Tag Archives: Florida Grand Opera

Bored? 10 Openings This Week And 5 Next Week, 4 Last Week And That’s Not All, Folks

In addition to the two major productions still running that opened earlier this month and the four productions that opened last week, there will be 10 – count ‘em 10 – productions opening this week, not to mention five more opening the following week.

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Florida Grand Opera’s No Exit Ascends Hot Damn Perfection

With its ingenious, acrobatic score, and exceptional singers who could handle both the drama and the demands, FGO’s No Exit may have been a depiction of hell, but the production was hot damn perfection. The only regret was that this was a three-day run. If you must, go through heaven and hell to get to the final performance of this production tonight. It’s a once in lifetime experience.

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FGO’s Nabucco Features Two Of The Few Sopranos Willing To Perform The Voice-Killing Role

On opening night at Florida Grand Opera’s production of Nabucco, the audience joined the chorus singing “Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate.” The sing along was the highlight of an otherwise entertaining if not especially thrilling rendition of Verdi’s first major success notable because two of the three or four singers willing to do the role of Abigaille had been hired by FGO.

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Mourning Becomes Electra Is Glorious Spectacle Of Raging Passions From Marvin Levy

It’s impossible to say whether Marvin David Levy’s Mourning Becomes Electra is The Great American Opera that it has been touted to be, but it unquestionably is a glorious spectacle of raging passions that deserves to be seen and heard not just at the Broward Center but around the world.

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Back From Exile, Levy’s Mourning Becomes Electra Finally Gets Local Bow At Florida Grand Opera

Considering that some aficionados say Mourning Becomes Electra is one of the most thrilling operas ever written, Fort Lauderdale composer Marvin David Levy can be forgiven a bit of curmudgeonly pique that it’s also one you’ve never heard. That will change Thursday thanks to the Florida Grand Opera.

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Florida’s 2013-2014 Season Champions New & Newish Works

Encouraging trends emerge while poking among the entrails of the new season schedules for South Florida theater. Among them: an emphasis on new and newer works as producers and artistic directors try to seduce younger audiences, meaning people under 70.

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FGO’s La Traviata Surprisingly Well-Acted As Well As Sung

The surprising virtue of Florida Grand Opera’s 11th retelling of Verdi’s La Traviata is that for all the performers singing high E’s at the top of their lungs, all the falling to their knees in sorrow or illness, for all the oversized passions, it’s believable.

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La Sonnambula Is No Snooze Thanks To Stunning Turn By Rachele Gilmore

You don’t have to be a musicologist or opera aficionado to recognize the stunning meld of emotion and technique in the artistry of Rachele Gilmore’s performance of the title role in Florida Grand Opera’s production of La Sonnambula.

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FGO’s Offbeat Magic Flute As Funny As It’s Beautifully Sung

In a classic opera depicting the battle between intellectual enlightenment and romanticism with allusions to ancient Masonic rituals, you don’t expect a character to exclaim, “Mrs. Robinson, are you trying to seduce me?” But this is director Jeffrey Marc Buchman’s whimsical take on Mozart’s The Magic Flute, one of the most popular operas of all time, in part, because its inherent irreverence begs to be enhanced with goofball humor and imaginative re-interpretations – both of which mark the Florida Grand Opera’s edition.

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FGO’s La boheme Still Thrills

It shouldn’t work. Not anymore. Not in the 21st Century. That time-worn plot, the one-dimensional characters, the unabashed sentiment. But Florida Grand Opera’s production of La bohème underscores how Puccini’s masterpiece remains a moving, even relatable experience after more than a century of familiarity, lampoons and Broadway adaptations.

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