Jeanne Beker, the fashion maven herself on Poppea: I never fail to be transported whenever I drink in an Opera Atelier production. But The Coronation of Poppea is especially mesmerizing–for its sumptuous sets and costumes, profoundly beautiful music, gorgeous choreography, and utterly compelling performances. Marshall Pynkoski is the real hero here: His insightful direction [...]
Posts from ‘April, 2009’
“Conclusions say more than beginnings about the quality of the art.” R.H. Thomson blogs about Poppea
Conclusions say more than beginnings about the quality of the art. How a script concludes and a production lands will indicate the artistic company being kept. In film most writers can create an intriguing beginning, few an intriguing ending. The maturity of the artist usually reveals itself in the last act. The Coronation of [...]
“Loved Desperate Housewives: Ancient Rome Edition.”
Loved Desperate Housewives: Ancient Rome Edition. Poppea in particular was beautifully sung, and the closing duet was absolutely gorgeous. Of course, OA’s usual high standards of design (was that a Venetian figure of death/cardinal looming over Poppea’s budoir?) were very much in evidence – Ottavia’s throne scenes were masteries of economy and style. Great [...]
It’s a story of power lust, treachery, seduction, and murder…
We are delighted to have Libby Znaimer (VP News and Information Classical 96.3FM and AM740 and host of ”The Zoomer Report”) guest blogging for us. Read on. – Marshall It’s a story of power lust, treachery, seduction, and murder. But Opera Atelier’s The Coronation of Poppea offers more than your average operatic plot. The singing holds a [...]
Blog roll continues…
We received an impression from Jacqueline Myers, a technical writer who attended our dress. Enjoy. - Marshall Hello, my name is Jacqueline Myers and my sister and I were at the dress rehearsal of The Coronation of Poppea last night. First of all, can I just say it was absolutely GORGEOUS. I’m a huge fan of [...]
Thoughts before opening…
The night before last we had our dress rehearsal of Poppea and it was so marvelous it practically makes me nervous. Thank God we ran out of time and were unable to complete our curtain calls, otherwise I’d be afraid that tonight’s opening would be jinxed. What with 1000 high school students in the theatre, [...]
“A darkened theatre, sumptuous costumes, beautiful voices and an age-old tale of ambition, lust and murder? I’m in.”
We welcome our guest blogger Sarah Slean and will let her take it away! – Marshall Take some Shakespearian themes, a lusty Roman emperor, and an ambitious fox – add a misunderstood philosopher, a comic Nurse and of course a hapless, conflicted macho buffoon. Sounds like a party! Michael Maniaci, whose every gesture aptly [...]
The dress is over and tomorrow we open
I’m seated in the house of Elgin theatre preparing for this evening’s piano/tech rehearsal. I can never get over how gorgeous the Elgin is and how fortunate Opera Atelier is to have it as a home base. Whenever European performers work with us for the first time, they are invariably flabbergasted when they first enter [...]
The wandelprobe and beyond…
Two days ago we finally had all of our Poppea performers under one roof for our Wandelprobe. We had already spent an enormous amount of rehearsal time with the very large continuo section which accompanies the singers but interestingly enough, the full orchestra never accompanies the vocalists. The full orchestra is used exclusively for the ritornellos [...]