Metro Weekly

Opera

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • Elektrafying

    As anyone with a pulse knows, Hollywood -- both the A and the B list -- continues to outrage the arbiters of good taste with...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • 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...

  • Czech Mate

    Who knew a 19th century Czech opera could be as riveting and edgy as anything you're likely to catch on HBO? Thankfully, the Washington National...

  • Stumbling 'Regiment'

    As soon as Placido Domingo, wearing his Washington National Opera General Director hat, stepped on stage to tell us that former Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist JiYoung...

  • Taking Flight

    This is a drop everything moment. If you live for opera, if you occasionally go, if you have even a fledgling interest in it, you...

  • Taking Flight

    ''See the sky, see the ocean!'' cry Butterfly's friends as they watch her boat approach with surreal slowness. Though they exclaim at the beauty surrounding...

  • Life Choice

    It's a brave move to stage Sophie's Choice as an opera, considering the popular culture stature of both William Styron's original novel and 1982's star-filled...