Friday, March 20, 2009

Opera Queens - La Sonnambula is a Must See at the Mahaiwe


Short notice, I know, but you simply must drop everything and get down to Great Barrington's Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center to see The Met's new production of Bellini's La Sonnambula (The Sleepwalker) telecast in HD because the bel canto singing is not the only attraction, the cast is gorgeous too. It is slated for Saturday, March 21 at 1 pm.

The musical purists - you know the ones who are loathe to see any sacred cow gored - were horrified that The Met dared to do a new - gasp! - modern production. But oh, that rascal Peter Gelb, their young and daring General Manager is desperately trying to repot that root-bound institution to prepare it for the future. Clearly my colleague (and former rock critic) Charles Giuliano not only liked it, but loved what they did to this great, if silly, old chestnut. He gives it the once over at Berkshire Fine Arts. It's an opera review for the masses, not for musicologists. About time someone woke up and saw the future.

For more information on the Metropolitan Opera High Definition Telecasts, and list of theatres that show them you can visit The Met site.

3 comments:

GregH said...

Thank you Larry ! It's a wonderful thing to create Gay Berkshires . After all we have been here all along (for centuries) ! I love your writing and look forward to checking in regularly.

Thanks again for being first with this valuable public service.

Greg Howard

Anonymous said...

I have just learned that tickets for this opera at the Mahaiwe are sold out. Damn!

Larry Murray said...

There may be tickets still available for the West Springfield or Hadley theatres.