MIAMI ― A new general director and chief executive officer will lead the Florida Grand Opera in the 2012-13 season. Susan T. Danis joins the Florida Grand Opera on Oct. 9. Danis is the fourth general director and CEO in the opera’s 72-year-history. Robert Heuer, the company’s CEO for 32 years, retired in May. A self-proclaimed “opera geek,” Danis spent almost 14 years … [Read more...]
Theater roundup: ‘Woody,’ ‘Dolly!’ and ‘Working’
Those looking for tell-tale signs of Florida Stage in Lou Tyrrell’s latest venture, The Theatre at Arts Garage, need look no further than the new company’s first full production, the biographical revue Woody Sez. A close first cousin to Woody Guthrie’s American Song, which played at the predecessor troupe’s Manalapan home 18 years ago, the newer show is more folksy than … [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...]
Sarasota Opera’s ‘Giovanna’ revealed Verdi gem
The Sarasota Opera likes to say that no other company in the world will have completed a Verdi cycle – a complete survey of all the composer’s stage works -- when it comes to an end in 2013 on the 200th anniversary of Verdi’s birth. The company’s just-ended production of Giovanna d’Arco (Joan of Arc) was the 29th opera in the cycle, and its boast of exclusivity is a strong … [Read more...]