work is recommended for kids ages 6 and above. Tickets are £5 which equates to approximately $6.00 (without service charges) and can be purchased here.

JAZZ: Geri Allen, Terri Lyne Carrington & Esperanza Spalding – SFJAZZ – March 12th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Three mightily talented women take to the stage for this 2018 concert from SFJAZZ. Pianist Geri Allen, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and bassist Esperanza Spalding perform the music of Wayne Shorter, Bob Dorough and an Allen original in this Fridays at Five concert.

SFJAZZ has added a rebroadcast of these shows to their schedule. So if you can’t see the concert on Friday, you’ll have a second chance to see it on Saturday, March 13th at 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST.

A gentle reminder that you need to sign up for either a one-month digital membership ($5) or an annual membership ($60) to view these weekly concerts.

JAZZ: Jane Monheit Come What May Album Release Concert – Feinstein’s at Vitello’s – March 12th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Vocalist Jane Monheit has released her 12th album, Come What May, and she will be celebrating with a live concert streaming from Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Los Angeles.

On the album she performs the standards Let’s Face the Music and Dance, The Nearness of You and my personal favorite song, Lush Life.

For those who want even more of Monheit, there’s an Encore After Show where she will join Brad Roen for a post-performance conversation.

Tickets for the concert are $36.75. Tickets for Encore After Show are $26.75. (Prices include service charges).

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale – Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra – Debuts March 12th – 9:30 PM EST/6:30 PM PST

On paper this appears to be the most ambitious of LACO’s Close Quarters series. Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale is over an hour in length. Based on a Russian folk tale, the work tells the story of a a soldier who makes a deal with the devil. The devil offers him wealth in exchange for the soldier’s fiddle. As written The Soldier’s Tale calls for seven musicians, three actors and one or more dancers.

For this film LACO is collaborating with Robey Theatre Company. Ben Guillory will serve as the narrator. Julio Hanson plays the soldier. William Warren plays the devil.

Because this is part of James Darrah‘s exploration of new ways to present classical music, LACO has added another collaborator to this film: artist Huimeng Wang. I’m excited to see her contribution which is described on the website as: “Wang’s work features a grand piano being dramatically and violently destroyed by gunfire before being reborn with stunning deep red velvet flocking.”

For those who want to dive deeper into this work, there is a pre-broadcast talk with the three actors and LACO principal trumpeter David Washburn. The live conversation will happen at 8:30 PM EST/5:30 PM PST on March 12th in advance of the premiere. You must register to see the live conversation as it will be available on Zoom. If you’re unable to catch it live, it will be available for viewing afterwards.

There’s no charge for any of this programming. Donations to LACO are encouraged.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Sutton Foster in Concert – Live From Lincoln Center on PBS – March 12th – Check local listings

BROADWAY VOCALS: Stephanie J. Block in Concert – Live from Lincoln Center on PBS – March 12th – Check local listings

Two Tony Award stars appear in their own Live from Lincoln Center concerts this weekend.

Sutton Foster, who will be starring opposite Hugh Jackman in the upcoming revival of The Music Man, appears in a concert from April 2018. She has appeared in the musicals Thoroughly Modern Millie, Little Women, The Drowsy Chaperone, Young Frankenstein, Shrek the Musical, Anything Goes and Violet. She won her Tony Awards for Thoroughly Modern Millie and Anything Goes.

Joining her as a special guest in the concert will be Jonathan Groff (most recently seen on stage in an off-Broadway revival of Little Shop of Horrors.

Stephanie J. Block won her Tony Award for her performance as “Star” in The Cher Show. She made her Broadway debut as Liza Minnelli in The Boy From Oz (which also starred Jackman). She’s also appeared in Wicked, The Pirate Queen, 9 to 5, Anything Goes (she took over the role of Reno Sweeney when Foster left the production), The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Falsettos.

As with all PBS programming, best to check your local listings for exact airtime and dates.

JAZZ: Jeremy Pelt Quintet – SmallsLive – March 13th – 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST and 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Jazz trumpeter Jeremy Pelt just released a new record entitled Griot – This is Important! It’s a combination of spoken word and instrumentals. It’s a stunning album.

Will selections from Griot be on the setlist for these two shows from Smalls in New York?

Whatever he chooses to play it will be with his incredibly beautiful phrasing and emotion.

Joining Pelt for these two shows are Vicente Archer on bass; Victor Gould on piano; Chien Chien Lu on vibraphone and Allan Mednard on drums.

There’s no charge to watch these shows. Those who can donate can make “reservations” for the show.

PLAY: The Year of Magical Thinking – Keen Company – March 13th – 7:00 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Writer Joan Didion shared her own experiences and thoughts after suffering several tragedies in her life in her book The Year of Magical Thinking. The emotional book was turned into an one-person show. Vanessa Redgrave starred in the play on Broadway in 2007.

This weekend the equally talented Kathleen Chalfant (Angels in America) will take on the role in a live streaming event for Off-Broadway’s Keen Company.

I saw Redgrave perform the show in the months after her own daughter’s (Natasha Richardson) tragic death in 2009. It’s an incredibly moving work. After a year with the pandemic and quarantines, I can only imagine how much more deeply and personally we will all respond to this work on Saturday.

