Our top pick this week is Heartbeat Opera’s Breathing Free, a powerful 45-minute film that is having its West Coast debut courtesy of The Broad Stage. Opera, spirituals, movement and imagery combine to explore the challenges Black men have of simply breathing without fear. I saw the film last year and can tell you this is easily one of the strongest works you’ll see all year.

If you are a fan of The Supremes and want to catch quite possibly Mary Wilson’s last performance (she passed away earlier this week), you will want to catch A Catalina Soulful Valentine fundraiser on Friday night.

It’s not all dance and topical issues this week, in fact, our first listing might find you mixing your own cocktails. Get your ice out of the freezer, get your cocktail shaker on standby and dig in!

Here are my Best Bets: February 12th – February 15th (we’re including Monday since it’s also a holiday weekend):

PLAY: Dixie’s Happy Hour – Segerstrom Center for the Arts – Now – February 21st

Dixie Longate hosting a happy hour? That will certainly have heavy emphasis on the happy. And probably on the adult side, too. Dixie, though a Southern girl at heart, has a quick wit and is never shy about sharing her thoughts.

With everything that has gone on the world since Dixie was last selling Tupperware locally, I can only imagine what she’ll have to say.

And what drinks she’ll make. I don’t believe Dixie has been in the Alabama slammer, but I bet she knows how to make a fierce one! Actually, she does have a pre-show margarita recipe to share.

There are performances every night through February 21st at 7:00 PM PST. Tickets are $35.

BALLET: Digital Program 02 – San Francisco Ballet – Now – March 3rd $29 for 72 hour access

The world premiere of Colorforms, a new work by Myles Thatcher, is featured in San Francisco Ballet’s Digital Program 02. The work, set to Variations for Vibes, Pianos and Strings by Steve Reich, seeks to illuminate the parallels between the creation and consumption of art. The film, directed by Ezra Hurwitz, was shot in multiple San Francisco locations including the War Memorial Opera House where the San Francisco Ballet regularly performs.

Opening the program is Dwight Rhoden‘s Let’s Begin at the End which features music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Philip Glass and Michael Nyman. The work was created for SF Ballet’s 2018 Unbound and had its debut on April 26th of that year.

Closing out the program is Sandpaper Ballet by Mark Morris with music by Leroy Anderson. The work was created in 1999 for San Francisco Ballet. Composer Anderson is probably best-known for having written the popular holiday song, Sleigh Ride. Sandpaper Ballet was composed in 1954.

Tickets are $29 and allow for 72 hours of streaming.

BALLET: Raymonda Act III – Royal Opera House – Now – March 14th

Marius Petipa’s ballet, Raymonda, had its world premiere in St. Petersburg in 1898 and is set to the music of Alexander Glazunov. In 1948 the Kirov Ballet revived the ballet with new choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev. This latter choreography is the one most commonly used in performances of the ballet.

Ballet star Rudolf Nureyev dance the ballet with the Kirov. He would later stage a full-length version for the Royal Ballet in 1964. Five years later he tweaked the very popular third act. It is that version that will be seen in this film which comes from a 2003 tribute to Nureyev. (The event took place ten years after his death.)

The two acts leading up to the segment being presented depicts the story of two lovers, Raymonda and Jean de Brienne who plan to get married. Unfortunately Abderman shows up at her birthday party and makes his intentions clear. Jean de Brienne does not arrive for one more day. He does arrive just in time (in Act 2) to break up Abderman’s kidnapping attempt of Raymonda. A duel ensues between the two men and Abderman is killed.

So what’s left in Act III? A big celebration. The full ballet isn’t performed as often as is this third act.

Pavel Sorokin conducts with Natalia Osipova as Raymonda and Vadim Muntagirov as Jean de Brienne.

Tickets to stream this performance are £3 which at press time equals approximately $4.15

THEATRE TALK: Virtual Halston – Cast Party Network on YouTube – February 12th – 5:00 PM EST/2:00 PM PST

Fans of the original cast of The Producers will certainly recognize Julie Halston’s guests for this week’s Virtual Halston: Cady Huffman (who originated the role of Ulla and won both the Drama Desk Award and the Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical) and Brad Oscar (who originated the role of Franz Liebkind). Oscar would later assume the role of Max Bialystock (the role Nathan Lane created) as the show continued its successful run on Broadway.

The two will be reunited on this Friday’s virtual happy hour with Halston. It’s a holiday weekend, your work is being mostly done by remote, why not mix a drink early and join in the fun?

PLAY: Yorick, La Historia de Hamlet – REDCAT – February 12th – February 14th

Hamlet’s soliloquies form the basis for this one-man show created by and starring Chilean actor Francisco Reyes. Yorick, the late court jester in Shakespeare’s play, is the narrator of Yorick, La Historia de Hamlet. Co-creator Simón Reyes wrote the script.

Joining Reyes in the performance are puppets that he manipulates. The puppets were created by Ismael Reyes.

The film is also uniquely lit by only candlelight. Music was composed by Miguel Miranda with songs by Rocío Reyes.

The work is performed in Spanish with English subtitles. There are only three showings of this highly-acclaimed film by Reyes. Friday, February 12th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST; Saturday and Sunday at 6:00 PM EST/3:00 PM PST. Tickets range from $8 for students up to $15 for general admission.

JAZZ: SF Jazz Collective – SFJAZZ – February 12th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

This weekend’s Fridays at Five concert celebrates the work of two very influential and different artists: Sly and the Family Stone and Miles Davis. As befitting such groundbreaking artists, this concert runs nearly two hours.

The San Francisco Jazz Collective, an octet, performs music from Stand! and Davis’ In a Silent Way. Both albums were released in 1969.

This concert, from November 2019, celebrates the 50th anniversary of both works. Stand! featured the songs I Want to Take You Higher and Everyday People. Davis was more austere with his recording – it only had two tracks, but ran 38 minutes.

The members of the SF Jazz Collective are bassist Matt Brewer; trumpeter Etienne Charles; drummer Obed Calvaire; vocalist Martin Luther McCoy; guitarist Adam Rogers; tenor saxophonist David Sánchez; pianist Edward Simon and vibraphonist Warren Wolf.

There is also a cameo appearance by Family Stone drummer Greg Errico. 

Tickets are $5 (which includes a one-month digital membership) or $60 (which includes an annual digital membership). This concert will stream just once.

JAZZ/CABARET: A Catalina Soulful Valentine – February 12th – 9:00 PM EST/6:00 PM PST

Los Angeles nightclub, Catalina Jazz Club, has been severely impacted by the pandemic. They are doing everything they can to keep the doors open and amongst them is Friday night’s A Catalina Soulful Valentine.

For weeks they have been touting the appearance of Mary Wilson of The Supremes as one of their performers. Of course, she passed away earlier this week. But, her set was filmed in advance and will be seen in its entirety to both support Catalina Jazz Club and to honor her.

Sally Struthers and singer/musician Mr. Chris Norton serve as hosts. The list of performers includes Lucie Arnaz, Carole J. Bufford, Linda Purl, James Snyder, Nita Whitaker and more.

The show will air on Catalina’s Facebook page and Chris Isaacson Presents’ YouTube channel. There is no charge to watch the concert, but donations are definitely encouraged.

JAZZ: Douglas J. Cuomo’s Seven Limbs featuring Nels Cline and Aizuri Quartet – CAP UCLA – February 12th – 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST

Composer Douglas J. Cuomo’s Seven Limbs was meant to have its world premiere last year. We all know what happened to preclude that. This digital performance of the work had its world premiere earlier this week from The Moss Arts Center at Virginia Tech.

UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance is making the film available on Friday with on demand opportunities beginning on Sunday for one week.

What is Seven Limbs? It is a 75-minute work for electric guitar and string quartet. Cuomo composed this specifically for the artists who perform it: Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet.

But what is it? Best to let the composer describe it for you:

“This piece is inspired by an ancient Buddhist purification ceremony called The Seven Limbs. It’s part of a meditation practice I do every day. The practice has lots of words; the piece has none. The feel of this ceremony is what I kept going to as I composed, and then at some point I realized I was setting text without using words. For me Seven Limbs is a dream-like piece; I can look inward to a new terrain and find out what’s there. Stillness, turmoil, suppleness, euphoria, high drama. I wrote it for Nels Cline and the Aizuri Quartet because, for composers, to write for great players is another kind of dream. Together, we offer you our dream, in the hope it makes some connection with you.”

CAP UCLA is making this performance free to view.

OPERA: Save the Boys – Opera Philadelphia – February 12th

Last week our top pick was musician/composer Tyshawn Sorey’s two-night gig at the Village Vanguard. He returns to our Best Bets this weekend with the debut of his twenty-minute song cycle Save the Boys.

Sorey uses Frances Ellen Watkins Harper’s 1887 poem of the same name as the inspiration for this work.

Harper was an Black women’s rights activist and abolitionist.

Performing Save the Boys is the vocalist for whom it was written: countertenor John Holiday. If his name sounds familiar, perhaps you saw him on the most recently concluded season of The Voice. In 2019 I interviewed Holiday. You can read that interview here.

Holiday is accompanied on the piano by Opera Philadelphia’s Grant Loehnig.

Tickets are $10 which allows for a seven-day rental.

OPERA: Cosí fan tutte – San Francisco Opera – February 13th – February 14th

Conducted by Nicola Luisotti; starring Ellie Dehn, Susannah Biller, Marco Vinco, Francesco Demuro and Philippe Sly. This revival of the 2004 John Cox production is from the 2012-2013 season.

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.

Joshua Kosman, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle, raved about Sly’s performance as Guglielmo , “In the ensemble cast of six, the standout performance was the precocious and phenomenally assured company debut of Adler Fellow Philippe Sly as Guglielmo. Adler Fellows don’t often get cast at this level, but then again, Adler Fellows this gifted and accomplished are rare indeed.

“Sly’s singing was at once robust and lyrical, with a beautiful range of tonal colors and the ability to combine virility and tenderness in a single phrase.”

CLASSICAL MUSIC: Anna Clyne’s Stride – Detroit Symphony Orchestra – February 13th – 7:30 PM EST/4:30 PM PST

It must be daunting for a composer to have a world premiere or relatively new work precede one of the stalwart compositions in classical music. Such is the status of British composer Anna Clyne who’s Stride will be performed by members of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra prior to their performance of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 in B-flat Major, BWV 1051.

But it is Clyne’s composition that is most interesting about this concert. The Australian Chamber Orchestra commissioned Clyde to write a piece as part of their celebration of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s Birth. The Covid-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of many of their performances last year, but they were able to return on November 14th with the world premiere of Stride.

The work weaves themes from Beethoven’s Pathetique Sonata throughout and also includes nods to other composers, most notably Bernard Herrmann (best known for his film scores for director Alfred Hitchcock).

Tickets are $12 to stream the concert.

DANCE: John Henry – Dance Theatre of Harlem on Stage Access – Debuts February 13th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

Dance Theatre of Harlem gave the world premiere performance of Arthur Mitchell’s John Henry on June 28, 1988. Before getting into her review, Anna Kisselgoff of the New York Times reported, “…its premiere at the company’s opening at the City Center Tuesday night roused cheering fans out of their seats during the curtain calls. Mr. Mitchell, the troupe’s founder and artistic director, stayed in the spirit of things by throwing himself into a choreographed clog dance to acknowledge the applause.”

With music by Milton Rosenstock, Dance Theatre of Harlem will make available, via Stage Access, a performance filmed in Denmark at Danmarks Radio. The performance will remain available through February 19th.

Stage Access offers up a 7-day free trial with two subscription options: an annual plan of $69.99 or a monthly plan of $7.99

TOP PICK: OPERA/MOVEMENT: Breathing Free – The Broad Stage – February 13th – 10:00 PM EST/7:00 PM PST

Earlier this week I published an interview with Michael Blakk Powell, a formerly incarcerated man who was a member of the Kuji Mens Chorus at Marion Correctional Institute in Ohio. Through his participation in that chorus, he found himself learning German to perform music from Beethoven’s Fidelio.

One of the two pieces in which that performance can be seen and heard is in Heartbeat Opera’s powerful Breathing Free. This 45-minute film combines movement and opera to explore the challenges Black men in particular face in simply being allowed to breathe freely.

Joining the Beethoven heard in Breathing Free are works by Black composers and lyricists Harry T. Burleigh, Florence Price, Langston Hughes, Anthony Davis and Thulani Davis. The project also uses Negro spirituals.

The cast includes bass-baritone Derrell Acon, tenor Curtis Bannister, soprano Kelly Griffin and dancers Randy Castillo, Tamrin Goldberg, Brian HallowDreamz Henry. Breathing Free was directed by Ethan Heard. Music Direction was by Jacob Ashworth and Daniel Schlosberg (who also did the arrangements of the music from Fidelio).

Tickets prices range from $10 – $75 based on what you can afford to pay. I strongly urge you to consider carving out time on Saturday night to see Breathing Free.

CABARET: Laura Osnes – Seth Rudetsky Concert Series – February 14th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

You have to be a pretty versatile performer to believably portray Cinderella in one musical and Bonnie Parker in another. Add to that the ability to be Nellie Forbush in South Pacific and Sandy in Grease. Broadway star Laura Osnes has done them all.

She received Tony Award nominations for her performances in Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella and also for Frank Wildhorn’s musical about the outlaws Bonnie and Clyde.

Osnes is Seth Rudetsky’s concert guest this week. In addition to Sunday’s live performance there is an encore presentation February 15th at 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST. Tickets are $25 for either showing.

THEATRE: Justin Hicks’ Use Your Head for More – Baryshikov Arts Center – February 15th – March 1st

Looking at composer/creator/performer Justin Hicks’ website, he describes himself as “a multidisciplinary artist, and performer who uses music and sound to investigate themes of presence, identity, and value.” For this digital world premiere, Hicks has created a performance based on a transcript of a conversation he had with his mother. Use Your Head For More is offered up as a series of audiovisual portraits.

His work runs 30 minutes and was filmed at Hicks’ home in Bronx, New York. Two vocalists, Jasmine Enlow and Jade Hicks, collaborated with Hicks on Use Your Head for More.

There is no charge to watch Use Your Heard for More.

For those interesting in digging further into the project, there will be a live-streamed conversation between Hicks and Meshell Ndegeocello on February 24th at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST. You must register to watch the conversation. Registration for that opens up on February 15th.

CABARET/OPERA/JAZZ: Jim Caruso’s Pajama Cast Party – February 15th – 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM PST

It’s sad that we don’t often have Monday listings, because Pajama Cast Party would be on the list every week. Which means you need to check out Jim Caruso and his fabulous guests. This week they include opera star Zachary James, jazz singer/songwriter Lauren Kinhan, actress/singer Avery Sommers and comedian Gianmarco Soresi. They will share stories, songs, jokes and more during the show.

