I heard the second cast of Palm Beach Opera’s very fine production of Puccini’s La Bohème on Saturday. The Kravis Center was packed to capacity for this, the first opera of the season. It was good to hear from the government last week that the arts in America now account for 4.3% of our gross domestic product. Palm Beach County’s lively arts programming surely contributes … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘La Bohème,’ Cast 1: A ‘Bohème’ to cherish
Because of its uninterrupted 119-year streak of popularity, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème can come dangerously close to paint-by-numbers opera: Fill in the blanks with some colorful voices, and the work performs itself. Happily for local audiences, the creative staff of Palm Beach Opera’s just-passed revival of the opera were interested in approaching it with fresh eyes, and the … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘Traviata’ has impressive Violetta, Germont
Today’s opera singers are expected to be persuasive actors, and that can be a challenge given the very short dramatic trajectories their characters must ride in the pages of most libretti. In the case of Violetta Valéry, the doomed heroine of Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata, sopranos have enough splendid music that if their acting is less than persuasive, they can still make a … [Read more...]
PBO’s ‘Carmen’ alive to characters’ humanity, theatrical savvy
It’s tough to bring something new to a work as well-known as Carmen, but the current Palm Beach Opera production of Georges Bizet’s classic, if not groundbreaking, fills out the opera’s promise with just plain good theater. On Friday night, a stellar lead and a strong supporting cast, plus smart, interesting directing choices made this production, the last in the company’s … [Read more...]