The Colony Hotel’s Royal Room has presented some enchanted evenings in its ten years as a cabaret venue, but probably never more so than with its current showcase of Paulo Szot, the Tony Award-winning star of the 2008 revival of South Pacific. An opera singer by training and profession, Szot long harbored a desire to appear in a Broadway musical. “I never tried, but it was a … [Read more...]
PB Opera cancels vocal contest to boost Young Artists program; Muse Award winners named
Palm Beach Opera said last week it is expanding its Young Artist program to add more singers, three days of auditions in New York, and a staged production next season featuring the young musicians. In order to put the expansion into effect, the West Palm Beach-based opera company has canceled this year’s vocal competition, which had been scheduled for April. “We realized … [Read more...]
Capalbo triumphs in second cast of PB Opera’s ‘Butterfly’
In all my years of going to hear Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, I have never heard a better interpretation than that of Canadian soprano Michele Capalbo, who sang the lead role of Cio-Cio San on Saturday at Palm Beach Opera. Capalbo led the company’s “B” cast; the “A” cast opened Palm Beach Opera’s 50th season the night before. Taking on such demanding lead roles means opera … [Read more...]
PB Opera opens 50th season with beautiful ‘Butterfly’
In the world of Madama Butterfly, it’s all about her, with the occasional supporting character coming in now and again to move the plot along. But Palm Beach Opera’s current presentation of Giacomo Puccini’s Japanese opera is noteworthy for the strength of its supporting cast overall, and with a fine performance at its center plus a tasteful, intelligent staging, this … [Read more...]
Dramaworks gets $2 million donation; PB Opera cancels all Monday shows
WEST PALM BEACH -- A retired Washington, D.C., power couple has donated $2 million to Palm Beach Dramaworks, the largest contribution in the history of the theater company. The donation by Donald and Ann Brown of Palm Beach Gardens will bring with it the renaming of the former Cuillo Theatre in West Palm Beach as the Donald and Ann Brown Theatre, the company said this morning. … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: May 6-8
Music: This weekend, Florida Grand Opera is running more like a repertory company than its normal mode of one show at one time. Its productions of David DiChiera’s Cyrano and Mozart’s Don Giovanni are running tomorrow and Sunday afternoon, respectively, at the Ziff Ballet Opera House in downtown Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center. Cyrano, based on the Edmond Rostand play about the … [Read more...]
Baritones win the day at PB Opera’s vocal finals
For the Grand Finals of the Palm Beach Opera’s annual vocal competition this year, technical accomplishment appeared to matter most to the panel of four judges. Baritone Joo Won Kang of Seoul, South Korea, won the top prize in the advanced division (for ages 24-30), and bass-baritone Brandon Cedel, of Hershey, Pa., won the top prize in the junior division (ages 18-23). Both … [Read more...]
Sarasota Opera season highlighted by brilliant ‘Crucible’
Sarasota Opera’s season in February and March each year has three weekends to suit the traveling operagoer. This year’s offerings were Don Giovanni, The Crucible, La Bohème and I Lombardi. I wasn’t able to attend La Bohème, but here are summaries of the rest of the Sarasota season: The Crucible A sprightly 93-year-old Robert Ward came to Sarasota to hear the … [Read more...]
PB Opera’s ‘Cosi’ well-sung, craftily staged
The Palm Beach Opera is closing its three-year survey of the Mozart-Da Ponte operas with a somewhat minimalist but well-staged and ably sung production of Così fan Tutte. Friday night found a cast of young, handsome singers working inside a Stephen Lawless reading of the opera that was easy to understand, almost plausible, and full of smart, interesting stage business that … [Read more...]
Supporting characters shine brighter in PB Opera’s ‘Nabucco’
It takes a lot of big singing to fill up all the space in the static tableaux of Verdi’s Nabucco. And on Friday night at the Palm Beach Opera, most of that sonic filling was provided by two singers other than the principals: a sonorous bass as Zaccaria and a thrilling tenor as Ismaele. For its first production in 25 years of Verdi’s breakthrough 1842 Biblical drama, Palm … [Read more...]