Tickets are $25 and will include a post-show talkback with Chalfant and director Jonathan Silverstein.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: A Bartók Journey – Tesla Quartet – March 13th – 7:30 PM EST/4:00 PM PST

Tesla Quartet musicians Edwin Kaplan (viola); Michelle Lie (violin); Serafim Smigelskiy (cello) and Ross Snyder (violin) are embarking this weekend on a six week series of exploring, rehearsing and performing all six of Béla Bartók’s string quartets.

This weekend beings, for obvious reasons, with the String Quartet No. 1 in A Minor, op. 7. For those interested in watching them rehearse the work, they will be streaming that on March 12th at 1:00 PM EST/10:00 AM PST.

There’s no charge to watch any of the events of this six-week series. You do, however, need to register. You can do so in the link built into A Bartók Journey. You will also find details for the entire series there.

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Narek Hakhnazaryan and Armine Grigoryan – Shriver Hall Concert Series – Debuts March 14th – 5:30 PM EDT/2:30 PM PDT

Cellist Narek Hakhnazaryan made a name for himself by winning the Cello First Prize and Gold Medal at the 2011 International Tchaikovsky Competition. He will be performing as part of the Shriver Hall Concert Series with pianist Armine Grigoryan. She, too, is an award-winning musician.

On Sunday’s program will be Beethoven’s Seven Variations in E-Flat Major on Mozart’s “Dei Männem”; Schumann’s Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70; Franck’s Sonata for Violin and Cello; E. Bagdasaryan’s Nocture and A. Arutyunian’s Impromptu.

Tickets are $15. There will be a post-performance conversation. This concert will remain available through March 21st.

BROADWAY VOCALS: Emily Skinner – Seth Concert Series – March 14th – 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT

Broadway fans first became aware of Emily Skinner as one-half of the conjoined Hilton twins in the musical Side Show. Skinner received a shared Tony nomination for Best Actress with co-star Alice Ripley. (After all, how could you separate their performances?)

She continued dazzling audiences with performances in James Joyce’s The Dead, The Full Monty, Prince of Broadway and The Cher Show.

She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest for this weekend’s live streaming concert and conversation show. The program will air live on Sunday at 3:00 PM EDT. If you are unable to watch the show then, there is a rebroadcast on Sunday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT.

MUSICALS: Passing Through – Goodspeed Musicals – March 15th – April 4th

A young man decides he wants to walk from Pennsylvania to California with a sign on his backpack that says, “Walking to Listen.” Wouldn’t it be nice if more people wanted to listen these days? Anyway, along the way he documented his many encounters with people and their stories.

Upon hearing about Andrew Forsthoefel, who took this trip unsure about what to do with his life post-college, composer/lyricist Brett Ryback and book writer Eric Ulloa knew immediately there was a musical in this true story.

Passing Through is the result of their collaboration. Goodspeed Musicals presented a workshop production of the musical in the summer of 2019. A film of that production will be available for streaming on demand starting on March 15th and running through April 4th.

Max Chernin stars as Andrew. The cast includes Joan Almedilla, Reed Armstrong, Ryan Duncan, Linedy Genao, Charles Gray, Garrett Long, Mary Jo Mecca, Celeste Rose, Jim Stanek and the incomparable Jennifer Leigh Warren. Igor Goldin directed and the choreography is by Marcos Santana.

Tickets are $25 and allow for 72 hours of streaming. Your time begins when you first start watching Passing Through.

BROADWAY REUNION: The Bridges of Madison County – The Jesse Walker Show – March 15th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Jesse Walker will celebrate his 20th anniversary of his eponymous talk show with a reunion of the cast and creative team of the musical The Bridges of Madison County. Participating in the reunion are Kelli O’Hara, Steven Pasquale, Hunter Foster, Caitlin Kinnunen and Derek Klena. Composer Jason Robert Brown, librettist Marsha Norman and director Bartlett Sher will also be joining.

Brown won two Tony Awards for his original score and its orchestrations. O’Hara also received one of the show’s four nominations.

The Bridges of Madison County didn’t run as long as it should have, but its legions of fans will definitely want to tune-in to this reunion which will raise funds for The Actors Fund.

OPERA: For the Love of Opera: Celebrating RBG’s 88th Birthday – Lowell Milken Center of American Jewish Experience at The UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music/National Museum of American Jewish History/Opera Philadelphia – March 15th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Liza’s not the only one being feted. So is the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It wasn’t just law that she loved, it was also opera. To celebrate what would have been RBG’s 88th birthday, a program of arias from operas that address issues of social justice, equality and more will be performed.

The program is set to include arias from Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore; Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Mozart’s Le nozze de Figaro and Cosí fan tutte, Verdi’s Falstaff, Menotti’s The Consul and a song from the Flaherty and Aherns musical Ragtime.

Performers are Joshua Blue (tenor), Norman Garrett (baritone), Michelle Rice (soprano) and Ashley Marie Robillard (soprano). Pianists Stephen Karr and Grant Loehnig will accompany on piano.

The event will be presented via Zoom, so you will need to register to see it. The program will become available on demand shortly after its conclusion on the various venues’ social media pages.

