Here are my Best Bets: October 28th – November 3rd:

JOAN – South Coast Repertory – Costa Mesa, CA – Now – November 24^th

Playwright Daniel Goldstein’s play, having its world premiere at SCR, is about Joan Rivers. The play looks at both the professional and personal life of the woman who made outrageous jokes and suffered enormous tragedies.

Tessa Auberjonois, who has appeared in nearly a dozen other productions at South Coast Rep, takes on the dual roles of Joan and Mrs. Molinsky. Andrew Borba plays multiple roles including Dr. Molinsky, Edgar Rosenberg and Johnny Carson. Elinor Gunn plays Melissa (her daughter) and Young Joan. Zachary Prince plays at least five roles including Jimmy, Blake, Harold and Chet.

David Ivers directs. Opening night is November 1^st. The show is recommended for audiences age 16 and older.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE – Frogtown area of Los Angeles – October 28^th – October 30^th/Venice, CA – November 1^st – November 3^rd

Tennessee Williams’ classic play has been performed more times around the world than one could possibly calculate. So there must be something unique about this production to warrant inclusion in our best bets. And there is.

Four actors, without a set or props, perform the unabridged text of A Streetcar Named Desire in unique locations. These are fully realized performances, not a reading. By all accounts of previous performances on the East Coast, this is a production not-to-be-missed.

Williams’ poetic language will be front and center in this production. Might it lead to a new understanding of Streetcar? There’s only one way to find out. 

Co-creator Lucy Owen plays Blanche DuBois. Brad Koed is Stanley Kowalski. Mallory Portnoy is Stella DuBois. James Russell plays Harold Mitchell. Co-creator Nick Westrate directs.

For tickets and more information for the Frogtown dates, please go here. For the Venice dates, please go here.

STRIKE UP THE BAND – MasterVoices – Carnegie Hall – New York, NY –  October 29^th

George and Ira Gershwin’s 1927 musical had a rocky start. It played in Philadelphia but didn’t make it to Broadway until 1930 when the original book, by George S. Kaufman, was revised by Morrie Ryskind. Many songs appear in both versions, but there are differences.

MasterVoices Artistic Director Ted Sperling has collaborated with writer Laurence Maslon to create a new version which combines “the best of the 1927 and 1930 version for the show.”

Joining MasterVoices are Shereen Ahmed, Phillip Attmore, Victoria Clark, Lissa deGuzman, Claybourne Elder, Christopher Fitzgerald, Bryce Pinkham and David Pittu.

This is precisely the kind of one night only events in New York that makes any serious fan of musical theater and/or the Gershwins wished they lived there.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

DÍA DE LOS MUERTOS WITH DUDAMEL – Walt Disney Concert Hall – Los Angeles, CA –  November 1^st – November 3^rd

Latin American music is on the program for these three concerts celebrating Día de Muertos. 

Brazilian composer Villa-Lobos’ Chôros No. 10, “Rasga o Coração” opens the concert. That is followed by Yanga by Gabriela Ortiz – a work that was commissioned by the LA Phil and had its world premiere performance in 2019.

The second half of the program, and my personal favorite, is La noche de los Mayas by Silvestre Revueltas.

Joining Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic are the Tambuco Percussion Ensemble and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.

For tickets and more information, please go here.

LAND OF GOLD – PBS Great Performances – November 1^st (check local listings)

This is a behind-the-scenes documentary into the premiere of John Adams’ opera Girls of the Golden West which has a libretto by Peter Sellars. The premiere took place at San Francisco Opera in November 2017.

Appearing in this 90-minute documentary are Adams, Sellars and singers Paul Appleby, J’Nai Bridges and Julia Bullock.

The world premiere of any opera is a daunting task. This documentary allows viewers to get a sense of how demanding it is, particularly when you are putting a more honest spin on a part of history.

Check your local listings or go to PBS.org to watch Land of Gold.

That completes my Best Bets: October 28th – November 3rd. Enjoy your week!

Main Photo: Concept art for MasterVoices’ Strike Up the Band (Courtesy MasterVoices)

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As you might expect for a series tied to podcasts, most of this week’s productions are from recent seasons. Most of the operas come from 2018-2020. There is one notable exception: the 2014-2015 season production of Verdi’s Macbeth.

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 31st, you’ll still have time to see the 2010-2011 season production of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory that was part of Rare Gems week.

Here is the full line-up of rare gems for Week 64 at the Met:

Monday, May 31 – Puccini’s Turandot – 4th Showing

Conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin; starring Christine Goerke, Eleonora Buratto, Yusif Eyvazov and James Morris. This revival of the 1987 Franco Zeffirelli production from the 2019-2020 season.

Puccini’s opera had its world premiere in 1926 in Milan. The libretto was written by Guiseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. The composer died two years before its premiere and the opera was completed by Franco Alfani.

Set in China, Turandot tells the story of Prince Calaf who has fallen in love with the title princess. She, however, isn’t very interested in him. In order for any man to marry Turandot, he is required to correctly answer three riddles. Should any answer be wrong, the suitor is put to death. Calaf is successful, but Turandot remains opposed to their marriage. He strikes a deal with her that will either lead to their marriage or his death. 

