This just in: My dreams of coming in third is an internet contest have been realized.
I’m the third place winner in The Omniscient Mussel’s #operaplot twitter contest, where you summarize plots of great operas in 140 characters, and pack in as much snark as humanly possible.
Here’s my winning entry, a synopsis of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin:
So [...]
This past weekend I went out and saw two excellent performances.
The first was the Vampire Cowboys latest opus Alice in Slasherland, a hilarious mash up of the horror genre from Buffy to The Ring and back again. Alice in Slasherland tells the story of sad and misunderstood teens who, naturally enough, awaken a demon apocalypse. [...]
Tonight is the premiere of Verdi’s Attila at the Metropolitan opera, conducted by Riccardo Muti, with costumes by Prada. And this is not just the premiere this season, mind you. This is the first time this work has ever been heard at the Met. EVER. Since it was written. In 1846!
I will not be there [...]
One of the pieces I’m in the process of researching and exploring right now is about Lorenzo Da Ponte.
Da Ponte is most famously the librettist for three of Mozart’s greatest operas- The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and Cosi Fan Tutte. Less famously, he led a most extraordinary life- of which Mozart is only [...]
While continuing to work on my various projects, I have been seeing much theatre and opera in New York City. Here’s what I’ve seen most recently:
The Nosemaker’s Apprentice- This weekend I helped out at The Nosemaker’s Apprentice at the Brick Theatre in Williamsburg. If you saw it, I was the big Jew in the kiosk [...]
The reading went smashingly, thanks to everyone who came out. We had a good crowd, and a goodly talk afterwards and now the real work begins on revising the next draft.
Additionally, work continues on PLAGUED- my musical about the bubonic plague. We are finishing up the first act, and diving head long into the second [...]
This coming Monday I’m off to see Il Trovatore at the Met, and am very excited about it. Trovatore is one of my favorites, because it’s all about pure ludicrous opera singing. The story doesn’t make much sense, but the characters are bigger than life and so are their feelings and so is the music [...]
More bad news for the arts and the economy:
The Ohio Theatre to close.
The Baltimore Opera declares Bankruptcy
More to come, I’m sure….Hold on to your jobs, folks!
Check out Premiere Opera’s podcast excerpt of a concert held in Paris about a month ago- featuring Tenor superstars Juan Diego Florez and Rolando Villazon. Florez sings the uncharacteristic “Ah! Leve-Toi” from Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet, and Villazon sings “O Souverain” from the underrated Le Cid by Massenet. The excerpt finishes with the duet “Ah vieni, [...]
After a brief 7 hour flight from Dublin, I have arrived back in NYC, and am doing my best to fight off jetlag.
My main ally in this effort has been the meticulously constructed lego operas- shortened versions of classic operas as played out by legos. Check out some clips here:
Act I of Carmen
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5p9lzLLT4A8&hl=en&fs=1]
Act II of Tosca-with Lego [...]