VARIETY: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – March 15th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM EDT

If you want even more of jazz vocalist Jane Monheit, you’ll want to join this week’s edition of Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party. She’ll be singing songs from Come What May and sharing stories with Caruso. The two are longtime friends. Monheit is a semi-regular performer when Cast Party happens live at Birdland in New York. (I’ve seen here there myself.)

Also joining this week at magician Dana Daniels, actor/singer Shu Q and Broadway actor Michael Winther (the upcoming Flying Over Sunset).

The show is free to watch and is always a delight.

Are you overwhelmed yet? I hope not, because I have a couple reminders before we go:

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Violinist Gil Shaham and The Knights perform works by Beethoven and Boulogne in a concert that began streaming from New York’s 92nd Street Y on Thursday. The concert will remain available through March 18th. (Next week I’ll have an interview with Shaham. Check back for that.)

OPERA: The Metropolitan Opera concludes its week celebrating Verismo Passions with Umberto Giordano’s Fedora on Friday and his Andrea Chénier on Saturday and Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca on Sunday. Monday they will launch Viewer’s Choice week with the 2009 production of Jacques Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann

Liza’s Birthday, RBG’s Birthday…and whole lot in between. Maybe this time you really did get lucky! After all, life is a cabaret old chum! Have a great weekend!

Photo: Liza Minnelli in the film version of “Cabaret” (Courtesy Liza Minnelli’s Facebook page)

The post Four Days of Best Bets: March 12th – March 15th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The men appearing this week include Piotr Beczała, Juan Diego Flórez, Jonas Kaufmann, Simon Keenlyside, Željko Lučić, Ambrogio Maestri, Evgeny Nikitin and René Pape. Don’t fret, there are some powerful women this week, too.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

The Met is heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website. 

If you read this column early enough on January 25th, you might still have time to catch the 2010-2011 production of Die Walküre by Richard Wagner that concludes Opera’s Greatest Heroines week.

Here is the full line-up for Week 46 at the Met:

Monday, January 25 – Mozart’s Don Giovanni

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Hibla Gerzmava, Malin Byström, Serena Malfi, Paul Appleby, Simon Keenlyside and Adam Plachetka. This revival of Michael Grandage’s 2011 production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on August 9th.

The legend of Don Juan inspired this opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by Lorenzo da Ponte. Don Giovanni had its world premiere in 1787 in Prague.

Don Giovanni loves women. All women. Early in the opera he tries fleeing Donna Anna. In doing so her father, the Commendatore, awakens and challenges him to a duel. Giovanni kills the Commendatore – an event that will ultimately lead to his own descent into hell.

When Simon Keenlyside was announced as the title character in this production, it came two years after he suffered a vocal cord injury while rehearsing a production of Verdi’s Rigoletto in Vienna. A year later, thyroid surgery sidelined him. 

James R. Oesterich, writing in the New York Times said his return was a good one:

“…he seemed in fine shape, vocally and physically. His voice rang out cleanly and clearly, and he showed good stamina in a portrayal long on physical exertion.”

Tuesday, January 26 – Rossini’s Le Comte Ory

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 16th, September 15th and October 24th.

Gioachino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory had its world premiere in Paris in 1828. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson who adapted a play they had written eleven years earlier. Rossini used some of the music he had composed for Il Viaggio a Reims, performed at the the coronation of Charles X, in this opera.

Count Ory and his companion Raimbaud disguise themselves as hermits to seduce women left behind during the Crusades while the men went to the Holy Land. The women are on their own. Lady Ragonde takes charge of Formoutiers castle and looks after Adèle, the sister of the castle’s lord. Ory and Raimbaud offer their assistance, but obviously have something else on their minds.

This was the very first production of Le Comte Ory at the Met. All three leads had previously appeared together in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia under Sher’s direction four years earlier. 

Here Sher uses an opera-within-an-opera conceit. It was one that Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times did not expect to like, “Nothing in Ory invites an opera-within-an-opera concept. Still, Rossini artificially turned two unrelated pieces into a completely reconceived opera, so the artifice of Mr. Sher’s staging is somehow resonant. Moreover, for all the antics, Mr. Sher takes Rossini’s characters and their romantic entanglements seriously and coaxes precise, nuanced performances from his gifted cast.” 

Wednesday, January 27 – Gounod’s Faust

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; starring Marina Poplavskaya, Jonas Kaufmann, Russell Braun and René Pape. This Des McAnuff production is from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on May 23rd and November 17th.

Charles Gounod’s Faust had its world premiere in Paris in 1859. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré who used both Carré’s play Faust et Marguerite and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust, Part One as inspiration.

This oft-told story is about a man who sacrifices his soul to the devil, Méphistophélès, in order to maintain his youth and the love of Marguerite. 

But you know what happens when you make a deal with the devil…it’s not going to end well.

McAnuff made his Metropolitan Opera debut with this production. He is best known as the director of Jersey Boys and Ain’t Too Proud on Broadway. In his Faust he chose to set this production before and after the dropping of atom bombs in Japan in World War II.

Critics may have been divided over Des McAnuff’s approach, but they were unanimous in their praise of tenor Jonas Kaufmann. Audiences were too. His performance generated a lot of emotion from audiences attending this production.