Cast Party is a weekly ritual for New Yorkers and it takes place at Birdland. This is a modified version, but no less entertaining – just less physically tangible. It’s also the 45th episode Caruso has done…so far. No doubt he’d love to be back at Birdland as much as the rest of us would!

That’s the complete list of my Best Bets: February 12th – February 15th. But you know I’ve got a few reminders for you as well!

Pianist Richard Goode performs works of Bach and Claude Debussy on Saturday in a performance from New York’s 92nd Street Y.

The Metropolitan Opera concludes their second week of Black History Month with performances of Akhnaten by Philip Glass on Friday (strongly recommended); Berlioz’s Les Troyens on Saturday and Wagner’s Die Walküre on Sunday. Plus here’s an early preview of Week 49 at the Met. They will be celebrating Franco Zeffirelli and launch the week with the 2007-2008 season production of Puccini’s La Bohème.

This week’s episode of In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl is called Música sin Fronteras (Music without Borders) and concludes the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s series on PBS. (Check your local listings).

The films.dance festival continues with this week’s Pássaro Distante. They debut a new film, and one of my favorites, Match on Monday, February 15th.

That ends all my Best Bets: February 12th – February 15th. There’s culture to enjoy with the family; culture to enjoy with that special someone and certainly great options for those going solo this year. Whatever you choose, be safe and have a wonderful weekend.

Main Photo: An image from Breathing Free (Courtesy The Broad Stage)

The post Best Bets: February 12th – February 15th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

This week’s productions feature Kathleen Battle, Harolyn Blackwell, J’Nai Bridges, Leona Mitchell, Jessye Norman, Eric Owens, and Florence Quivar.

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 8th, you might still have time to catch the 1978-1979 production of Tosca by Puccini that concludes the first week of Black History Month.

Here is the full line-up for Week 48 at the Met:

Monday, February 8 – Wagner’s Das Rheingold

Conducted by James Levine; starring Wendy Bryn Harmer, Stephanie Blythe, Patricia Bardon, Richard Croft, Gerhard Siegel, Dwayne Croft, Bryn Terfel, Eric Owens, Franz-Josef Selig and Hans-Peter König. This Robert Lepage production is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production made available on March 24th.

This is the first in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (also known as The Ring Cycle). As with all four of these operas, Wagner wrote the music and the libretto. Das Rheingold had its world premiere in 1869 in Munich. It was premiered as a stand-alone opera. The first performance of the entire cycle was at Bayreuth in 1876.

Alberich is a dwarf who renounces love in his successful effort to take gold from the Rhinemaidens and have possession of a ring bestowing power to the wearer. With this one action, he sets in motion the storyline that runs through all four operas in the Ring Cycle. Fafner and Fasolt are the giants who built Valhalla. The long-suffering Wotan is introduced here as are the challenges the gods face in repaying the architects of Valhalla. When the ring is stolen from Alberich he puts a curse on it and on anyone who takes possession of it.

The Lepage Ring Cycle was notorious for the moving planks that were an integral part of the design. Sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn’t. In spite of the planks, Anthony Tommasini, in his New York Times review, gave Lepage credit for his work with the cast.

“Mr. Lepage deserves credit for coaxing vivid portrayals from his cast. And most of the action is played on an apron of planks that extend from the stage, which brings the singers into exciting proximity. Mr. Terfel’s singing was sometimes gravelly and rough. But his was a muscular Wotan, in both his imposing presence and his powerful singing. 

“Mr. Owens’s Alberich was no sniveling dwarf, but a barrel-chested, intimidating foe, singing with stentorian vigor, looking dangerous in his dreadlocks and crazed in his fantasy of ruling the universe.”

Tuesday, February 9 – Verdi’s Ernani

Conducted by James Levine; starring Leona Mitchell, Luciano Pavarotti, Sherrill Milnes and Ruggero Raimondi. This Pier Luigi Samaritani production is from the 1983-1984 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on August 1st and December 31st.

The trio of Giuseppe Verdi, Victor Hugo and Francesco Maria Piave served as the foundation for this opera that had its world premiere in Venice in 1844 (seven years before Rigoletto.) Hugo’s 1830 play, Hernani, inspired the composer and Piave, his librettist for Ernani.

Set in 16th century Spain, the centerpiece of this opera is our heroine, Elvria, who finds herself the object of three men’s desires: Carlo, the King of Spain; Silva, her abusive uncle and our title character, Ernani who is a bandit formerly known as Don Juan of Aragon. Disguises, deceit, mercy, suicide and tragedy ensue.

Donal Henahan, a critic from 1967 – 1991 for the New York Times, was a very pithy writer. He began his review of this production with some historical perspective as only he could:

“Ernani is an important opera because it is by Giuseppi Verdi. Other than that, its attractions are modest. It is, in fact, third-rate Verdi, which makes it second-rate anyone else, or better. It is a mass of musical and dramatic cliches, but operagoers with an ear tuned to history find it fascinating for what it led up to.” 

Henahan won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism in 1986. He passed away in 2012.

Wednesday, February 10 – Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia

Conducted by Ralf Weikert; starring Kathleen Battle, Rockwell Blake, Leo Nucci, Enzo Dara and Ferruccio Furlanetto. This John Cox production is from the 1988-1989 season. 

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.

Donal Henahan, in the New York Times, said of Battle’s performance:

“… conferred consistently buttery tones on the role of Rosina…As Dr. Bartolo’s adventurous ward, she often slipped into a stereotyped coyness, passing up chances to show sharper, more illuminating facets of the character. The part, written for a genuine coloratura mezzo, is not ideal for a light coloratura soprano, but Miss Battle’s technique, taste and tone are such that reservations tend to melt away. Most of the time, despite the voice’s feathery quality, Miss Battle could be heard clearly, thanks in part to the purity of each note’s pitch. She declined, however, to compete with the orchestra whenever it threatened to drown her out, seemingly content at such moments to mouth the words. This caution can sometimes cost her performances a certain raw, sporting quality, but it also could insure that she will be singing beautifully when most of her colleagues have shouted themselves into premature retirement.”

Thursday, February 11 – Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera

Conducted by James Levine; starring Aprile Millo, Harolyn Blackwell, Florence Quivar, Luciano Pavarotti and Leo Nucci. This revival of Piero Faggioni’s 1989-1990 production is from the 1990-1991 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.

Donal Henahan was not a fan of this production. He did, however, single out Blackwell for praise in his New York Times review. “It does not say a lot for a ‘Ballo’ that the most unequivocally fine performance came from its Oscar, in this instance Harolyn Blackwell. Her impersonation of the page boy was a model of agility, spunk, charm and silvery tone. Unless one has not been paying enough attention in Miss Blackwell’s recent appearances, the voice has taken on more size without losing sparkle or purity. Both her first- and last-act arias were broken in half by impulsive applause, signaling listener appreciation, perhaps, but also a lack of operatic experience.”

Friday, February 12 – 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 made available on June 20th and November 14th.

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. 

Saturday, February 13 – Berlioz’s Les Troyens

Conducted by James Levine; starring Tatiana Troyanos, Jessye Norman, Plácido Domingo and Allan Monk. This Fabrizio Melano production is from the 1983-1984 season.

If you though only Wagner wrote long operas, let me introduce you to this over 5-1/2 hour opera by Berlioz.