Anthony Tommasini wrote in the New York Times about this production:

“Mr. Nézet-Séguin led an exciting and insightful account of Puccini’s Turandot, a revival of Franco Zeffirelli’s glittering, over-the-top and popular 1987 production. The strong cast was headed by the blazing soprano Christine Goerke as Puccini’s icy Princess Turandot, the ardent tenor Yusif Eyvazov as Calaf, and the plush-voiced soprano Eleonora Buratto as Liù. The chorus, during the crowd scenes, sounded superb.”

Tuesday, June 1 – Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Sir Mark Elder; starring Elīna Garanča, Roberto Alagna, Laurent Naouri, Elchin Azizov and Dmitry Belosselskiy. This Darko Tresnjak production is from the 2018-2019 season.

The biblical tale of Samson and Delilah serves as the inspiration for Saint-Saëns’s opera. With a libretto by Ferdinand Lemaire, Samson et Dalila had its world premiere in Weimar in 1877. Franz Liszt, who previously served as the Music Director at Weimar, was instrumental in getting the opera its world premiere there.

When the governor of the Philistines, Abimelech, belittles the Hebrews into believing that they are helpless to his power and that of the temple of Dagon. Everyone believes him except Samson, who leads a rebellion against Abimelech and kills him. He meets Dalila who tells Samson that his accomplishments have wooed her and that she’s in love with him. Though others try to warn him about Dalila, he succumbs to her charms. But is she truly in love with Samson or does she have other ideas in mind?

This production marked the Metropolitan Opera debut of director Tresnjak who is best known for his work on Broadway with such shows as A Gentlemen’s Guide to Love and Murder (for which he won a Tony Award) and the musical Anastasia. He directed LA Opera’s award-winning production of John Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles.

Wednesday, June 2 – Bizet’s Carmen – 2nd Showing

Conducted by Louis Langrée; starring Aleksandra Kurzak, Clémentine Margaine, Roberto Alagna and Alexander Vinogradov. This revival of Richard Eyre’s 2009 production is from the 2018-2019 season. 

Georges Bizet collaborated with librettists Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy on this immensely popular opera. It was based on Propser Mérimée’s novella of the same name. 

When Carmen was first performed in Paris in 1875 it was considered both shocking and scandalous. 

Set in Seville, Spain, Carmen is a gypsy who has caught everyone’s eye. A soldier, Don José, plays coy and gives her no attention. Her flirtation causes troubles for both when Don José’s girlfriend, Micaëla arrives. Tensions escalate between the two women and after a knight fight, José must arrest Carmen. When she seduces him it sets off a series of events that will not end well for the gypsy woman.

Margaine made her Met Opera debut in the 2017 revival of this production of Carmen. She had not been announced to open the production, but assumed the part in true understudy form when Sophie Koch took ill. Margaine had been scheduled to take on the role later in the run.

Of her return to the role in this production, Zachary Woolfe in the New York Times said, “Anchoring the performance was the mezzo Clémentine Margaine, arrestingly stern and articulate in the title role. Her voice doesn’t bloom, but it darkly insinuates, like a clarinet. And she portrays a disconcertingly changeable, mordant yet (seemingly genuinely) hopeful Carmen, rising to stony grandeur in the final duet.”

Thursday, June 3 – Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment – 2nd Showing

Conducted by Enrique Mazzola; starring Pretty Yende, Stephanie Blythe, Kathleen Turner, Javier Camarena and Maurizio Muraro. This revival of the 2008 Laurent Pelly production is from the 2018-2019 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?

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.” In this production Camarena did this so effortlessly he was allowed an encore to do a second pass at the aria and another nine high C’s.

While Anthony Tommasini did rave about Camarena’s high C’s, he also thought the chemistry between Yende and Camarena worked well, as he said in his New York Times review:

“Ms. Yende and Mr. Camarena treat the story seriously, without a trace of mugging or winking. They were adorable during scenes of budding romance. Complications ensue when the Marquise of Berkenfield, here the commanding mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, realizes that Marie is the daughter she abandoned at birth to avoid scandal, and hauls her off to teach her ladylike behavior. But young love wins out.”

Friday, June 4 – The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess – 5th Showing

Conducted by David Robertson; starring Angel Blue, Golda Schultz, Latonia Moore, Denyce Graves, Frederick Ballentine, Eric Owens, Alfred Walker and Donovan Singletary. This James Robinson production is from the 2019-2020 season. 

DuBose Heyward’s 1925 novel, Porgy, was the inspiration for a play written by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward. That play served as the inspiration for this opera by George Gershwin with a libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin. Porgy and Bess had its world premiere in 1935 at Boston’s Colonial Theatre.

In the opera, Porgy lives in Charleston’s slums. He’s disabled and spends his time begging. He is enamored with Bess and does everything he can to rescue her from an abusive lover, Crown and a far-too-seductive drug dealer, Sportin’ Life.

If you saw the Broadway version which went by the name The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, that was a truncated version and it was also modified to fit more contemporary times. The Metropolitan Opera production is the full opera as originally written by George Gershwin, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin.

Gershwin’s score features such beloved songs as Summertime, I Loves You Porgy and It Ain’t Necessarily So.

