May 2016 – Repeat Performances

May 31, 2016

San Francisco Opera presents “Carmen”

With its often frenzied rhythms, gripping dynamics, haunting minor key and exotic melodies, Carmen offers operatic moments that are undeniably musically compelling. That despite the fact that many of us grew up with cartoon versions...

Categories: opera

May 28, 2016

“Much Ado” opens at Cal Shakes

Way back in the May 1988 edition of American Theatre, Zelda Fichandler wrote “And suppose that one assigned roles freely, without prediction from history or from one’s old habits of...

Categories: theater

May 27, 2016

Peter Pan flies again at Berkeley Rep

This past weekend Berkeley Rep opened For Peter Pan on Her 70th Birthday, a play written by frequent collaborators, playwright Sarah Ruhl and director Les Waters. The play examines the world of five siblings, three of whom are named John, Michael and Wendy, as they are...

Categories: theater

May 25, 2016

Madama Butterfly in Palo Alto

An opera gem, cut and polished… At West Bay Opera’s production of Madama Butterfly, a large cast squeezed huge drama onto a small stage. And that shoehorning of high passions and choice vocals is often the case for this opera company that dreams big in Palo Alto’s intimate Lucie Stern Theater. Conductor and General Director José Luis Moscovich stepped onto the stage to greet us, and particularly those new to opera....

Categories: opera

May 15, 2016

Voci sings at the Piedmont Center for the Arts

This past Sunday at the Piedmont Center for the Arts, Voci unveiled the first work in their New Works Project. The project, which is a daring and ambitious idea for a independent chorus, is a commission through which a woman composer is supported to work with the...

Categories: music

May 14, 2016

Central Works ponders Stevenson’s “Jekyll and Hyde”

Central Works opened its world premiere of Robert Louis Stevenson: Jekyll and Hyde this past weekend. It’s the third in writer and Central Works Co-Director Gary Graves’ dramatic trilogy delving into the...

Categories: theater