Opera
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Marital Bliss
Truth be told, most comic operas are funnier in theory than in reality. The buffo, over-rouged in a teetering wig, capers about the stage and,...
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Looney Tunes
Those of you raised on Looney Tunes might find it impossible to listen to Figaro's aria ''Largo al factotum'' from Rossini's Barber of Seville without...
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Deliciously Dire
Chances are you will not be seeing the Siegfried that opened this past Saturday night since the performance began with general director Placido Domingo's announcement...
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Sea-Worthy
As one familiar with England's wild and windy Norfolk coast, there is much that resonates in the Washington National Opera's production of Benjamin Britten's Peter...
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Lady Killer
Despite the fevered grace renowned soprano Renee Fleming brings to the conflicted femme fatale of Donizetti's Lucrezia Borgia, this is one opera that requires more...
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Passion Play
With the Jumbotron extravaganza barely behind us, one must wonder, just a little, why the WNO did not chose this production of Bizet's The Pearl...
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Stage Presence
Though one cannot but envy the idea of seeing an opera with beer, hotdogs and vast commodes on tap, it is also somewhat hard to...
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Elektrafying
As anyone with a pulse knows, Hollywood -- both the A and the B list -- continues to outrage the arbiters of good taste with...
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High Note
If you are a giggler or not immersed to the point of humorlessness in the traditions, quirky and otherwise, of opera, be strongly advised to...
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Classic Verdi
When serving up poignancy, there cannot be contrivance unless it is intended. In any other form, its presence will dull and deflate the impact of...
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The Damned
In a recent metro-area school production of Don Quixote, parents were shocked and dismayed when teenage members of the audience greeted a fellow classmate's performance...
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Men Behaving Badly
In its final two productions before the winter break, the Washington National Opera gives us a fascinating compare and contrast in its scheduling of Mozart's...
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Sex Drive
''Don Giovanni is sort of a personification of the sex drive,'' says John Pascoe, director and designer of the new production of Mozart's classic, Don...
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Heartbreak Hotel
It's awfully hard not to smile when presented with director Mariusz Trelinski's modern take on Giacomo Puccini's highly revered classic, La Boheme. There is something...
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The Long Haul
Although director Paolo Micciche is known for some adventurous productions, his rendering of Verdi's Macbeth is more a long and rather creepy dream. It's precise...
