The Opera Tattler
Reviews of Performances and their Audiences
Category: Cal Performances
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The world premiere of Jake Heggie's Last Acts (Three Decembers) occurred on Leap Day at Houston Grand Opera, the first of eight performances. The reviews do not look favorable so far, laughter was mentioned, as was Broadway. The same cast is set to sing when the production comes to Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley at the…
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* Notes * Pina Bausch Tanztheater Wuppertal returned to Cal Performances for the first time in 8 years, with a three day run of the piece Ten Chi. The work has quite a lot more dancing in it than Nelken, the only other work of Bausch's I know. It was a couple of strange Japanese/German dream-like…
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* Notes * Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater comes to Berkeley nearly every year, with several performances and more than one program. This year the New York based company was here from February 28 until March 4, and I attended the first performance. They opened with Twyla Tharp’s The Golden Section from 1983, with music…
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* Notes * NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! was at Cal Performances for two nights on February 8 and 9, 2007. Both performances sold-out. The panelists were Sue Ellicott, Adam Felber, and Paula Poundstone. I attended the second show, which isn’t the regular news quiz, but is on history, and will be aired when…
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* Notes * Trisha Brown Dance Company was in Berkeley for two performances last weekend. In general, I found her style to be rather slow and sculptural. It was intellectually interesting but not engaging on a visceral level. The dancers were good, but there were times when they were not consistent with each other. For…
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* Notes * Henry Purcell’s King Arthur or The British Worthy is not an opera in the usual sense, as the main characters do not sing. The Mark Morris Dance Group production had its American premiere in Berkeley last Saturday, and all of Dryden’s spoken dialogue is cut, meaning King Arthur himself never appears as…
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On Friday, May 3, 1996 I saw half of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, with dance choreographed by Mark Morris, at Zellerbach Hall. This was my first operatic foray. I liked Euridice’s blazing orange colored shift. On Friday, September 27, 1996 I went to San Francisco Opera’s production of Thomas’ Hamlet at the Orpheum Theatre. Ruth…
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