Review: The Lyric Opera Sharpens the Cutting Edge with The Listeners
The Lyric Opera of Chicago is refreshing classical music by bringing in newer works. The Listeners is written by Missy Mazzoli with a libretto by Royce Vavrek based on the […]
Review: Beethoven’s Fidelio Is an Abstraction of Love, Freedom, and the Cost of Tyranny at Lyric Opera
The Lyric Opera of Chicago continues its 50th season with Beethoven’s Fidelio, an opera not often staged in the repertoire of great opera houses. Perhaps it is the political tone […]
Review: Verdi’s Rigoletto Triumphs as the Season Opener for the Lyric Opera of Chicago
There has been a lot of discourse on the survival of opera companies in America. Even the revered Met has met criticisms for everything from the artistic direction and performance […]
Review: Aida at Lyric Opera Is an Entertaining and Opulent Extravaganza of Verdi’s Finest Work
Guiseppe Verdi’s Aida is perhaps one of his best-known operas and of all Italian operas. It has the treachery, aching love, and tragedy that befalls the great heroines of this […]
Review: Champion at the Lyric Defines Opera in Jazz With Story of Boxer Emile Griffith
Champion is the story of welterweight boxer Emile Griffith’s career in boxing with a life-defining fatal bout in 1962 against Benny “Kid” Paret. I believe that an opera in jazz […]
Review: Lyric Presents Rossini’s Cinderella/La Cenerentola With a Twist
I have four copies of Grimm’s Fairy Tales in my library and while I have a weird fondness for dark morality tales, I also enjoy the story of the stepchild […]
Review: The Flying Dutchman Opens Lyric’s Season with Obsession, a Curse, and Unrequited Love
The Lyric Opera has produced some of the finest interpretations of Richard Wagner in the world of opera and the season opener of The Flying Dutchman may be my favorite. […]
Review: Standout Performances in Lyric Opera’s Uneven West Side Story
Choreography by Jerome Robbins, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and music by Leonard Bernstein are the calling cards of West Side Story. This is an energetic and passionate contemporary retelling directed […]
Review: Lyric’s Carmen Features Strong Performances, But the Plot Can Be Troubling
Georges Bizet produced some of opera’s most memorable music for Carmen, his 1875 composition, set in Spain and sung in French, about a wildly free-spirited woman whose fickle and domineering […]
Review: Lyric Opera’s Hip-Hopera The Factotum Is a Cut Above
Barbershops and beauty salons are important cultural hubs for communities of color. “In my day, a barber was more than just somebody who sit around in a FUBU shirt with […]
Review: Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel Is a Feast for the Senses at Lyric Opera
What do you get when you mix Englebert Humperdinck, a visual homage to German expressionism, Weimar decadence, and gorgeous singing? The answer is Hansel and Gretel at the Lyric Opera. […]
Review: Wonder of Wonders—Fiddler on the Roof at the Lyric Opera
Last year, the Lyric Opera presented a dazzling production of The Magic Flute originally conceived for Berlin’s Komische Oper by Australian director Barrie Kosky. Now, the Lyric is at it […]