Les Troyens was inspired by Aeneid, an poem by Virgil. Berlioz wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Parisin 1863.

Set in the ancient city of Troy, where the Greeks have “gifted” their enemy with a wooden horse. Cassandra had feared there was a threat and when the Greeks ransacked the city, she and the woman of Troy choose suicide over surrendering.

Prince Aeneas, able to flee Troy, sets sail with his fleet for Italy. Circumstances force him to land at Carthage where Queen Dido falls in love with him. Will their love win out or must Aeneas be faithful to the Gods?

This production opened the centennial season at the Metropolitan Opera. It also marked the first appearance of Jessye Norman on their stage. In an odd twist, Norman and Troyanos switched the roles of Cassandra and Dido for two performances. Had either been sick during the run of the production, the other would sing both parts. That’s not unheard of, even at the Met. In 1973 Shirley Verrett sang both parts when co-star Christa Ludwig was too ill to go on.

Donal Henahan, in his New York Times review, said of Norman’s Met debut, “…a Metropolitan audience finally had a chance to cheer Jessye Norman, who made her debut as Cassandra. Miss Norman, who will move over to the role of Dido in some later performances, is a soprano of magnificent presence who commanded the stage at every moment. As the distraught Cassandra she sang grippingly and projected well…”

Sunday, February 14 – Wagner’s Die Walküre

Conducted by James Levine; starring Hildegard Behrens, Jessye Norman, Christa Ludwig, Gary Lakes, James Morris and Kurt Moll. This revival of Otto Schenk’s 1986 production is from the 1988-1989 season.

This is the second opera in Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. It had its premiere as a stand-alone opera in 1870 in Munich. 

The son of the god Wotan is a fugitive named Siegmund. When he finds himself taking refuge at Sieglinde’s house, the two fall passionately in love. But Sieglinde is married and in order for her and Siegmund to be together Siegmund must defeat her husband in a battle to the death.

This production marked the first time Jessye Norman sang the role of Sieglinde at the Met. In his review for the New York Times, Donal Henahan wrote of her performance, “Miss Norman, assuming her role for the first time at the Metropolitan, sang both richly and sensitively and entered into the character with the ease and skill of a veteran Wagnerian. Miss Behrens, never the most powerful of Brunnhildes vocally, had to finesse the music at times, but as in the past made an irresistible Valkyrie, the most ebullient of a particularly bouncy band of female warriors. As usual, some vocal struggle had to be overlooked in a performance that was a triumph of will, dramatic instinct and musicality. Miss Ludwig, in her best current voice in the crucial dialogue with Wotan, actually made a many-dimensional, sympathetic figure of the henpecking goddess.”

That’s the full line-up for Week 48 at the Met.

As of now I don’t have any idea what Week 49 at the Met will bring. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, enjoy your week and enjoy the operas!

Photo: J’Nai Bridges in Akhnaten (Photo by Karen Almond/Courtesy Met Opera)

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Russian, Italian, French and German composers all take their turns with operas that come from biblical stories, that involve the Holy Grail, that take place in Troy and involve classic literature. All are being presented.

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. Schedules and timings may be subject to change.

If you read this column early enough on December 14th, you might still have time to catch the 1991-1992 season production of The Ghosts of Versailles by John Corigliano that concludes last week’s In Plain English series. 

Here is the line-up for Week 40 at the Met:

Monday, December 14 – Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila

Conducted by Sir Mark Elder; starring Elīna Garanča and Roberto Alagna. This Darko Tresnjak production is from the 2018-2019 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on June 24th.

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.

Tuesday, December 15 – Wagner’s Lohengrin 

Conducted by James Levine, starring Eva Marton, Leonie Rysanek, Peter Hofmann, Leif Roar and John Macurdy. This is a revival of the 1976 August Everding production from the 1985-1986 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on May 19th.

Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin had its world premiere in 1850 in Weimar. It is one of his few romantic operas.

The setting is Antwerp in the 10th century. Elsa is accused by Friedrich von Telramund of killing her brother in an effort to prevent Telramund from assuming the dukedom. The dispute is to be resolved by combat. In an answer to her prays a mysterious knight named Lohengrin appears. He agrees to help Elsa as long as she never asks who he is or where is from. When Lohengrin defeats Telramund in battle, but spares his life, revenge is foremost on Telramund’s mind.

In John Rockwell‘s New York Times review of this production he praised Eva Marton as Elsa saying, “Eva Marton, who last year sang the villainous Ortrud in this production, returned for her first Elsa with the company, and she was really superb. The best singing this writer has heard from her has come not in the loud, blasting parts that have won her renown (like Ortrud), but in the controlled, high-soprano utterances of the Empress in Richard Strauss’s Frau ohne Schatten.

“Elsa, too, is not a dramatic soprano part. Miss Marton has a big voice, but it’s not a real trumpet, like Birgit Nilsson’s. Instead, she makes her best impression in ecstatic, lyrical music.”

Wednesday, December 16 – Berlioz’s Les Troyens

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Bryan Hymel and Dwayne Croft. This Francesca Zambello production is from the 2012-2013 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on May 28th and September 12th.

If you though only Wagner wrote long operas, let me introduce you to this over 5-1/2 hour opera by Berlioz.

Les Troyens was inspired by Aeneid, an poem by Virgil. Berlioz wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Parisin 1863.

Set in the ancient city of Troy, where the Greeks have “gifted” their enemy with a wooden horse. Cassandra had feared there was a threat and when the Greeks ransacked the city, she and the woman of Troy choose suicide over surrendering.

Prince Aeneas, able to flee Troy, sets sail with his fleet for Italy. Circumstances force him to land at Carthage where Queen Dido falls in love with him. Will their love win out or must Aeneas be faithful to the Gods?

Because it is so long, many opera companies do not regularly perform Les Troyens. Nonetheless, this lengthy work is considered by many critics to be amongst the greatest operas ever written.

Thursday, December 17 – Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini

Conducted by James Levine; starring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo and Cornell MacNeil. This Piero Faggioni production is from the 1983-1984 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on August 18th.

Riccardo Zandonai is not the best known of composers nor are his works regularly performed. Francesca da Ramini is his most popular work. The opera had its world premiere in Turin in 1914. The libretto was written by Tito Ricordi. Gabriele d’Annunzio’s play Francesca da Rimini was the source material that inspired this opera.

The title character, Francesca, is set to marry Giovanni (who is known by his nickname, Gianciotto.) When she is introduced to his brother, Paolo, she believes this man to be her groom. He falls in love with her, but has conspired to take Francesca away from his brother. Sibling rivalry significantly intensifies when Gianciotto’s youngest brother, Malatestino, gets involved.

The only clip I could find is, unfortunately, the finale. So if you don’t know the opera and don’t want to see how it ends, I’d advise you bypass this clip.

This production marked the first time Zandonai’s opera had been performed at the Metropolitan Opera in 66 years. It also marked the debut of Piero Faggioni (who also helmed Thursday’s production of Un Ballo in Maschera.)

Donal Henahan, my favorite of all New York Times opera critics had fun with this one. In particular he sharpened his pen for his comments about Scotto’s performance:

“To succeed even on its own modest level, the work needs a Francesca of irresistible stage presence and a voice to match. Renata Scotto is at a point in her career where the voice is colorless and often downright shrill. Her acting powers were stretched beyond their limits by a heavily padded scenario and heavy-handed direction by Piero Faggioni in his Met debut. The problem was not that she indulged in silent-movie histrionics, which cannot and should not be avoided in a period production of this sort, but that she seemed to have only half a dozen poses to draw upon. Her idea of showing desire for Paolo did not extend much beyond kneading her loins and clutching her thighs, which she did at tiresome length.”

