Victor Cordell
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Recent Articles:
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The Elixir of Love Front Page
Donizetti's Frothy Comedy at San Francisco Opera
By: - Nov 21st, 2023Poor Nemorino is in love with his employer, Adina, but she has other things in mind. Along comes Dr. Dulcamara, an itinerant snake oil salesman, who has just the love potion that will make Nemorino irresistible to Adina. Of course, it's really red wine. Frivolity ensues and all live happily ever after.
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Omar Front Page
Giddens and Abels' Pulitzer Prize Winning Opera
By: - Nov 17th, 2023In this fact-based story, a Muslim scholar is captured and enslaved in South Carolina. After various travails, he is purchased by a relatively humane master who encourages his writing and religious thinking, even while arguing that he prays to a false God, believing the Muslim Allah to be different from the Christian God.
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Four Plays From Broadway And Beyond Front Page
Premieres and Revivals
By: - Nov 15th, 2023These were seen by the reviewer on a trip to NYC for the American Theatre Critics Association conference. Each of the four is worth seeing with history and music being common threads. Supported by excerpts of period music, "Spies" tells the true story of a 17th century friar who was charged with preventing what would become the 30 Years War. The dark "Watch" uses operatic form and modern dance to tell a story related to the real-life mass murders in a Charleston church with a black congregation and a Pittsburgh synagogue. "Wholesale" is a heavily adapted revival of the 1962 musical that launched Barbra Streisand's career. "Love" tells the story of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos in sung-through immersive disco fashion!
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Bulrusher Front Page
Relationships and Mysticism in the California Redwoods
By: - Nov 03rd, 2023A black foundling with a gift for reading the future is raised in a seemingly color-blind community. The people relationships that surround her are sometimes complicated and opaque. And when the niece of the only black man in town arrives, the horizons of the now 18-year old, Bulrusher, expand.
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The Emissary Front Page
Opera Parallele's World Premiere of Hands-On-Opera With Environmental Focus
By: - Oct 28th, 2023In this family-oriented opera, Japan has endured an environmental catastrophe that isolates it from the rest of the world. Children are more feeble than the aged. Despite his prognosis, the young Mumei is optimistic and gives cheer to his great-grandfather Yoshiro.
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Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley Front Page
First Sequel to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" at Altarena Playhouse
By: - Oct 22nd, 2023The homely but whip smart Mary is the middle sister of five. Unmarried; without a dowry; and at risk of being dispossessed from her family home when her father dies, a suitable marital match would be welcomed. Newly title young duke, Arthur de Bourgh, is visiting for the holidays. While he and Mary share interests, he does have baggage.
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Without You Front Page
A Memoir of Love, Loss, and the Musical "Rent"
By: - Oct 20th, 2023Anthony Rapp revives his 2013 one-man show, supported by a five-piece rock band. He shares vignettes about the launch of the 1996 rock musical "Rent," singing songs from the musical as well as his own compositions. But his real emphasis is on the deaths of two people close to him. The creator of "Rent," Jonathan Larson died unexpectedly after the dress rehearsal to "Rent," while Rapp's loving mother suffered decline before her death from cancer.
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Lohengrin Front Page
A Compelling but Foreboding Realization by San Francisco Opera
By: - Oct 17th, 2023Within Wagner’s canon, "Lohengrin" represents the apotheosis of his Romantic period and the launch point for his magnum opus, the four-opera music drama, the Ring Cycle. As with much of the composer’s output, “Lohengrin” draws from Norse-Germanic mythology with strong fairy tale elements and moral-religious overtones. The libretto is considered by many to be to be his best plotted. Its breadth is breathtaking with themes of love, fidelity, trust, belief, misogyny, sacrifice, betrayal, revenge, tribalism, militarism, and more.
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Of Mice and Men - Opera Version Front Page
Livermore Valley Opera's Compelling Production
By: - Oct 09th, 2023Composer/librettist Carlisle Floyd drew on Nobel Laureate John Steinbeck for one of his most successful operas, “Of Mice and Men.” It hews closely to the simple plotline of the novella, which is one of America’s distinguished, if controversial literary works, locally banned on various grounds, including sex, violence, racism, and euthanasia.
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Ivanov - An Immersive Adaptation Front Page
Classic Chekhov as Basis for Stylized, Interactive Performance
By: - Oct 09th, 2023Santa Fe based Exodus Ensemble has introduced theater that has become about as immersive as possible, short of the patrons spontaneously driving the narrative. Performed by a troupe of talented and committed actors, this new form of entertainment already has a track record of delighting those who value youth, spontaneity, innovation, audience participation, and rule breaking. Those preferring more established modes may be split on whether this kind of entertainment works for them.
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Nollywood Dreams Front Page
A Riotous Look at Making It in the Nigerian Film Industry
By: - Oct 06th, 2023Set in Lagos in the ‘90s, the story centers on a young woman who hopes to break into show business by responding to an open audition for the lead in a movie. Many universal issues arise, but with the addition of West African context and characters.
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The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs Front Page
Technology Scores Big in the Storyline and the Score
By: - Sep 26th, 2023Composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell strike gold with this focused bio that should find a place on the opera circuit. San Francisco Opera's stunning production along with superb performances make it even better. The title character is portrayed with all of his positive and negative complexity, and even operagoers who learn nothing new about Jobs will find the opera highly involving and entertaining.
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POTUS: Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive Front Page
A President's Improprieties Trigger a Zany Cavalcade of Events
By: - Sep 22nd, 2023The subtitle of the play suggests where it’s going. But if you think that it may simply be misandristic, that wouldn’t be correct. Given the crazy antics of these females who are close to the president, you could just as easily add the word dumbass in front of the word women. In any case, the result is “POTUS,” a farce that had Berkeley Rep’s opening night audience laughing with glee from start to finish. But it's not for everyone.