Anthony Tommasini, writing for the New York Times, raved about the production and, in particular, its two stars:

“As Porgy, the magnificent bass-baritone Eric Owens gives one of the finest performances of his distinguished career. His powerful voice, with its earthy textures and resonant sound, is ideal for the role. His sensitivity into the layered feelings and conflicts that drive his character made even the most familiar moments of the music seem startlingly fresh. And, as Bess, the sumptuously voiced soprano Angel Blue is radiant, capturing both the pride and fragility of the character.”

Saturday, June 5 – Verdi’s Macbeth – 3rd Showing

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Anna Netrebko, Joseph Calleja, Željko Lučić and René Pape. This revival of Adrian Noble’s 2007 production is from the 2014-2015 season.

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.

This production marked the first time Netrebko had sung the role of Lady Macbeth at the Met. Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, set up the challenges she was facing:

“…the lead soprano role in Verdi’s Macbeth is not just a daunting challenge. For Ms. Netrebko, who turned 43 last week, it represents a shift from the lyric soprano and bel canto roles with which she made her reputation to vocally weightier repertory. Lady Macbeth is particularly risky and demanding.”

He was more than pleased with the result. “The years that Ms. Netrebko spent singing bel canto heroines paid off here in the skillful way she dispatched the trills and runs that Verdi folds into the vocal lines. One such place is the Act II banquet scene after Macbeth, having murdered King Duncan, has been proclaimed the new monarch. Lady Macbeth sings a drinking song, a brindisi, inviting the guests to join in a toast. Yet there was something eerily malevolent in the way this Lady Macbeth tossed off the song with insistent good cheer. Wearing a ruby red evening gown, her eyes wild, Ms. Netrebko almost willed her guests into having a good time, or else.”

Sunday, June 6 – Philip Glass’s Akhnaten – 5th Showing

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.

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. 

That’s the complete line-up for Week 64 at the Met. Next week the theme is Updated Settings for Classic Operas.

Enjoy your week! Enjoy the operas!

Photo: J’Nai Bridges, Anthony Roth Costanzo and Dísella Lárusdóttir in Akhnaten. (Photo by Karen Almond/Courtesy Met Opera)

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Amongst the stars performing in this week’s productions are Kathleen Battle, Angel Blue, Lawrence Brownlee, Maria Ewing, Denyce Graves, Jessye Norman, Eric Owens, Florence Quivar, Leontyne Price and Shirley Verrett.

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 February 1st, you might still have time to catch the 2007-2008 production of Macbeth by Giuseppe Verdi that concludes The Antiheroes week.

Here’s the full line-up for Week 47 at the Met:

Monday, February 1 – The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess

Conducted by David Robertson; starring Angel Blue, Golda Schultz, Latonia Moore, Denyce Graves, Frederick Ballentine, Eric Owens, Alfred Walker and Donovan Singletary. This James Robinson production is from the 2019-2020 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on September 5th and 6th and December 11th.

DuBose Heyward’s 1925 novel, Porgy, was the inspiration for a play written by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward. That play served as the inspiration for this opera by George Gershwin with a libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin. Porgy and Bess had its world premiere in 1935 at Boston’s Colonial Theatre.

In the opera, Porgy lives in Charleston’s slums. He’s disabled and spends his time begging. He is enamored with Bess and does everything he can to rescue her from an abusive lover, Crown and a far-too-seductive drug dealer, Sportin’ Life.

If you saw the Broadway version which went by the name The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, that was a truncated version and it was also modified to fit more contemporary times. The Metropolitan Opera production is the full opera as originally written by George Gershwin, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin.

Gershwin’s score features such beloved songs as Summertime, I Loves You Porgy and It Ain’t Necessarily So.

Anthony Tommasini, writing for the New York Times, raved about the production and, in particular, its two stars:

“As Porgy, the magnificent bass-baritone Eric Owens gives one of the finest performances of his distinguished career. His powerful voice, with its earthy textures and resonant sound, is ideal for the role. His sensitivity into the layered feelings and conflicts that drive his character made even the most familiar moments of the music seem startlingly fresh. And, as Bess, the sumptuously voiced soprano Angel Blue is radiant, capturing both the pride and fragility of the character.”

Tuesday, February 2 – Verdi’s La Forza del Destino

Conducted by James Levine; starring Leontyne Price, Giuseppe Giacomini, Leo Nucci and Bonaldo Giaiotti. This John Dexter production is from the 1983-1984 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on June 18th and 19th and November 6th.

This frequently performed Verdi opera had its world premiere in 1862 in St. Petersburg, Russia. The libretto is by Francesco Maria Piave, based on an 1835 Spanish drama, Don Álvaro o la fuerza del sino by Ángel de Saavedra.

Leonora is the daughter of the Marquis of Calatrava. She falls in love with Don Alvaro, but her father is dead-set against their getting married. A tragedy befalls all three leaving Leonora to find solace in a monastery.

This was one of Price’s greatest roles throughout her career. Bernard Holland, writing in the New York Times, raved about her performance.

“This was truly Miss Price’s evening. There were some jolting shifts of register, and Miss Price must protect her fragile upper notes with tender care; but her dramatic presence on stage and the overall impact of her singing went far beyond matters of technique. ‘Madre, pietosa Vergine’ had a stunning muted eloquence, and ‘Pace, pace, mio Dio!’ at the end had a sonorous beauty and power of communication that this listener – and I think everyone else in attendance – will think back upon for many years to come.”