Friday, December 18 – Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov

Conducted by Valery Gergiev; starring Ekaterina Semenchuk, Aleksandrs Antonenko, Oleg Balashov, Evgeny Nikitin, René Pape, Mikhail Petrenko and Vladimir Ognovenko. This Stephen Wadsworth production (taking over from Peter Stein who quit a few months prior to opening) is from the 2010-2011 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on April 14th and October 30th.

This opera by Modest Mussorgsky had its world premiere in St. Petersburg in 1874. The libretto, written by the composer, was based on Aleksandr Pushkin’s Boris Godunov. Mussorgky completed an earlier version of the opera in 1869, but it was rejected. He revised the opera and included elements from History of the Russian State by Nikolay Karamzin to gain approval and ultimately a production in 1874.

In the opera, a retired and very reluctant Boris Godunov assumes the throne as Tsar. He is bedeviled by a constant foreboding and hopes his prayers will help him navigate what lies ahead. An old monk named Pimen discusses the murder of Tsarevich Dimitri with Gregory, a novice. Had he lived, Dimitri might have ascended to the throne. Godunov was implicated in his murder years ago. What follows is one man’s pursuit of forgiveness, his being haunted by the Dimitri’s ghost and the Russian people who demand justice.

Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, spent a considerable amount of his review discussing Pape in the title role.

“With his towering physique and unforced charisma, Mr. Pape looks regal and imposing. Yet with his vacant stare, the haggard intensity in his face, his stringy long hair and his hulking gait, he is already bent over with guilt and doubt. Mr. Pape has vocal charisma as well, and his dark, penetrating voice is ideal for the role. Not knowing Russian, I cannot vouch for the idiomatic quality of his singing. But his enunciation was crisp and natural. And in every language, Mr. Pape makes words matter.

“During the coronation there is a soul-searching moment when Boris removes his crown and voices his remorse to himself. Some great Borises have conveyed the character as beset with internalized torment. Mr. Pape’s anguish is always raw, fitful and on the surface. But the volatility is balanced by the magisterial power he conveys.”

Saturday, December 19 – Verdi’s Nabucco

Conducted by James Levine; starring Liudmyla Monastyrska, Jamie Barton, Russell Thomas, Plácido Domingo and Dmitry Belosselskiy. This revival of Elijah Moshinsky’s 2001 production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was previously made available on May 17th.

Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco had its world premiere in 1842 at La Scala in Milan. The libretto, by Temistocle Solera, is based on four books from the bible as well as a play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornu. It is believed that a ballet of the play by Antonio Cortese was also an inspiration for this opera.

The title character is the King of Babylon. Just as he has assumed control of Jerusalem in a battle with the Israelites, his daughter has fallen in love with Ismaele, who is an Israelite. Her half-sister Abigaille, plots revenge on her sister after the sister has released Israelite prisoners. Nabucco announces he is a god. After he’s struck by lightning the real storms begin brewing.

The composer said of his work, “This is the opera with which my artistic career really begins. And though I had many difficulties to fight against, it is certain that Nabucco was born under a lucky star.”

Though the story is a mix of history, love story and politics. But what most people remember about this particular Verdi opera is the work of the chorus, as evidenced by Zachary Woolfe’s review in the New York Times. “Nabucco is defined by its choruses, much as Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, at the Met earlier this season, is. The company’s ensemble, under the direction of Donald Palumbo, rose to the occasion with massed yet transparent, shimmering singing.”

Sunday, December 20 – Wagner’s Götterdämmerung

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Deborah Voigt, Wendy Bryn Harmer, Waltraud Meier, Jay Hunter Morris, Iain Paterson, Eric Owens and Hans-Peter König. This Robert Lepage production is from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production previously made available on March 27th.

The final opera in Der Ring des Nibelungen had its world premiere in 1876 in Bayreuth as part of the first-ever performance of The Ring Cycle.

Alberich’s curse placed on the ring and its owners comes to haunt the characters in this final opera in the Ring Cycle. Siegfried, having fallen in love with Brunnhilde, is convinced to consume a potion that renders him without memory. That lack of remembering finds him proposing to another woman, Gutrune. Her brother consents as long as Siegfried will allow him to marry Brunnhilde. The ring changes hands and with Alberich’s son, Hagen, manipulating the action, ruin comes to all, including the gods whose glory has come to an end leaving Valhalla in flames.

This was the final production of Lepage’s new Ring Cycle that sharply divided critics and audiences for its massive undulating set of 24 planks. When Anthony Tommasini reviewed this production in the New York Times he raved about Morris in the role of Siegfried.

“The American tenor Jay Hunter Morris, who took over the title role in Siegfried on short notice in October, was again impressive here. He has found his own way to sing this heldentenor role with a lighter yet athletic and youthful sound. His clarion top notes project nicely over the orchestra. With his barrel chest and limberness, he inhabits the headstrong young Siegfried.”

He also added a pithy comment in the final paragraph of his review. “Part of me wanted to see the machine collapse into a heap of smoldering planks at the end of the Immolation Scene, which would have been appropriate. Still, this is Mr. Lepage’s best work in the $16 million Ring production.”

That is the full line-up for Week 40 at the Met. Next week’s theme is Holiday Fare. Enjoy your week and enjoy the operas.

Photo: A scene from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov with René Pape as the title role. (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy Met Opera)

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We have links in the title for most of the events we have listed here. That will make it easy for you to find your way directly to these exciting performances.

So let’s get to it. Here are your Best Bets at Home: September 11th – September 13th:

This Is a Man’s World – Latino Theater Company – Now – September 17th

In Los Angeles-based Latino Theater Company’s ongoing series of streaming archived performances, this week they have added Sal Lopez’s one-person show This Is a Man’s World.

The play opened in 2015 and takes a look at masculinity. Lopez combines monologue and music to relay the important events in his life. These include the Watts Riots, falling in love and the birth of his son.

This Is a Man’s World was directed by Jose Luis Valenzuela

Table of Silence Project 9/11 – Buglisi Dance Theatre and Lincoln Center – September 11th – 7:55 AM EDT/4:55 AM PDT

For the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy in 2011, Jacqulyn Buglisi, Artistic Director of Buglisi Dance Theatre, created Table of Silence Project 9/11. The work found over 150 dancers gradually making their way to Lincoln Center’s Josie Robertson Plaza. The plaintive call of a conch shell brings them together as music from a flute, bass drums, a trumpet, bells and the sounds of a chorus fill the space.

Three of her collaborators – Composer/Music Director Daniel Bernard Roumain, spoken-word poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph, and Buglisi Dance Theatre Co-Founder/Principal Dancer Terese Capucilli – have re-worked Table of Silence Project 9/11 for 2020.

There will be a new Prologue which will feature dancers from Buglisi Dance Theatre, Ailey II, Alison Cook Beatty Dance, Ballet Hispánico’s BHdos, The Juilliard School, Limón Dance Company, Martha Graham Dance Company. In addition to other dancers from the NYC community, violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain and poet Joseph will be joining this year’s performance.