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Il Trovatore Front Page
One of Verdi's Most Challenging and Emotional Operas
By: - Sep 19th, 2023The title character is Manrico, a troubadour and leader of a Roma troupe. Unbeknownst to anyone but his adoptive mother, he is of noble blood and the brother of his arch enemy, Count di Luna. They contest not only in the communal and political world but for the love of a woman, Leonora.
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Bald Sisters Front Page
A Clash of Cultural and Family Values.
By: - Sep 19th, 2023One Cambodian-American sister has married a Christian pastor and has remained in Dallas, where the mother had resettled the family. The younger sister had moved to New York City, rejecting some of the family's values, but reconnecting with Buddhism. When their mother dies, the sisters face conflicts that extend well beyond dealing with death rites.
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The Addams Family Front Page
A Fun Look At The Ghoulish Family
By: - Sep 16th, 2023Horrors! Guess who's coming to dinner. Gomez and Morticia's daughter Wednesday has fallen in love and wants to marry a "normal" young man. She has even invited him and his family over for a meal. What can be done to stop such a fearsome turn of events?
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Crowns Front Page
An Uplifting Celebration of African-American Women and Hats They Wear To Church
By: - Sep 14th, 2023Hats are an integral part of the African-American woman's church attendance. Playwright Regina Taylor celebrates not only hats but the women that wear them - their fortitude, their triumphs, and their tragedies. Animated vignettes and a gospel dominated song book provide for a rousing entertainment.
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Romeo and Juliet - Gounod's Opera Front Page
Fine Voices and Acting of Young Opera San Jose Cast Carry Opera
By: - Sep 11th, 2023"Romeo and Juliet" reigns as the touchstone of love stories centuries after its creation. But the play offers depth of meaning and cautions in many other social realms which contribute to its greatness. Adapted in many genres, Gounod's opera remains perhaps the most compelling and enduring realization. Its lush music and tight adherence to the Bard's work yield a timeless masterpiece.
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Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical Front Page
Dominique Morisseau's Second Musical About Black Song In The Late 20th Century at San Francisco's ACT
By: - Sep 08th, 2023After her Broadway success with "Ain't Too Proud," which also premiered in the Bay Area, Morisseau pays homage to "Soul Train," the syndicated TV show that became the Black community's "American Bandstand." The playwright also successfully integrates a warts-and-all biography of creator and longtime host, Don Cornelius.
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Mahabharata Front Page
A Highly Abbreviated Version of the Longest Poem Ever Written
By: - Aug 14th, 2023The Mahabharata is regarded by many to be the fifth veda, or sacred Hindu religious text. Appropriately, the storyteller in this production, J Jha, is transgender, as the stories are told from both male and female perspectives, and sexual ambiguity plays an appreciable role. Jha gives an inspired solo performance in delivering a narrative that centers on a war between competing bands of cousins fighting for control of BCE Bharat, which would become India.
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The Nightingale & Erwartung - A Double Bill Front Page
West Edge Opera Offers a Dynamic Duo of Short, Atonal Operas
By: - Aug 08th, 2023Stravinsky's "The NIghtingale" sets a simple but thoughtful Hans Christian Anderson tale to music. Production values sizzle. With Schoenberg's "Erwartung," the setting of the psychologically-driven soliloquy is switched from forest to hospital. The use of dancers as mute characters adds depth and diversity to the narrative.
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Rusalka Front Page
Fine Performances Benefit This Appealing Opera
By: - Aug 06th, 2023“Rusalka” ranks as Dvorák’s most popular opera and with good reason. Applying Wagnerian principles with leitmotifs and in sung-through fashion, it also draws from Czech folk music. The thoroughly romantic, luxuriant music possesses extractable set pieces of compelling melody and emotion. The fairy tale story draws on several sources, mixing light and dark, with a resulting dramatic outcome.
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Pelléas et Mélisande Front Page
Santa Fe Opera's Take on a Brooding Tale from Debussy and Maeterlinck
By: - Aug 05th, 2023Claude Debussy sought a prospective opera libretto in which characters seemed out of place, out of time, and only half disclosed. For “Pelléas et Mélisande,” he found his soulmate in future Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck, whose opaqueness suited Debussy so well that he adapted the playwright’s work almost verbatim. The result was a turn-of-the-century landmark - Debussy’s only completed opera.
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Orfeo Front Page
A Scintillating World Premiere Orchestration of This Oldest Opera
By: - Aug 03rd, 2023The uniqueness of Santa Fe Opera's facility and setting make for a stunning visualization of Monteverdi's early masterpiece. With the back stagewall initially open to nature, the scenario begins in literal and figurative brightness; followed by a threatening storm in the mesas behind; leading to brutal darkness on stage with deliciously harsh lighting effects. Modern orchestration smooths the Baroque edges of the music.
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Cruzar la Cara de la Luna: A Mariachi Opera Front Page
Mariachi Music Makes it to the Opera House
By: - Jul 25th, 2023The story is about Laurentino, a man in New York who immigrated from Mexico half a century before. On his deathbed, he reveals an undisclosed past to his family. He had a first wife in Mexico who died in the crossing and a son who returned to his native land. A poignant metaphor of the butterfly recurs in the music and conversation. When the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis and moves on from its life as a caterpillar, it never returns to the same location, reenacting life’s transformation in a new land. It is only the descendants that circle back to the homeland of earlier generations.
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