Thursday, January 28 – Verdi’s Falstaff

Conducted by James Levine; starring Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Paolo Fanale, Ambrogio Maestri and Franco Vassallo. This Robert Carsen production is from the 2013-2014 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on April 8th, August 30th and December 27th.

Two of Shakespeare’s play served as the inspiration for Verdi’s Falstaff: The Merry Wives of Windsor and sections from Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. Arrigo Boito adapted the plays to create the libretto. Falstaff had its world premiere in 1893 at La Scala in Milan. This was Verdi’s final opera and only his second comedic opera.

Simply put, Sir John Falstaff tries everything he can to woo two married woman so he can assume their husband’s vast fortunes. He’s rather bumbling in his efforts and the machinations in place to thwart his endeavors leave him with nothing short of a major comeuppance.

In Carsen’s production the story has been updated to England in the 1950s. His approach to Verdi’s opera was much lighter than is commonly done and, as a result, yielded overwhelmingly great reviews. 

On opening night Maestri performed the role of Falstaff for his 200th time. Anthony Tommasini, in his review for the New York Times, raved about Maestri:

“A splendid cast is led by the powerhouse Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri, who simply owns the role of Falstaff…At 6 foot 5 with his Falstaffian physique, Mr. Maestri certainly looks the part. A natural onstage, and surprisingly light on his feet, he makes Falstaff a charming rapscallion and sings with consummate Italianate style.”

Friday, January 29 – Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer

Conducted by Valery Gergiev; starring Anja Kampe, Mihoko Fujimura, Sergey Skorokhodov, David Portillo, Evgeny Nikitin and Franz-Josef Selig. This François Girard production is from the 2019-2020 season.

Richard Wagner’s opera, commonly billed by its English-language name, The Flying Dutchman, had its world premiere in Dresden in 1843. Wagner wrote the libretto and based it on The Memoirs of Mister von Schnabelewopski (Aus den Memoiren des Herrn von Schnabelewopski) by Henrich Heine.

Der Fliegende Holländer tells the story of a Dutch sea captain who claims he can sail safely anywhere in the world. The devil, hearing his boasting, condemned him to never die and to forever sail until he finds a woman willing to offer him eternal love. He can only leave the sea once every seven years. When he encounters Senta, he has found the woman that will end his curse. But she already has a fiancé. Whose love will win out?

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, was not thrilled by this production. He did, however, single out Kampe’s performance. “The soprano Anja Kampe, a leading Wagner soprano in Europe, made her belated Met debut as Senta; it’s good to finally have her here. Her singing was plush and warm, with lyrical sheen in tender phrases and steely intensity when Senta’s obsession takes hold. Despite some strained top notes, she was a standout.”

Saturday, January 30 – Verdi’s Rigoletto

Conducted by Michele Mariotti; starring Diana Damrau, Oksana Volkova, Piotr Beczała, Željko Lučić and Štefan Kocán. This Michael Mayer production is from the 2012-2013 season. This is an encore showing of the production that was made available on May 16th and August 24th.

Victor Hugo, the author of Les Míserables, was also a playwright and it was his play, Le roi s’amuse, that served as the inspiration for Giuseppe Verdi’s opera. Francesco Maria Piave, who regularly collaborated with the composer, wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Venice, Italy in 1851.

The title character is a jester who serves the Duke of Mantua. The Duke is a seductive man who, upon learning that the woman with whom Rigoletto lives is his daughter and not his wife, makes the young woman, Gilda, his next target. Curses, assassination plots and more leave this clown without much to smile about.

Michael Mayer won a Tony Award for his direction of the original production of Spring Awakening. He came up with the idea of a “Rat Pack Rigoletto” and moved the action to Las Vegas in the early 1960s.

While reviews were mixed for the production, Mayer was prepared for whatever reaction was going to come his way for his production as he told the New York Times prior to the first performance. “I’ve been warned, but some people have said if you get booed at the Met or at La Scala, you know you’re doing something right. In any case, to employ a pun: hopefully the booze I will have ingested prior to that moment will make the boos I hear a little dimmer.” 

Sunday, January 31 – Verdi’s Macbeth

Conducted by James Levine; starring Maria Guleghina, Dimitri Pittas, Željko Lučić and John Relyea. This Adrian Noble production is from the 2007-2008 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on July 22nd.

William Shakespeare’s Macbeth was the first of his plays to inspire an opera by Giuseppe Verdi. The libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave with additional work by Andrea Maffei. The opera had its world premiere in Florence, Italy in 1847. Verdi re-wroked Macbeth and changed the language from Italian to French. The revised version had its premiere in Paris in 1865.

This is not Shakespeare set to music. Verdi did take much of what Shakespeare wrote about a Scottish general who is told by three witches that he will be the King of Scotland. With the help of his wife, Lady Macbeth, he stops at nothing to do so. However, Verdi couldn’t include the whole play in his opera, nor did he want to. The relationship between Macbeth and Lady MacBeth truly anchors this opera.

When this production of Macbeth took place it marked the first time in nearly two decades since its last performance at the Met. Adrian Noble, who directed, made his Metropolitan Opera debut with this production. From 1990-2003 he was the Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in England.

That completes Week 46 at the Met. Enjoy your week! Enjoy the operas!