The entire event will be streamed live with the following program:

A Prologue, performed live from Lincoln Center; welcome remarks from industry leaders; an excerpt from Buglisi’s Requiem, (choreographed in 2001 as an immediate response to the events of 9/11); the World Premiere of Études, a new three-minute film featuring more than 100 dancers from around the world who have been inspired by the Table of Silence Project 9/11 to create and submit small scale works recorded during the month of August and, finally, the full presentation of the 2019 Table of Silence Project 9/11.

If you cannot watch the event live, it will be available on-demand after its premiere.

Amanda Green AF in Q – Birdland – September 11th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

If you don’t know Amanda Green by name, you might be familiar with some of her work. She wrote the lyrics for the musical High Fidelity; lyrics with Lin-Manuel Miranda for Bring It On: The Musical; music with Trey Anastasio and lyrics for Hands on a Hardbody; additional material for the 2019 revival of Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate and additional lyrics for the 2015 revival of On the Twentieth Century.

Green has a distinct connection to the last musical. Her father, the late Adolph Green, co-wrote the music and lyrics for On the Twentieth Century with his long-time writing partner Betty Comden. In the interest of being fair to both parents, her mother was the late Phyllis Newman, a Tony Award winner for her performance in the musical Subways Are For Sleeping.

In one of the Radio Free Birdland! concerts filmed at the venue without an audience, Green performs along with her guests singer Natalie Douglas, singer/songwriter Curtis Moore and drummer Sean McDaniel. The music director is James Sampliner.

She’s working on a couple new musicals – including one with Jason Robert Brown and Billy Crystal. Perhaps there will be previews of the new material.

Tickets are $23.50.

The Royal Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet – Great Performances PBS – September 11th (Check local listings)

In 1965 legendary choreographer Kenneth MacMillan debuted his new ballet, Romeo and Juliet, with the Royal Ballet. It’s Shakespeare’s classic tale danced to the music of composer Sergei Prokofiev. It received phenomenal reviews and the company, which featured Rudolf Nureyev and Margot Fonteyn, gave 43 curtain calls during the 40-minute standing ovation at the ballet’s completion.

For this film airing on Great Performances, the ballet leaves the stage and takes place in and around multiple locations and sets in Budapest, Hungary.

Dancing the role of Juliet is Francesca Hayward, William Bracewell dances Romeo and Matthew Ball dances the role of Tybalt. BalletBoyz Michael Nunn and Wiliam Trevitt directed the film.

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

SHE – Latino Theater Company – September 11th – September 20th

Latino Theater Company also continues new readings of plays and this week it is SHE written by Marlow Wyatt. This is a sneak peak at a production that has been rescheduled for next year.

In the play the title character is a 13-year-old. She’s growing up in a small town where poverty is all-too-present. SHE uses her imagination to escape the trappings of her world by creating poetry. When she gets the chance to go to Vanguard Academy, a prestigious school, she comes face-to-face with the harsh realities of the real world. Her dreams have a price. But support comes from the most unlikely of places.

This reading is directed by IMANI.

Joyce DiDonato in Bochum, Germany – Metropolitan Opera – September 12th – 1:30 PM EDT/10:30 AM PDT

If you are a regular reader of Cultural Attaché (particularly the weekly listings of Metropolitan Opera nightly streams), you’ll immediately recognize the name of mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. She has appeared in their streamed productions of Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Le Comte Ory, La Donna del Lago and La Cenerentola; Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda; Massenet’s Cendrillon and Handel’s Agrippina.

This Saturday she joins the Met Opera Stars Live in Concert series with a recital of her own from Bochum, Germany. Joining DiDonato for the performance will be pianist Carrie-Ann Matheson and chamber ensemble Il Pomo D’Oro.

Her program is scheduled to include works by Claudio Monteverdi, Hector Berlioz, Gustav Mahler, George Frideric Handel, Antonio Cesti, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Alberto Evaristo Ginastera, Louiguy and Rodgers and Hammerstein. There will also be the world premiere of a new work by Kenyatta Hughes with text by Langston Hughes.

Tickets are $20.

Moonlight Sonata Gala – Pasadena Symphony & Pops – September 12th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT

Like many a gala in 2020, the Pasadena Symphony and Pops have gone on-line. Their Moonlight Sonata Gala will be free to watch, but you’ll have to register to do so. The registration does require you add credit card details. Your card will only be charged if you choose to bid on and win items in their auction.

The event will feature performances by Michael Feinstein, singer Catherine Russell, Broadway’s Cheyenne Jackson and others. Patti Austin will appear as will Pops conductor Larry Blank. Music Director David Lockington serves as host. After the event is over there is an after-party with Michael Cavanaugh who appeared on Broadway in the musical Movin’ Out.

Love in Action: A Telethon To Support the LGBTQ Community – KTLA TV – September 12th – 10:00 PM EDT/7:00 PM PDT

So what makes a telethon something to consider at Cultural Attaché? Well, any telethon that has a line-up like this one is bound to appeal to fans of culture:

Tony Award winners Cynthia Erivo, Cyndi Lauper, Leslie Odom Jr., Billy Porter and Lily Tomlin

Tony Award nominee Andrew Rannells

Drama Desk Award-winner Jesse Tyler Ferguson and Drama Desk nominee Anthony Rapp

Singers Melissa Etheridge, k.d. lang, Sia and the vocal ensemble Tonality

Actors Alexandra Billings, Wilson Cruz, Armie Hammer, Alec Mapa, Peter Paige, Pauley Perrette and Brian Michael Smith

Comedians Margaret Cho, Ilana Glazer, Jay Leno and Bruce Vilanch

Drag icons RuPaul, Miss Coco Peru and Shangela.

And a certain Oscar winner named Cher is also joining the fun.

Jane Lynch is hosting the two-hour event along with KTLA News anchor Cher Calvin. You know what they say, Cher and Cher alike.

For the Love of Lyric Concert – Lyric Opera of Chicago – September 13th – 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Established in 1954, the Lyric Opera of Chicago has been a prominent part of the performing arts in Chicago. Like many an institution struggling to navigate the pandemic, they have chosen to go on-line with their gala this year. For the Love of Lyric Concert is this year’s program.

Soprano Renée Fleming, who has served as Creative Consultant to the Lyric Opera since 2010, will headline the event.

Joining her will be Ryan Opera Center alumna mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, Heather Headley (Tony Award-winner for Aida); bass Soloman Howard and soprano Ailyn Pérez. Doug Peck is the music director.

The program is set to include music from opera, Broadway, popular songs and “some surprising sources.” I’m not quite sure what that means. I guess that is why it will be a surprise.

The event will stream for free on the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Facebook page a day after it virtually runs for sponsors.

Miscast20 – MCC YouTube Page – September 13th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

New York’s MCC Theater (Manhattan Class Company) annually holds an event that is one of the most popular and most-anticipated events every year. It is called Miscast. The concept is rather simple: actors perform songs from musicals that are performed by characters they would never get cast to play.

Take for example this video of Hamilton‘s Jonathan Groff performing Reno Sweeney’s title song from the Cole Porter musical Anything Goes:

I have no idea what songs are going to be performed and by whom during Sunday’s event. But, I can tell you who will be performing:

Tony Award winners Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Heather Headley (Aida) and Leslie Odom Jr. (Hamilton)

Tony Award nominees Robert Fairchild (An American In Paris), Joshua Henry (Carousel), Rob McClure (Mrs. Doubtfire), Lauren Ridloff (Children of a Lesser God), Phillipa Soo (Hamilton) and Adrienne Warren (Tina)

Also joining are Beanie Feldstein (Hello, Dolly!), Ingrid Michaelson (Natasha, Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812), Isaac Powell (Once on This Island) and Nicolette Robinson (Waitress).

