The ultimate success of an opera or of a production finally comes down to the music – whether it’s good enough, in the first place, and in the second, whether it’s been sung well. But something needs to be said now and again about a good staging. Although Florida Grand Opera has had many fine directorial hands at work over the years, its current production of Charles Gounod’s … [Read more...]
Handsome, well-sung ‘Lucia’ ends PBO’s 50th on solid note
With its final production of the season, Palm Beach Opera showcases a number of fine voices in a handsome, traditional presentation that drags somewhat but ultimately comes off in dramatic and satisfying style. Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor, which the company last performed in 2003, requires a strong central soprano, and in the Mexican singer Maria Alejandres, Palm Beach … [Read more...]
Handsome ‘Romeo’ largely successful at PB Opera
Palm Beach Opera was working out some kinks Friday night as it tried on the theatrical clothes of a new production, but in the end, it achieved a satisfying and reasonably compelling telling of a classic love story. Charles Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, a tuneful, sentimental example of French Romantic opera at its most endearing, is the third production in the West Palm … [Read more...]
Handsome, well-sung ‘Luisa’ at FGO hampered by weak score
Florida Grand Opera’s first-ever zarzuela production, of Federico Moreno Torroba’s Luisa Fernanda, is a handsome thing in many respects. In a production that originated at Madrid’s Teatro Real, Emilio Sagi effectively uses a simple color scheme of white, black, orange and green, plus old-fashioned theater tricks (think hand shadows on the wall of your bedroom after lights out) … [Read more...]