Così fan Tutte (Teatro Grattacielo)
Giovanna Yang as Despina, Lina Chung as Fiordiligi, Ricardo Diaz as Ferrando, Young Kwang Yoo as [more]
Teatro Grattacielo
The Tempest (Teatro Grattacielo)
Don’t attend the world premiere of Joseph Summer’s new opera version of William Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" expecting to recognize the text or the characters. Both the libretto by Eve Summer and staging by Teatro Grattacielo’s artistic director Stefanos Koroneos have done their own thing with the original. If you don’t read the program notes before the performance you may be rather confused as to the approach. According to the statement from Koroneos in the program, he imagines Prospero, normally the deposed Duke of Milan, as a film director inside a crumbling 1980s film studio. The enchanted island is filled with inflatable tropical plants, cheap plastic pink flamingos and plastic vines, with a cameraman quietly recording it all. Prospero, previously a magician in thrall to his books, is here seen at an old-fashioned typewriter turning out pages to what one assumes is his latest screenplay. However, if you have not read the notes none of this will be obvious. You may find yourself confused by the typing. [more]
Beyond the Horizon (Teatro Grattacielo)
The libretto by the composer and musicologist Walter Simmons is very faithful to the O’Neill play, almost entirely dialogue taken from the original script. Unfortunately, they chose to shorten the text by 25% (as well as cutting the two intermissions) so that the tragedies happen one on top of the other with little time for intense emotional flights. This also dilutes the sense of irony that all the characters are down on their luck. Reducing the cast list by two tightens the play but changing the little daughter to a son and then keeping in the reference to playing with dolls seems inappropriate. Using O’Neill’s original text leaves hardly any room for arias and the opera sounds mostly like recitative set to music. The orchestrations which began with trumpet calls and included triangle and violin solos added to the power of the story. Conductor Christian Capocaccia did fine work with the orchestra but putting them behind the stage affected both the sound and the singers ability to follow them. [more]