The Opera Tattler

Reviews of Performances and their Audiences

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Category: Opera Review

  • Opening of Manon Lescaut

    * Notes * Lyric Opera of Chicago's production of Manon Lescaut opened with a matinee performance yesterday. The production, designed by Frank Philipp Schlössmann, was completely traditional, rather unlike the 2004 Der Fliegende Holländer, which was the last Lyric production to come here. This production, taken as a whole, has been my favorite thus far…

  • Fredda ed immobile

    * Notes * The seventh performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia this season was at least better than the last I saw. Things may have been helped by standing in the balcony, where the sound is better. I could definitely hear Nathan Gunn (Figaro) more clearly except when he was in the upper room of…

  • Tra la la. Largo al factotum.

    * Notes * Alarmingly, the fifth performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia this season was worse than opening night, at least as far as Act I. John Osborn (Count Almaviva) was flat, Allyson McHardy (Rosina) gasped in her prominent aria "Una voce poco fa," Nathan Gunn (Figaro) seemed more concerned with his Vespa than with…

  • Opening of Il Barbiere

    * Notes * A revival of Johannes Schaaf’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia production from 2003 opened last night on Halloween. Hans Dieter Schaal’s set looked as white and stark as ever, the centerpiece being a German fantasy of the Barbie Malibu Dream House, which Thomas May describes as "Bauhaus inflected." The scene changes do go…

  • Oed’ und leer das Meer

    * Notes *The fourth performance of Tristan und Isolde was last night, and it was consistent with the previous performance I saw last week. Thomas Moser (Tristan) started off pretty well in Act I, and he sang beautifully in Act II, but by Act III he was rather quiet. * Tattling * The audience was…

  • The Kirov in Costa Mesa, CA

    * Notes* It was my intention to go to the Kirov’s production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, which ran from 6-11. October in Orange County. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but I did make it to the matinee performance of Boris Godunov yesterday. They did the 1869 version of the work with no intermission,…

  • Closing of Die Fledermaus

    * Notes * Die Fledermaus ended its seven performance run at San Francisco Opera yesterday. It was as charming as ever, almost everyone had it together for the final go-around. Wolfgang Brendel had the correct footing for his Rockettesque duet with Eugene Brancoveanu at the end of Act II. Likewise, Brancoveanu managed to keep the…

  • Frisch weht der Wind

    * Notes * Los Angeles Opera’s 1987 production of Tristan und Isolde was revived last week in San Francisco. The production was designed by David Hockney, best known for his swimming pool paintings from the sixties. The set looked much like a large-scale colorful pop-up book, filled with strange details, such as curtains attached to…

  • Mistero e Malinconia

    Giorgio de ChiricoMistero e Malinconia di una Strada, 1914Oil on canvas, 88 x 72 cmPrivate collection * Notes * Apparently Michael Yeargan’s set for Rigoletto is based on Giorgio de Chirico’s architectural paintings. De Chirico (1888- 1978) started on this particular style in 1910 when he was living in Florence and moved on from metaphysical…

  • O Gott, wie rührt mich dies!

    * Notes * Former General Director Lotfi Mansouri’s production of Die Fledermaus was revived this season at San Francisco Opera and ends its run this Friday. Wolfram Skalicki’s trompe-l’œil sets are reminiscent of Edward Gorey drawings. Thierry Bosquet’s costumes are 19th century and suit the operetta. Peggy Hickey’s choreography was a bit on the dull…