Photo: Evgeny Nikitin in Der Fliegende Holländer (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Met Opera)

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Okay, maybe there’s a little tragedy thrown in since La Bohème is being shown, but the rest is truly light-hearted entertainment. That’s right, there’s also the threat of cannibalism. But that’s in a fairy tale so does it really count?

They are heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series, their New Year’s Eve Gala and the planned resumption of performances in the 2021-2022 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions on the Metropolitan Opera website.

All productions become available at 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST and remain available for 23 hours. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

If you read this column early enough on December 21st, you might still have time to catch the 2011-2012 production of Götterdämerung by Richard Wagner that concludes last week’s Epic Proportions week. (Definitely not family fare!)

Here is the line-up for Week 41 at the Met:

Monday, December 21 – Mozart’s The Magic Flute

Conducted by James Levine; starring Ying Huang, Erika Miklósa, Matthew Polenzani, Nathan Gunn and René Pape. This revival of Julie Taymor’s 2004 production is from the 2006-2007 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on August 3rd.

Mozart’s opera premiered in September 1791 in Vienna a mere two months before the composer died. It features a libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder.

Prince Tamino is asked by the Queen of the Night to free her daughter Pamina from Sarastro. Tamino, however, is impressed with Sarastro and the way his community lives in the world and wants to be a part of it. Both alone and together Tamino and Pamina endure multiple tests. If they succeed, what will happen to them? To the Queen of the Night?

This production launched the Metropolitan Opera’s Live in HD series. Had they not begun making live worldwide theatrical broadcast of their opera productions available, we very likely wouldn’t be enjoying all the streaming operas they have made available for free.

This version of The Magic Flute differs from the other Taymor production that was streamed (on June 28th and October 1st) in that it was shortened by over an hour and the German was replaced with an English language libretto.

Tuesday, December 22 – Massenet’s Cendrillon

Conducted by Bertrand de Billy; starring Kathleen Kim, Joyce DiDonato, Alice Coote and Stephanie Blythe. This Laurent Pelly production is from the 2017-2018. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on June 27th and September 10th.

Charles Perrault’s 1698 version of the Cinderella fairy tale serves as the inspiration for Massenet’s opera. Henry Caïn wrote the libretto. The world premiere of Cendrillon took place in 1899 in Paris.

You may recall that The Royal Opera made its production of Cendrillon available for streaming in late May. This is the same production with Joyce DiDonato and Alice Coote playing the roles of “Cendrillon” and “Prince Charming.”

Zachary Woolfe, in his New York Times review praised DiDonato for the child-like wonder she brings to the role. 

“Ms. DiDonato does sincerity better than anyone since Ms. von Stade. At 49, she can still step on stage and, with modest gestures and mellow sound, persuade you she’s a put-upon girl. She experiences the story with an open face and endearing ingenuousness, a sense of wonder that never turns saccharine. In soft-grained passages, she is often simply lovely.”

Wednesday, December 23 – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Conducted by Michele Mariotti; starring Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Christopher Maltman and Maurizio Muraro. This revival of Bartlett Sher’s 2006 production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on July 20th.

Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) had its world premiere in 1816 in Rome. The opera is based on the new 1775 comedy by Beaumarchais of the same name. The libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini.

In this comedic opera, Count Almaviva is in love with the delightful Rosina. As he’s a Count, he wants to make sure her love is true and anchored in her passion for him, not the fact that he’s a Count. 

In order to be sure, he pretends to be student with no money. Regardless of his efforts, Bartolo, who serves as Rosina’s guardian, will make sure no one will woo Rosina and win. Bartolo, however, doesn’t know that Almaviva has a secret weapon, a cunning man named Figaro who is…the barber.

Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, writing for the New York Times, said of this revival, “The Met’s production is glossy, sweet and rich in laughs. And it has stars: Lawrence Brownlee makes a dashing Almaviva, singing with a focused, ardent tenor. Isabel Leonard is a pitch-perfect Rosina, cute but sharp clawed, dispatching Rossini’s dizzying runs and ornaments with stenciled precision. Maurizio Muraro owns the role of Bartolo, his diction flawless in the rapid-fire patter arias. Paata Burchuladze was a sly, gravelly Basilio.”

Thursday, December 24 – Puccini’s La Bohème 

Conducted by James Levine; starring Teresa Stratas, Renata Scotto, José Carreras, Richard Stilwell, Allan Monk, James Morris and Italo Tajo. Franco Zeffirelli production from the 1981-1982 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on July 19th.

Easily one of the most popular operas in the world, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème had its world premiere in Turin, Italy in 1896. The libretto is by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The opera is based on Henri Murger’s 1851 novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème.

The story centers on four friends who are unable to pay their rent. Successfully getting out of a potentially bad situation with their landlord, all but one go out on the town. Rodolfo stays home and meets a young woman named Mimi. They fall in love, but Mimi’s weakness may be a sign of something far more life-threatening than they know. 

Director Zeffirelli reworked his 1963 production for this “new” production nearly twenty years later. John Rockwell, writing in the New York Times, wasn’t terribly impressed with the revisions. 