Wednesday, February 3 – Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites

Conducted by Manuel Rosenthal; starring Maria Ewing, Jessye Norman, Betsy Norden, Régine Crespin and Florence Quivar. This John Dexter production is from the 1986-1987 season. 

Francis Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites had its world premiere in 1957 at La Scala in Milan. The composer wrote the libretto based on a rejected screenplay by Georges Bernanos.

The setting is France during the French Revolution. Blanche de la Force, who is impossibly shy and fragile, wants to retreat from all that is going on in the world and chooses a Carmelite monastery. The prioress tells her that a monastery is a place for devotion to God, not escape from the world. Blanche convinces her to let her stay. What happens to Blanche and the other nuns proves not to be the escape she was hoping for.

Will Crutchfield, in his New York Times review, said of this production, “The revival is cast from strength: the Carmelite sisters are being played by Maria Ewing, Jessye Norman, Florence Quivar, Regine Crespin and Betsy Norden. It has always been easy to get good singers interested in this work…This is not because the opera is old-fashioned. It is a severe drama of the spirit; its questions are not of romantic passion or political freedom but of the relationship of these nuns to their vows, to God, to one another and to their consciences as they face a terrible fate in Revolutionary France. There are no star turns, no big vocal payoffs, yet the writing is essentially vocal in the sense of treating the human voice with love and respect. It does not ask singers to degrade their art, even though it does ask them to cede a part of it: there is a lesson here for willing composers.”

Thursday, February 4 – Rossini’s La Cenerentola

Conducted by Maurizio Benini; starring Elīna Garanča, Lawrence Brownlee, Simone Alberghini, Alessandro Corbelli and John Relyea. This revival of Cesare Lievi’s 1997 production is from the 2008-2009 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was made available on July 17th and September 17th.

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 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.

In Steve Smith’s New York Times review of this production he raved about Brownlee. “As Don Ramiro, the Prince Charming of the tale, the young American tenor Lawrence Brownlee was outstanding, with a sweet sound, impressive agility, ringing high notes and a smile that resonated to the core of his interpretation. Mr. Brownlee’s performance of the prince’s big aria, ‘Si, Ritrovarla Io Giuro,’ drew the evening’s most rousing applause.”

Friday, February 5 – Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro

Conducted by James Levine; starring Carol Vaness, Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, Thomas Allen and Ruggero Raimondi. This Jean-Pierre Ponnelle production is from the 1985-1986 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.

In his New York Times review, Donal Henahan seemed particularly impressed with Battle. “The greatest strength of this performance lay in its pair of servant lovers, Kathleen Battle as Susanna and Ruggero Raimondi as Figaro, with Frederica von Stade’s Cherubino and Carol Vaness’s Countess adding vocal quality to a cast that had its weak spots. Miss Battle’s spring-water soprano and pert acting were a delight all evening, and her last-act aria, ‘Deh vieni, non tardar,’ caught Susanna’s whole character in one affecting moment.”

Saturday, February 6 – Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos

Conducted by James Levine; starring Jessye Norman, Kathleen Battle and Tatiana Troyanos. This revival of Bodo Igesz’s 1962 production is from the 1987-1988 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously available on May 13th and December 5th.

Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos had its world premiere in Stuttgart in 1912. The libretto is by Hugo von Hofmannsthal.

This is really an opera-within-an-opera. Two different sets of performers have been brought together at the home of a rich man. One group is a serious ensemble of opera singers who embrace the highest of dramatic operas. The other is a group of comedians who are set on acting out an Italian comedy. Their host, seeing that time is quickly running out, asks them to perform their separate works together.

Donal Henahan had some fun with his review of this production in the New York Times. “Jessye Norman, as the monumentally offended Prima Donna, played Ariadne with a dignified horror that put one in mind of Margaret Dumont trying to ignore a particularly egregious Groucho caper.

“Miss Norman, pacing herself a bit too obviously, as she often does, muted her glorious soprano early in the evening. However, she allowed it to expand to Wagnerian proportions in the final duet a purple-passioned caricature of the High Romantic style. Miss Battle gave a strangely reticent performance, singing half voice much of the time, most frustratingly in Zerbinetta’s coloratura showpiece, ‘Grossmachtige Prinzessin.’ In this aria, one of the most strenuous 10 minutes in all of opera for a light soprano, Miss Battle sang with supple accuracy and grace but rarely with the cutting brilliance and clarity of a true Zerbinetta. One had to conclude that she was either out of sorts or purposely saving voice.”

Sunday, February 7 – Puccini’s Tosca

Conducted by James Conlon; starring Shirley Verrett, Luciano Pavarotti and Cornell MacNeil. This Tito Gobbi production is from the 1978-1979 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on June 4th and December 29th.

It is quite likely that Puccini’s Tosca was the first opera to premiere in 1900. Its first performance was on January 14 in Rome. Based on Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name, Tosca‘s libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

The setting for Tosca is Rome in 1800. The Napoleonic wars were raging and political unrest was omnipresent. The opera takes place over the course of slightly less than 24 hours. Floria Tosca is the object of Chief of Police Baron Scarpia’s lust. He uses suspicions that her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, aided a political prisoner who has escaped as an opportunity to get him out of his way which will leave Tosca for himself. After capturing Cavaradossi, Scarpia says that if Tosca doesn’t become his lover, he will have Cavaradossi killed.