There will also be a reunion of the original company of Hairspray including Laura Bell Bundy, Kerry Butler, Tony Award winner Harvey Fierstein, Jean Gambatese, Jackie Hoffman, Kamilah Marshall, Matthew Morrison, Tony Award nominee Corey Reynolds, Judine Somerville, Shayna Steele and Tony Award winner Marissa Jaret Winokur.

Presenters include Jocelyn Bioh, Raúl Esparza, Judith Light, Julianna Margulies, Piper Perabo and Thomas Sadoski.

If you enjoy Broadway musicals, this is truly a must-see event.

Jeremy Jordan with Seth Rudetsky – September 13th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

On June 14th, Jeremy Jordan was one of Seth Rudetsky’s first guests in his online concert series. He’s back with a new show as Rudetsky’s guest on Sunday.

In addition to his well-known roles in Broadway’s Bonnie & Clyde and Newsies, Jordan has also appeared in West Side Story, Rock of Ages and Waitress. He was a series regular on Smash and appeared with Anna Kendrick in the film adaptation of The Last Five Years.

Tickets for the show are $25. If you can’t see the show live on Sunday, there is an encore presentation on Monday, September 14th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT.

Kritzerland 10th Anniversary Show – September 13th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Fans of rare recordings of Broadway musicals and new recordings of lost musicals are well acquainted with Kritzerland Records. They have released recordings of the musicals Anya, Ilya Darling, The Grass Harp and restored recordings of the 1971 production of Follies, House of Flowers and more.

They will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of their live shows with an on-line concert. The show promises to include rarities, well-known material and a few songs that have never been heard before.

The cast includes Daniel Thomas Bellusci, Jason Graae (Wicked tour), Peyton Kirkner, Beth Malone (the 2018 revival of Angels in America), Pamela Myers (original cast of Company), Kerry O’Malley (Billy Elliot: The Musical), Hartley Powers, Sami Straitman, Adrienne Stiefel and Robert Yacko (Mark Taper Forum production of Parade).

They also have one very special guest: Petula Clark. In addition to having hit songs with Downtown and I Know a Place, she has appeared on stage in The Sound of Music, Sunset Boulevard and on Broadway in Blood Brothers.

This concert is free, but donations that will go to The Actors Fund are encouraged. Donations can be made here.

Those are my selections of your Best Bets at Home: September 11th – September 13th. I also have some reminders for you:

Los Angeles area residents can catch this week’s In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl on PBS SoCal on Friday, September 11th at 8:00 PM. This week’s theme is Musicals and the Movies and includes performances by Kristin Chenoweth, Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell.

Here are reminders from this week’s Jazz Stream:

Red Baraat are featured in this week’s Fridays at Five from SFJazz on September 11th.

John Scofield Trio will perform from New York’s Blue Note on September 11th.

Bill Charlap Trio performs September 11th and 12th from the Village Vanguard in New York.

Pasquale Grasso Quartet performs September 13th from Smalls.

Here are reminders of this weekend’s schedule at the Metropolitan Opera:

Georges Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles on Friday; Hector Berlioz’s Les Troyens on Saturday and Jules Massenet’s Werther on Sunday.

Will that suffice? Do you have enough options to keep you entertained this weekend? I hope so and I hope you have enjoyed Best Bets at Home: September 11th – September 13th.

Montage of Miscast performers courtesy of MCC Theater

The post Best Bets at Home: September 11th – September 13th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The operas were written by Jules Massenet, Charles Gounod, Hector Berlioz and Georges Bizet. Amongst the performers you’ll see are Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczala, Diana Damrau, Vittorio Grigolo, Susan Graham, Joyce DiDonato, Jonas Kaufman and Matthew Polenzani.

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, September 6th, you might still have time to catch the 2012-2013 season production of Thomas Adés’s The Tempest. 

Here is the line-up for Week 26 at the Met:

Monday, September 7 – Massenet’s Manon 

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Anna Netrebko, Piotr Beczała, and Paulo Szot. This is the Laurent Pelly production from the 2011-2012 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that previously streamed on May 24th.

A young woman from a small town has an intense desire to lavish herself with all the riches and pleasures life has to offer her. Sounds like a story that could be written today.

Massenet’s opera was composed in 1883 and had its world premiere in January of 1884 in Paris. The libretto is by  Henri Meilhac and Philippe Gille. They based the opera on the 1731 Abbé Prévost novel, L’histoire du chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut.

There is always one main reason why this opera gets produced and the same reason that audiences love it. The soprano title role.

In this production, Anna Netrebko sings Manon.Anthony Tommasini, writing in the New York Times, made all of this abundantly clear in his review of this production and singled Netrebko out for praise:

“The best parts of Massenet’s score are its inspired arias, especially for Manon. In places Ms. Netrebko’s low-range singing had an earthy, almost breathy quality that seemed Russian in character. But when she needed to, she sang melting phrases with silken legato and shimmering beauty, especially her poignant performance of ‘Adieu, notre petite table’ in Act II. Though she does not have perfect coloratura technique, she ably dispatches the roulades and runs, folding them deftly into extended melodic phrases. And she can send top notes soaring.”

Tuesday, September 8 – Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette

Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; starring Diana Damrau, Vittorio Grigolo, Elliot Madore and Mikhail Petrenko. This Bartlett Sher production is from the 2016-2017 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was streamed on April 10th.

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet served as the inspiration for this five-act opera by Charles Gounod that had its world premiere in Paris in 1867. The libretto was written by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré.

The opera closely follows Shakespeare’s play about two star-crossed lovers from warring families. Their love only inflames the animosity between the Montagues and the Capulets. No matter what the young lovers do to be together, fate always seems to find a way to make their love impossible. When that happens, tragedy follows.

Director Sher’s production was new to the Metropolitan Opera and had its debut on New Year’s Eve 2017. It was highly anticipated because the chemistry between Damrau and Grigolo had proven to be particularly palpable when they appeared together in Massenet’s Manon in 2015.

In Anthony Tommasini’s review in the New York Times he agreed:

“In scene after scene, these exciting and charismatic artists disappeared into their characters, emboldening each other to sing with white-hot sensuality and impassioned lyricism.”

Wednesday, September 9 – Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust

Conducted by James Levine; starring Susan Graham, Marcello Giordani and John Relyea. This Robert Lepage production is from the 2008-2009 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that was streamed on May 25th.

Hector Berlioz composed this work in 1845. He never envisioned La Damnation de Faust to be staged as an opera, but rather as a concert work. The first time it was performed as an opera was in 1893. The Metropolitan Opera first performed it as a concert in 1896. It would be ten more years before The Met would present it as a fully-staged opera.

Once again Goethe’s work serves as the inspiration for this story about the deal one man makes with the devil to save the woman he loves.

With Le Damnation de Faust, Lepage made his Metropolitan Opera debut. His extensive use of video in this production was one of the many points of both interest and discussion in 2008. Critics at the time wondered if this was a sign of what his then-upcoming Ring Cycle might be like.

Thursday, September 10 – 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 that was streamed on June 27th.

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.”

Friday, September 11 – Bizet’s Les Pêcheurs de Perles

Conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; starring Diana Damrau, Matthew Polenzani, Mariusz Kwiecień and Nicolas Testé. This Penny Woolcock production is from the 2015-2016 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that streamed on April 3rd.