“Perhaps La Boheme, Puccini’s finest and most innocent opera, works best in a far more intimate house than the Met. Perhaps it is best encountered on a journey, with young, unknown singers playing out its tale of passion and despair in a way that can really be believed. Mr. Zeffirelli’s Boheme is grand and traditional, but it lost its innocence long ago.”

Friday, December 25 – Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel

Conducted by Vladimir Jurowski; starring Christine Schäfer, Alice Coote, Rosalind Plowright, Philip Langridge and Alan Held. This Richard Jones production is from the 2007-2008 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on June 10th.

The Grimm brother’s fairly tale about a brother and sister who are lured to a house with sweets and candies only to find a witch who wants to eat the duo is the basis for this opera that had its debut in 1893 in Weimar. Richard Strauss conducted the premiere. A second production the next year in Hamburg was conducted by Gustav Mahler. Adelheid Wette, Humpderdink’s sister, wrote the libretto.

This production was created for the Welsh National Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. The Metropolitan Opera offered this production as part of its family fare programming. Nothing like cannibalism to keep the kiddies happy!

Saturday, December 26 – Lehár’s The Merry Widow

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis; starring Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Alek Shrader and Thomas Allen. This Susan Stroman production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on April 23 and October 20th. 

Franz Lehár’s opera had its world premiere in 1905 in Vienna. The libretto is based on Henri Meilhac’s 1861 comedy, L’attaché d’ambassade (The Embassy Attaché). Viktor Léon and Leo Stein wrote the libretto. 

When Hanna Glawari, a young woman, becomes a widow, the Ambassador wants her to re-marry someone who lives in their province of Pontevedro so her wealth can remain in the country. The last thing he wants is for her to fall for a Frenchman. Meanwhile his own wife, Valencienne, is having an affair with Camille, Count de Rosillon – a Frenchman. 

Hanna claims to soon be marrying Camille, hoping to preserve Valencienne’s reputation. Circling all of this is Count Danilo, Hanna’s ex who refuses to marry her for her money. When she announces her engagement to Camille, Danilo is forced to reconcile his feelings.

This is another production directed by a Broadway veteran with five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Producers), making her Metropolitan Opera debut. Also appearing at the Met for the first time is Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara (The King and I). 

Of O’Hara, Anthony Tommasini wrote in his New York Times review, “Ms. O’Hara’s ardent fans (put me in the front ranks of that group) will be delighted with the chance to hear her sing without the amplification requisite on Broadway. She is a vocalist with operatic training. And her tender voice carries nicely in the house — certainly as well as that of the gifted young tenor Alek Shrader, who sounded a little pinched as Camille in his scenes with her.”

Sunday, December 27 – Verdi’s Falstaff

Conducted by James Levine; starring Lisette Oropesa, Angela Meade, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Johnson Cano, Paolo Fanale, Ambrogio Maestri and Franco Vassallo. This Robert Carsen production is from the 2013-2014 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on April 8th and August 30th

Two of Shakespeare’s play served as the inspiration for Verdi’s Falstaff: The Merry Wives of Windsor and sections from Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. Arrigo Boito adapted the plays to create the libretto. Falstaff had its world premiere in 1893 at La Scala in Milan. This was Verdi’s final opera and only his second comedic opera.

Simply put, Sir John Falstaff tries everything he can to woo two married woman so he can assume their husband’s vast fortunes. He’s rather bumbling in his efforts and the machinations in place to thwart his endeavors leave him with nothing short of a major comeuppance.

In Carsen’s production the story has been updated to England in the 1950s. His approach to Verdi’s opera was much lighter than is commonly done and, as a result, yielded overwhelmingly great reviews. 

On opening night Maestri performed the role of Falstaff for his 200th time. Anthony Tommasini, in his review for the New York Times, raved about Maestri:

“A splendid cast is led by the powerhouse Italian baritone Ambrogio Maestri, who simply owns the role of Falstaff…At 6 foot 5 with his Falstaffian physique, Mr. Maestri certainly looks the part. A natural onstage, and surprisingly light on his feet, he makes Falstaff a charming rapscallion and sings with consummate Italianate style.”

That’s it for Week 41 at the Met. Next week’s line-up will all feature tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

Happy Holidays! Stay safe and healthy and enjoy the operas!

Photo: Joyce DiDonato in Cendrillon (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Met Opera)

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Each production becomes available at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT on the Metropolitan Opera website. Every opera remains available for 23 hours. They are heavily promoting their Met Stars Live in Concert series and recently announced the cancellation of the full 2020-2021 season, so you’ll have to go past those announcements and promos to find the streaming productions. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

If you read this column earlier enough on October 19th, you might still have time to catch the 2010-2011 season production of Don Pasquale that concludes last week’s Donizetti Week. 

Here is the line-up for Week 32 at the Met:

Monday, October 19 – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Joyce DiDonato, Juan Diego Flórez, Peter Mattei, John Del Carlo and John Relyea. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2006-2007 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on March 31st.

Gioachino Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) had its world premiere in 1816 in Rome. The opera is based on the new 1775 comedy by Beaumarchais of the same name. The libretto was written by Cesare Sterbini.

In this comedic opera, Count Almaviva is in love with the delightful Rosina. As he’s a Count, he wants to make sure her love is true and anchored in her passion for him, not the fact that he’s a Count. 