Donal Henahan, in his New York Times review, praised Verrett’s singing. “Miss Verrett, in appearance the most persuasively starlike Floria Tosca the Met has offered in years, also succeeded in satisfying the purely vocal demands of her role. There was little strain anywhere, and many passages of extraordinarily fine, intelligently nuanced singing.”

He went on to say about Pavarotti, “Mr. Pavarotti, though a bit thin of voice in such outpourings as ‘Recondite armonia,’ pitched himself into the action, vocally and theatrically, with his usual infectious enthusiasm. Puccini is notoriously hard on voices—perhaps more so than Verdi or even Wagner— and Mr. Pavarotti is taking a calculated risk in moving into emotionally heavy and tone‐shredding roles. But his ‘Vittoria!’ rang out excitingly, without sounding strident, and in the lyrical passages he was nothing less than glorious. Bravissimo is not good enough for such singing. How about pavarotissimo?”

That concludes Week 47 at the Met and the first week of their Black History Month series. Next week the Metropolitan Opera continues their celebration of Black History Month with a second week in this series.

Enjoy your week and enjoy the operas!

Photo: Shirley Verrett and Luciano Pavarotti in Tosca (Photo courtesy Met Opera Archives)

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There are five programs in Lyrics & Lyricists: Preludes. All five will begin at 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT.

October 26th: George Gershwin – Bidin’ My Time

Songs written by George and Ira Gershwin will be performed amidst excerpts from letters between the two brothers, archival interviews and other correspondence from friends like pianist Oscar Levant (An American in Paris) and Kay Swift.

The songs will include Embraceable You and Our Love Is Here to Stay. The performers will be Farah Alvin, Allison Blackwell, James T. Lane, Kara Lindsay and Zachary Prince.

November 9th: Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt: Simple Little Things

The longest running musical in history is the Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt musical The Fantasticks. The little off-Broadway show opened in 1960 and ran for 17,162 performances before finally closing on January 13, 2002. The musical introduced to the world the song Try to Remember.

Their other shows include 110 in the Shade (which debuted on Broadway in 1963 and was most recently revived in 2007 with Audra McDonald), 1966’s I Do! I Do! (a two-character musical that opened with Mary Martin and Robert Preston) and 1969’s Celebration.

November 23rd: Rodgers, Rodgers, and Guettel: Statues and Stories

This is a true family affair part of Broadway. Richard Rodgers, best known for his collaborations with Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II was composer Mary Rodgers’ father. She was Adam Guettel’s mother.

Richard Rodgers is known for the musicals On Your Toes, Babes in Arms, Pal Joey, Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music (and that’s a partial list).

Mary Rodgers is best known for Once Upon a Mattress and had songs/music featured in From A to Z, Working, The Madwoman of Central Park West and Side By Side by Sondheim.

Of Sondheim, he has said that the most autobiographical song he’s ever written is Opening Doors from Merrily We Roll Along which reflects how he, Harold Prince and Mary Rodgers all embarked on careers in the theatre.

Adam Guettel is the Tony Award-winning composer of The Light in the Piazza. He wrote the incidental music for the Broadway production of To Kill a Mockingbird. He’s also the creator of the song cycle Myths and Hymns and the musical Floyd Collins.

December 7th: Jule Styne and His Many Lyricists: Distant Melody

Many composers find the perfect lyricist and stick with them throughout the bulk of their career. Jule Styne, a two-time Tony Award winner, was the composer of such shows as Gypsy, Funny Girl, Do Re Mi, Subways Are For Sleeping and Hallelujah Baby! (His Tony Awards came for Hallelujah Baby). And he had many lyricists throughout his career.

His lyricists includied Sammy Cahn, Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Bob Merrill, Leo Rubin and Stephen Sondheim.

Though he didn’t win a Tony for Gypsy or Funny Girl, those two shows remain his most important musicals and the most celebrated.

December 14th: The Theme From…: Songs Written for Film

Many of the songs we cherish today were introduced to us in the films for which they were written. It’s a list that includes The Way We Were, Moon River, Over the Rainbow, The ManThat Got Away and The Windmills Of Your Mind.

The songs being performed and discussed in this show haven’t been released, but count on many of the most popular songs from movies to be included.

In addition to the announced performers for Bidin’ My Time, the talent line-up the subsequent shows will feature Nikki Renée Daniels, Katherine Henley, Jeff Kready, Telly Leung, Paul Masse, Julia Murney, Zachary Noah Pisner, Pearl Sun and Mariand Torres.

This series is perfect for those who both want to hear the work of these amazing songwriters, but also want a deeper dive into the creators themselves.

Tickets for individual shows are $15 or you can purchase all 5 for $60.

Photo: Adam Guettel (Courtesy AdamGuettel.com)

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I suppose one could also argue that an opera that wasn’t seen until 2004 isn’t truly a 20th Century classic, but what is four years amongst opera aficionados?

This week’s programming reflects a departure from the Metropolitan Opera norms as one opera, Gershwins’s Porgy and Bess, will be available for two days instead of just one.

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 so you’ll have to go past those promos to find the streaming productions. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

If you read this preview early enough on Monday, August 31st, you might still have time to catch the 2013-2014 season production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Falstaff.