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.

Saturday, September 12 – Berlioz’s Les Troyens

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Bryan Hymel and Dwayne Croft. This Francesca Zambello production is from the 2012-2013 season. This is an encore presentation of the production that streamed May 28th.

If you though only Wagner wrote long operas, let me introduce you to this over 5-1/2 hour opera by Berlioz.

Les Troyens was inspired by Aeneid, an poem by Virgil. Berlioz wrote the libretto. The opera had its world premiere in Parisin 1863.

Set in the ancient city of Troy, where the Greeks have “gifted” their enemy with a wooden horse. Cassandra had feared there was a threat and when the Greeks ransacked the city, she and the woman of Troy choose suicide over surrendering.

Prince Aeneas, able to flee Troy, sets sail with his fleet for Italy. Circumstances force him to land at Carthage where Queen Dido falls in love with him. Will their love win out or must Aeneas be faithful to the Gods?

Because it is so long, many opera companies do not regularly perform Les Troyens. Nonetheless, this lengthy work is considered by many critics to be amongst the greatest operas ever written.

Sunday, September 13 – 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 streamed May 11th.

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.”

That’s the complete line-up for Week 26 at the Met. Enjoy the operas and enjoy your week! Bonjour!

Photo: Berlioz’s Les Troyens (Photo by Cory Weaver/Courtesy of Metropolitan Opera)

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Each production becomes available at 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT and will remain available for 23 hours on the Met Opera website. That means you still have until 6:30 PM EDT/3:30 PM PDT on Monday to watch Manon from the 2011-2012 season.

Here are the productions available Week 11 at the Met.

Monday, May 25 – Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust

Conducted by James Levine; starring Susan Graham, Marcello Giordani and John Relyea. This Robert Lepage production is from the 2008-2009 season.

Hector Berlioz composed this work in 1845. He never envisioned La Damnation de Faust to be staged as an opera, but rather as a concert work. The first time it was performed as an opera was in 1893. The Metropolitan Opera first performed it as a concert in 1896. It would be ten more years before The Met would present it as a fully-staged opera.

Once again Goethe’s work serves as the inspiration for this story about the deal one man makes with the devil to save the woman he loves.

With Le Damnation de Faust, Lepage made his Metropolitan Opera debut. His extensive use of video in this production was one of the many points of both interest and discussion in 2008. Critics at the time wondered if this was a sign of what his then-upcoming Ring Cycle might be like.

Tuesday, May 26 – Verdi’s Ernani

Conducted by Marco Armiliato; starring Angela Meade, Marcello Giordani, Dmitri Hvorostovsky and Ferruccio Furlanetto. This revival of the 1983 Pier Luigi Samaritani production is from the 2011-2012 season.

This opera is based on Herman Melville’s 1830 drama of the same name. Francesco Maria Piave, who wrote the libretto, would go on to work with Verdi on multiple operas including La Traviata and Rigoletto.

Three men are all in love with the same woman in this opera set in 16th century Spain. Working out all the relationships amongst the main characters anchors this story of love, betrayal, royalty and ultimately tragedy.

Prior to this production opening, Meade was announced as the winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award. That meant she faced added scrutiny for her performance. Critics and audiences were impressed. Will you be?

Wednesday, May 27 – Puccini’s Manon Lescaut

Conducted by James Levine; starring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo and Pablo Elvira. This Gian Carlo Menotti production is from the 1979-1980 season.

Menotti’s production was new to the Metropolitan Opera when it debuted in 1980. It replaced a 1949 production that had been in place for 31 years.

Renata Scotto sings the role of the title character, a woman who choses the love of Des Grieux (Domingo) over her obligation to go to a convent. Like many a great love affair, this one is not destined to last forever.

Harold C. Schonberg raved about both lead performances in his 1980 review for the New York Times.

“Renata Scott sang the title role and it was a typical Scotto performance. She understood the character dramatically and vocally and her acting was always convincing…Domingo cemented the point that he is probably the best all-around tenor active in the world today.”

Thursday, May 28 – Berlioz’s  Les Troyens

Conducted by Fabio Luisi; starring Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Bryan Hymel and Dwayne Croft. This Francesca Zambello production is from the 2012-2013 season.

If you though only Wagner wrote long operas, let me introduce you to this over 5-1/2 hour opera by Berlioz.

Set in the ancient city of Troy, where the Greeks have “gifted” their enemy with a wooden horse. Cassandra had feared there was a threat and when the Greeks ransacked the city, she and the woman of Troy choose suicide over surrendering.

Prince Aeneas, able to flee Troy, sets sail with his fleet for Italy. Circumstances force him to land at Carthage where Queen Dido falls in love with him. Will their love win out or must Aeneas be faithful to the Gods?

Because it is so long, many opera companies do not regularly perform Les Troyens. Nonetheless, this lengthy work is considered by many critics to be amongst the greatest operas ever written.

Friday, May 29 – Bellini’s La Sonnambula 

Conducted by Evelino Pidò; starring Natalie Dessay and Juan Diego Flórez. This Mary Zimmerman production is from the 2008-2009 season.

This was the first production of La Sonnambula at the Met since 1972. Zimmerman set the story in present-day New York.

The original story was set in a 19th century Swiss village where the orphan Amina (Dessay) is in love with Elvino (Flórez). Her sleepwalking poses problems for them both, but true love conquers all, even walking in your sleep.

Bellini’s opera had its world premiere in 1831 in Milan. The libretto was written by Felice Romani who also collaborated with the composer on Norma. This opera is less than half the run-time of Les Doyens.

Saturday, May 30 – Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore

Conducted by Domingo Hindoyan; starring Pretty Yende, Matthew Polenzani, Davide Luciano and Ildebrando D’Arcangelo. This revival of the 2012-2013 Bartlett Sher production is from the 2017-2018 season.

Welcome to another opera with a 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 (Yende) and Nemorino (Polenzani) 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!

When this production was reviewed critics were particularly impressed with Yende’s performance.

Sunday, May 31 – R. Strauss’s Salome

Conducted by Patrick Summers; starring Karita Mattila, Ildikó Komlósi, Kim Begley, Joseph Kaiser and Juha Uusitalo. This Jürgen Flimm production is from the 2008-2009 season.

Film clips from this modern-dress set production proved impossible to find. Perhaps it was because Finnish Soprano Karita Mattila ended the Dance of the Seven Veils fully nude. It was controversial when she first did that in 2004. Nonetheless, don’t expect that to be part of this film. The Met Opera did not include her nudity when this production was first aired.

In his review for the New York Times, Anthony Tomassini raved about Mattila.

“I cannot think of a performance on any stage in New York right now that tops Ms. Mattila’s Salome for courage, intensity and emotional nakedness. 

“Vocally Ms. Mattila is born to this daunting role, singing with an eerie combination of cool Nordic colorings and raw power. She can spin a Straussian melodic line with sumptuous lyricism. But when Salome erupts in a spasm of twisted desire or childish petulance, Ms. Mattila unleashes chilling, hard-edged top notes that slice through Strauss’s king-size orchestra.”

That concludes Week 11 at the Met.

Here’s a tease for Week 12: One of the productions marked the North American premiere of a work by a British composer based on a surreal film by a Spanish filmmaker.

Main Photo: John Relyea as Mephistopheles in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust (Photo by Ken Howard/Courtesy of Metropolitan Opera)

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