In order to be sure, he pretends to be student with no money. Regardless of his efforts, Bartolo, who serves as Rosina’s guardian, will make sure no one will woo Rosina and win. Bartolo, however, doesn’t know that Almaviva has a secret weapon, a cunning man named Figaro who is…the barber.

This production marked the debut of Tony Award-winner (and 9-time nominee) Bartlett Sher at the Metropolitan Opera. In Anthony Tommasini’s review in the New York Times he hailed Sher’s production.

“For the inventive, breezy new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera, which opened on Friday night and boasts a winning cast, the director Bartlett Sher, making his Met debut, has embraced the opera’s atmosphere of intrigue and subterfuge. Michael Yeargan’s set is an abstract matrix of movable doors, stairwells and potted orange trees that characters lurk behind as they listen in on conversations. Yet this is in no way an updated production. The costume designer, Catherine Zuber, has dressed the characters in colorful and sexy period garb with comic touches, like the disheveled, curly red wig worn by Rosina, the young heroine. 

“If not updated, the opera is freshened up by Mr. Sher, bringing his perspective as an acclaimed theater director best known to New Yorkers for The Light in the Piazza.”

Tuesday, October 20 – Lehár’s The Merry Widow

Conducted by Sir Andrew Davis; starring Renée Fleming, Kelli O’Hara, Nathan Gunn, Alek Shrader and Thomas Allen. This Susan Stroman production is from the 2014-2015 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 23.

Franz Lehár’s opera had its world premiere in 1905 in Vienna. The libretto is based on Henri Meilhac’s 1861 comedy, L’attaché d’ambassade (The Embassy Attaché). Viktor Léon and Leo Stein wrote the libretto.

When Hanna Glawari, a young woman, becomes a widow, the Ambassador wants her to re-marry someone who lives in their province of Pontevedro so her wealth can remain in the country. The last thing he wants is for her to fall for a Frenchman. Meanwhile his own wife, Valencienne, is having an affair with Camille, Count de Rosillon – a Frenchman.

Hanna claims to soon be marrying Camille, hoping to preserve Valencienne’s reputation. Circling all of this is Count Danilo, Hanna’s ex who refuses to marry her for her money. When she announces her engagement to Camille, Danilo is forced to reconcile his feelings.

This is another production directed by a Broadway veteran with five-time Tony Award winner Susan Stroman (The Producers), making her Metropolitan Opera debut. Also appearing at the Met for the first time is Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara (The King and I).

Of O’Hara, Anthony Tommasini wrote in his New York Times review, “Ms. O’Hara’s ardent fans (put me in the front ranks of that group) will be delighted with the chance to hear her sing without the amplification requisite on Broadway. She is a vocalist with operatic training. And her tender voice carries nicely in the house — certainly as well as that of the gifted young tenor Alek Shrader, who sounded a little pinched as Camille in his scenes with her.”

Wednesday, October 21 – Mozart’s Così fan tutte

Conducted by David Robertson; starring Amanda Majeski, Serena Malfi, Kelli O’Hara, Ben Bliss, Adam Plachetka and Christopher Maltman. This Phelim McDermott is from the 2017-2018 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 12th.

Mozart’s Cosí fan tutte had its world premiere in Vienna in 1790. Lorenzo Da Ponte, who wrote the libertti for The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni, wrote the libretto.

Ferrando and Guglielmo are vacationing with their fiancées, Dorabella and Fiordiligi. They are sisters. Don Alfonso challenges the men to a bet revolving around the women and their ability to be faithful. Using disguise, deception and a wicked sense of humor, Mozart’s opera ends happily ever after for one and all.

This production transports the original Naples setting in the 18th century to Brooklyn in the 20th century. Specifically, McDermott places the opera at an amusement park filled with the attractions you’d expect to set at the side show: sword swallowers, a bearded lady, a fire eater, a strongman and a contortionist.

Anthony Tommasini seemed a bit torn about the effectiveness of this setting. In his New York Times review he said, “I have never seen a production that completely cracks the code of Così, and for all its charms and insights, this production also comes up short. Mr. McDermott’s concept doesn’t explore the unsettling elements as much as some productions I’ve seen. But one thing it gets right is the role of sexual desire as a motivator for these lovers. To that end, moving the story to the 1950s, when proper young people refrained from premarital sex, and setting it in an amusement park, where the couples are on vacation, work well.”

Thursday, October 22 – Rossini’s La Cenerentola

Conducted by James Levine; starring Cecilia Bartoli, Ramón Vargas, Simone Alaimo and Alessandro Corbelli. This Cesare Lievi production is from the 1997-1998 season.

Gioachino Rossini’s opera of the Cinderella story is based on Charles Perrault’s Cendrillon. The libertto, by Jacopo Ferretti, was based on two previous libretti for operas based on the same story: Charles-Guillaume Étienne’s libretto for Nicolas Isouard’s 1810 opera Cendrillon and Francesco Fiorini’s libretto for Stefano Pavesi’s 1814 opera, Agatina o La virtú premiata. La Cenerentola had its world premiere in 1817 in Rome.

The story is exactly what you expect. After being relegated to chores around the house by her Stepmother and her Stepsisters, Cinderella dreams of going to the Prince’s ball. They mock her before leaving themselves for the event. Cinderella’s fairy godmother appears to make her dream a reality, but only if she returns by midnight.