Here’s the full line-up for Week 25 at the Met:

Monday, August 31 – R. Strauss’s Elektra

Conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen; starring Nina Stemme, Adrianne Pieczonka, Waltraud Meier, Burkhard Ulrich and Eric Owens. This Patrice Chéreau production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was streamed on April 20th.

Richard Strauss’s Elektra had its world premiere in Dresden in 1909. The libretto was written by Hugo von Hofmannsthal and was based on his 1903 drama of the same name.

For a one-act opera, Elektra has a tangled web of intrigue at its core. Simply put, Elektra is enraged by the murder of her father, King Agamemnon. Elektra’s mother, Klytämnestra, convinced her lover, Aegisth, to kill her husband. Once Elektra finds out, she is out for nothing short of total revenge and enlists her brother, Orest, to kill their mother.

When Elektra was first presented, critics were deeply divided. Perhaps none more so than Ernest Newman, then London’s most important former music critic and playwright George Bernard Shaw. Newman found the opera abhorrent. Shaw fiercely defended it. Their argument about the merits of Strauss’s opera were published in a series of letters in The Nation.

Of this production, The New York Times‘ Anthony Tommasini said, “…nothing prepared me for the seething intensity, psychological insight and sheer theatrical inventiveness of this production on Thursday night, conducted by the brilliant Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mr. Chéreau’s partner in this venture from the start. A superb cast is headed by the smoldering soprano Nina Stemme in the title role.”

Tuesday, September 1 – Britten’s Peter Grimes

Conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles; starring Patricia Racette, Anthony Dean Griffey and Anthony Michaels-Moore. This John Doyle production is from the 2007-2008 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was streamed on May 14th.

Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes had its world premiere in London in 1945. The libretto was written by Montagu Slater who based it on a poem in The Borough by George Crabbe.

In Peter Grimes, the title character is facing intense questioning after his apprentice has died. The townsfolk believe him to be responsible, the coroner rules he was not. Shortly afterward, Grimes recruits another apprentice, John. Ellen, the only person in town who believes Grimes, later finds herself questioning Grimes when she finds that John has intense bruising on his neck. Word spreads quickly about the boy’s injuries and the people in town want an investigation. What follows is tragic on multiple levels.

The title role was written by Benjamin Britten for his partner, Peter Pears. In the mid 60s, Jon Vickers’s performance has been considered definitive for quite some time.

John Doyle, best known for his minimalist productions of Stephen Sondheim musicals, made his Met Opera debut with this production of Peter Grimes. Griffey, having sung this opera a few times before this production, finally found his way into a lead role at the Met.

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, found some unique qualities in how Griffey tackled the part: “Mr. Griffey, even though his voice has heft and carrying power, is essentially a lyric tenor. And it is disarming to hear the role sung with such vocal grace, even sweetness in places. Every word of his diction is clear. You sense Grimes’s dreamy side struggling to emerge. The moments of gentleness, though, make Mr. Griffey’s impulsive fits of hostility, his bursts of raw vocal power, seem even more threatening.”

Wednesday, September 2 – John Adams’s Nixon in China

Conducted by John Adams; starring Kathleen Kim, Janis Kelly, Robert Brubaker, Russell Braun, James Maddalena and Richard Paul Fink. This Peter Sellars production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that streamed on April 1st.

Nixon in China had its world premiere in Houston in 1987 in a production directed by Peter Sellars. Inspired by President Nixon’s trip to China in 1972, the opera features a libretto by Alice Goodman.

It was wholly unlikely that someone as anti-Communist as Nixon would make a trip to China. That trip forged new relations between the two countries and helped thaw the icy relationship the United States had with the then Soviet Union. Nixon and his wife Pat, Chou En-lai, Mao Tse-tung, Henry Kissinger and Madame Mao all play prominent roles in the opera.

This 2011 production, while a Met debut for Nixon in China, was not the New York debut of the opera. It was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in 1987 following its premiere in Houston. Critical reaction upon its premiere was quite mixed. By the time this production (which founds Sellars revisiting his original work and that of a 2006 revival), Anthony Tommasini in the New York Times called it an “audacious and moving opera.”

Thursday, September 3 – Berg’s Lulu

Conducted by Lothar Koenigs; starring Marlis Petersen, Susan Graham, Daniel Brenna, Paul Groves, Johan Reuter and Franz Grundheber. This William Kentridge production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that streamed on June 2nd.

Alban Berg used two Frank Wedekind plays, Erdgeist and Die Büchse der Pandora, as the inspiration for this opera. The plays were both about the title character, Lulu. The composer died before finishing the final act of the opera. It’s debut in 1937 in Zurich was of the incomplete opera. In 1979 Friedrich Cerha’s orchestration of the act 3 sketches were added to the work Berg had completed and that version is commonly performed.

Lulu (Petersen) is the engineer of her own destruction. She’s a mysterious young woman whose fall from grace is depicted over the course of three acts.

Kentridge received wide praise from audiences and critics alike. What drew many people to this particular production was that soprano Petersen, who had performed Lulu for nearly twenty years, retired the role after these performances at the Met.

Friday, September 4 and Saturday, September 5th – The Gershwins’s Porgy & Bess

Conducted by David Robertson; starring Angel Blue, Golda Schultz, Latonia Moore, Denyce Graves, Frederick Ballentine, Eric Owens, Alfred Walker and Donovan Singletary. This James Robinson production is from the 2019-2020 season.

DuBose Heyward’s 1925 novel, Porgy, was the inspiration for a play written by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward. That play served as the inspiration for this opera by George Gershwin with a libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin. Porgy and Bess had its world premiere in 1935 at Boston’s Colonial Theatre.

In the opera, Porgy lives in Charleston’s slums. He’s disabled and spends his time begging. He is enamored with Bess and does everything he can to rescue her from an abusive lover, Crown and a far-too-seductive drug dealer, Sportin’ Life.

If you saw the Broadway version which went by the name The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, that was a truncated version and it was also modified to fit more contemporary times. The Metropolitan Opera production is the full opera as originally written by George Gershwin, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin.

Gershwin’s score features such beloved songs as Summertime, I Loves You Porgy and It Ain’t Necessarily So.

Anthony Tommasini, writing for the New York Times raved about the production and, in particular, its two stars:

“As Porgy, the magnificent bass-baritone Eric Owens gives one of the finest performances of his distinguished career. His powerful voice, with its earthy textures and resonant sound, is ideal for the role. His sensitivity into the layered feelings and conflicts that drive his character made even the most familiar moments of the music seem startlingly fresh. And, as Bess, the sumptuously voiced soprano Angel Blue is radiant, capturing both the pride and fragility of the character.”

Sunday, September 6 – Thomas Adès’s The Tempest

Conducted by Thomas Adès; starring Audrey Luna, Isabel Leonard, Alek Shrader, Alan Oke and Simon Keenlyside. This Robert Lepage production is from the 2012-2013 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that streamed on May 12th.

The Tempest by Thomas Adés had its world premiere in London in 2004. The libretto, by Meredith Oakes, is inspired by William Shakespeare’s play, but is not slave to it. There are differences.

The Duke of Milan, Prospero, has been exiled and with his daughter, Miranda, they have been set to sea. They ultimately land on an island filled with spirits. Amongst those spirits are Ariel and the monster, Caliban. Prospero, who has magical powers, causes a ship carrying the King of Naples and his son Ferdinand to wreck during a storm Prospero created. Relations both personal and professional collide leaving each of the participants changed and one of the characters alone in the island.

Between its London premiere and its debut at the Met in 2012, there had already been four other productions of The Tempest. Few contemporary operas get that many productions in so short a period of time.

Alex Ross, writing for The New Yorker, said of Adés’ opera (one of at least fifty operas based on Shakespeare’s play), “The Tempest is the opposite of a disappointment; it is a masterpiece of airy beauty and eerie power. As if on schedule, Adès, at thirty-two, is now the major artist that his earliest works promised he would become.”

That’s a wrap on Week 25 at the Met. Next week will feature all French operas.

Photo: Nina Stemme in the title role of Strauss’s Elektra. (Photo byMarty Sohl/Courtesy of the Met Opera)

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If you saw the Broadway version which went by the name The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, that was a truncated version and it was also modified to fit more contemporary times. The Metropolitan Opera production is the full opera as originally written by George Gershwin, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward and Ira Gershwin.

Porgy and Bess tells the story of a crippled beggar, Porgy (Eric Owens), who is in love with Bess (Angel Blue). The opera is set in Catfish Row, which is a tenement area of Charleston, South Carolina. The time is the 1920s. There’s a drug dealer, Sportin’ Life (Frederick Ballentine), a murder and the seductive powers of the dream of a better life. That dream comes crashing in on several characters.

Gershwin’s score features such beloved songs as Summertime, I Loves You Porgy and It Ain’t Necessarily So.

Golda Schultz sings the role of Clara. Latonia Moore is Serena, Denyce Graves is Maria, Alfred Walker is Crown and Donovan Singletary is Jake. Conducting the production is David Robertson.

If you can’t make it to New York, there will be a Live in HD screening around the world of the last performance on February 1st.

Photo: Angel Blue as Bess and Eric Owens as Porgy in the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. (Photo by Ken Howard) Courtesy of Met Opera

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The music of George Gershwin is at the core of this movie. Gene Kelly (who also directed significant portions of the movie and choreographed the film including the stunning ballet sequence (which truly showcases both his genius as a choreographer and Gershwin’s gorgeous music.)  An American in Paris is one of the best arguments for seeing films on a big screen.

In the film Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) plays an American painter try to make a go of it in Paris. So too is his friend, Adam (Oscar Levant), a struggling pianist. A woman (Nina Foch) takes Mulligan under her wing to support him, but she is ultimately in love with him and has more than being a patron of the arts on her mind. Mulligan falls in love with Lise (Leslie Caron), a French girl he  meets at a restaurant. Unfortunately she is in a relationship with Henri (Georges Guétary) who is good friends with Adam. Who will ultimately be in love with whom? And can’t somebody love Oscar Levant?

An American in Paris makes very wise use of Gershwin’s music, both his classical repertoire (as in the piece that gives this film its title and one movement of his Concerto in F) and the songs written with his brother Ira including Our Love Is Here to Stay, I Got Rhythm and I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise.

Brett Mitchell leads the LA Philharmonic.