This was the first-ever production of La Cenerentola at the Met. There was one, and truly only one, reason for them to finally mount Rossini’s opera: Cecilia Bartoli. She included an aria from the opera on her first solo album in 1989 called Rossini Arias.

Mark Swed, writing in the Los Angeles Times, said of Bartoli’s performance in this production, “Still only 31 and a singer known for her insistence on respecting the natural limits of her supple but not large voice, Bartoli remains utterly fresh-sounding. So smooth and whole is the musical line that the florid decorations of Rossini’s coloratura never seem like display but more like a cat purring.

“Remarkable as her incomparable technique may be, Bartoli also integrates the singing–and purring it seems all the more–into a complete stage persona. If the Looney Tunes artists were still at it, they would have the perfect opera cat in Bartoli. She has a feline sense of surprising movement. Her attention is bright and seems scaled to the micro-second. She simply owns the stage, the way a cat owns its surroundings.”

Friday, October 23 – Verdi’s Falstaff

Conducted by James Levine; starring Mirella Freni, Barbara Bonney, Marilyn Horne, Bruno Pola and Paul Plishka. This revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s 1964 production is from the 1992-1993 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on July 24th.

Two of Shakespeare’s play served as the inspiration for Verdi’s Falstaff: The Merry Wives of Windsor and sections from Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. Arrigo Boito adapted the plays to create the libretto. Falstaff had its world premiere in 1893 at La Scala in Milan. This was Verdi’s final opera and only his second comedic opera.

Simply put, Sir John Falstaff tries everything he can to woo two married woman so he can assume their husband’s vast fortunes. He’s rather bumbling in his efforts and the machinations in place to thwart his endeavors leave him with nothing short of a major comeuppance.

Edward Rothstein, writing for The New York Times, seemed to thoroughly enjoy the production. And he was very pleased with Plishka’s performance as the title character:

“Mr. Plishka gave the role an almost touchingly human quality. In the astonishing first scene aria, in which Falstaff declares his ambitions, mocks the idea of honor and praises his belly, there were few mannerisms or exaggerations. Mr. Plishka played it straight; he was a Falstaff almost enticingly full of himself. His voice was not often handsome (why should it have been?) but it was large, weighty and in character.”

Saturday, October 24 – Rossini’s Le Comte Ory

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 16th and September 15th.

Gioachino Rossini’s Le Comte Ory had its world premiere in Paris in 1828. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and Charles-Gaspard Delestre-Poirson who adapted a play they had written eleven years earlier. Rossini used some of the music he had composed for Il Viaggio a Reims, performed at the the coronation of Charles X, in this opera.

Count Ory and his companion Raimbaud disguise themselves as hermits to seduce women left behind during the Crusades while the men went to the Holy Land. The women are on their own. Lady Ragonde takes charge of Formoutiers castle and looks after Adèle, the sister of the castle’s lord. Ory and Raimbaud offer their assistance, but obviously have something else on their minds.

This was the very first production of Le Comte Ory at the Met. All three leads had previously appeared together in Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia under Sher’s direction four years earlier. 

Here Sher uses an opera-within-an-opera conceit. It was one that Anthony Tommasini of the New York Times did not expect to like, “Nothing in Ory invites an opera-within-an-opera concept. Still, Rossini artificially turned two unrelated pieces into a completely reconceived opera, so the artifice of Mr. Sher’s staging is somehow resonant. Moreover, for all the antics, Mr. Sher takes Rossini’s characters and their romantic entanglements seriously and coaxes precise, nuanced performances from his gifted cast.”

Sunday, October 25 – Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier

Conducted by Sebastian Weigle; starring Renée Fleming, Elīna Garanča, Erin Morley, Matthew Polenzani, Marcus Brück and Günther Groissböck. This Robert Carsen production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on April 19th.

It was in Dresden in 1911 that the world was first introduced to Richard Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. The libretto was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Two sources served as inspiration for the opera: Moliere’s Monsieur de Pourceaugnac and the novel Les amours du chevalier de Fabulas by Louvet de Courvai.

Several relationships are tested in this comic opera. The Marschallin, having an affair with Octavian, a much younger count, feels that her age is becoming an issue not just for him, but for her. Baron Ochs is engaged to Sophie and he asks Octavian to deliver the customary silver rose to his bride-to-be. She, however, falls in love with Octavian. What will it take to sort out real love and who will find themselves together and who will be alone at the end of the opera?

With this production, Fleming retired the role of Marschallin from her repertoire as she gradually made her exit from full productions. Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, closed his review by stating, “Der Rosenkavalier is not just about the passage of time and aging, but also about the importance of knowing when to let something, or even someone, go — in all stages of life. Ms. Fleming may be letting go of opera productions. We’ll see. Predictability is not a significant component of diva DNA. But she can look forward to many years of concerts and other artistic projects. And she sang beautifully on this milestone night for her, and for opera.”

That’s the full line-up for Week 32 at the Met. Next week the theme will be Politics in Opera (befitting a week prior to our elections.) Have fun with this week’s operas and enjoy your week.

Photo: Cecilia Bartoli in La Cenerentola (Photo courtesy of Met Opera Archives)

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