Of additional interest:  Patricia Kelly, Gene’s widow, recently launched in Europe a new live show called Gene Kelly: A Life In  Music. To hear music from many of his film performed live by a symphony orchestra, mixed with stories only she can tell, would be a treat for all fans of his, classic musicals and great music. Who knows, maybe that will be on the program next year at the Bowl? That would be ‘s wonderful and ‘s marvelous.

For tickets go here.

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Yazbeck began his Broadway career as a replacement newsboy in Arthur Laurents’ revival of Gypsy with Tyne Daly. He has played Billy Flynn several time in Chicago. He was Al in the revival of A Chorus Line; Tulsa in the revival of Gypsy with Patti LuPone and Gabey in the revival of On the Town. He received his first Tony Award nomination for that performance.

There may be a reason he’s in so many revivals. It isn’t just that Broadway likes to produce them. It’s where Yazbeck feels most at home – as I discovered when we spoke by phone about Gershwin, Broadway and loving simpler stories.

Not only for this concert, but you’ve done other shows celebrating Gershwin’s music. Why does his music speak to you?

I was raised as a kid with this music. It was maybe my father’s favorite music. I started dancing at four-years-old watching Fred Astaire on television. I think the first movie I saw was Shall We Dance which is where a lot of these songs we love got introduced. These were songs that were ingrained in me and made me happy in a simple way. 

Whether or not they are part of this concert, but are there specific songs that resonate most with you?

Michael approached me with the songs. He has such a library of songs that are arranged for symphony orchestras. You don’t want to mess with them because most are derived from the original arrangements. I looked at them and said, “What can I do with these and put my stamp on it and still respect it?” There’s one number I’ll throw my tap shoes on for it. A ballad I’m singing is probably my favorite Gershwin song of all time: “How Long Has This Been Going On?” I think it is underrated. It resonates with those who find a connection and felt it was there forever. I’ll do like three numbers. If he asked me to do more, I know half the repertoire in my head already.

Most of your Broadway credits are revivals of classic musicals. As a song-and-dance man, do you think you were born too late? Or do you have the opportunity, perhaps the responsibility, to keep this great work alive by doing it now?

That’s a good question. I feel like I’m devoted and the reason I’m still in this business is that very question. We want to affect an audience. I was greatly affected by this music and this style when I was younger. It had nothing to do with the 1980s.

It’s a deep question: do we embrace technology now or do we say this has a place and “children…look here!” But I think it’s embrace it. We’re all on our phones all the time. People can’t look at a video for two minutes before their mind wanders. It will be fascinating to see what happens in the future. There is room for this thing, but we need to find writers and creators who can write new material based on the simple styles we heard like Gershwin back in the day. As amazingly beautiful as their melodies and arrangements are, they were simple. Somehow we decided simple wasn’t enough.

Even your 2016 album, The Floor Above Me, is more of a celebration of older material. Do you worry about an industry, meaning Broadway, that feels like Donna Summer, Cher and now Neil Diamond are the best sources for new musical material?

Everybody wants to feel immortal. That’s my first instinct as a dancer. It’s probably wrong. I don’t know why everyone needs to feel even more acclaimed and famous later in life after they’ve had their multiple decade careers. My thing is, is there a great story? Are they going to tell it in a way that’s brand new? 

When I was in Gypsy with Tyne Daly in 1990-1991 coming to the city every day there was a magic and spark to it that isn’t around anymore. It’s about popularity and fame and “I want something in a certain way and I expect it and I’m going to get exactly what I want,” rather than buy a ticket a be completely surprised and overwhelmed by what I saw. That was the beauty of Bob Fosse or Michael Bennett – they gave the audience something to think about. We’re just spoon-feeding them what they know. 

George Gershwin said, “True music must repeat the thought and aspirations of the people and the time.” Why does his music continue to do this almost 100 years later?

I think because honestly, a lot of things don’t change or really haven’t. It’s a little scary to think about. It’s crazy how we can’t learn after 100 years. We have music like Gershwin’s “Strike Up the Band.” You have this music that has fiery, angry heartbreak under this simple joyful melody.  I think that’s why this music stands the test of time. In joy there’s darkness and vice-versa.

I learned a lot from Arthur Laurents. He said the emotional tone of Gypsy is melancholy. It was about an angry frustration under the dream that Tulsa had. But he has a fire underneath it. Nothing will stop him. On the top is bubbly joy, but underneath…If this isn’t like so much music out there that needs to be communicated. If this isn’t the heartbeat of us all. Like Gershwin. It will stand the test of time.

Photos courtesy of the Pasadena Pops

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No program called Rhapsody in Blue can happen without a performance of that work for jazz band and orchestra. Joining the Pasadena Pops to play it will be pianist Frederick Hodges.

Singer Patti Austin, who won a Grammy Award for her album Avant Gershwin, will sing several Gershwin and non-Gershwin songs.

Broadway singer and dancer Tony Yazbeck (On the Town, Gypsy) rounds out the program. We will have an interview with Tony later this week about Gershwin, his passion for the material and his career. Two years ago Yazbeck performed in a concert version of the musical Crazy For You. A revival of that musical was announced for the Ahmanson Theatre, but it never happened due to budget issues. Yazbeck would be perfect casting for that show.

There will be non-Gershwin music performed during the concert as well, but George & Ira will be where they should be…front and center.

Grounds at the LA County Arboretum open two hours prior to the start of the performance.

For tickets go here.

All photos courtesy of Pasadena Pops.

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