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The Pirates of Penzance
: :When New York theatrical producer Joseph Papp decided to bring Gilbert and Sullivan to Broadway, he added typically broad, bold strokes to make their singular operetta format meaningful to 1980s audiences. In The Pirates of Penzance, Papp had a story that offered a mixture of potential action and comedy that was less arcane than other G&S chestnuts, which Papp's production underlined by playing up its antic conflict between its hapless, titular pirates and the citizens of Penzance, the Cornish town targeted for plunder. Adding to the new production's mainstream allure was the theatrical ...
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Naughty Marietta
: :When New York theatrical producer Joseph Papp decided to bring Gilbert and Sullivan to Broadway, he added typically broad, bold strokes to make their singular operetta format meaningful to 1980s audiences. In The Pirates of Penzance, Papp had a story that offered a mixture of potential action and comedy that was less arcane than other G&S chestnuts, which Papp's production underlined by playing up its antic conflict between its hapless, titular pirates and the citizens of Penzance, the Cornish town targeted for plunder. Adding to the new production's mainstream allure was the theatrical ...
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Verdi - La Traviata / Levine, Stratas, Domingo
: :When New York theatrical producer Joseph Papp decided to bring Gilbert and Sullivan to Broadway, he added typically broad, bold strokes to make their singular operetta format meaningful to 1980s audiences. In The Pirates of Penzance, Papp had a story that offered a mixture of potential action and comedy that was less arcane than other G&S chestnuts, which Papp's production underlined by playing up its antic conflict between its hapless, titular pirates and the citizens of Penzance, the Cornish town targeted for plunder. Adding to the new production's mainstream allure was the theatrical ...
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Gilbert & Sullivan - The Mikado (1966 D'Oyly Carte)
: :This 1966 film version of The Mikado from the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company exemplifies that group's approach to its resident gods. If you're familiar with the company's classic Gilbert and Sullivan recordings from the same period, you'll recognize the style (and many of the performers). Beautifully sung, articulated with lavish care, the production is so measured it suffocates the comedy. The reverent pacing has the aura of something dictated by ancient tradition, as if we're watching Kabuki. Yet that gives it a campy charm. Though made for the screen, this version derives closely ...
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La Boheme: Puccini, Gardelli, Cotrubas, Shicoff, Royal Opera Covent Garden (With 55-page Booklet)
:Description:Puccini's great operatic masterpiece is a tragic love story and one of the best loved works of its kind throughout the world. It is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris among the Bohemian students whose hectic gaiety only partially masks the despair and pain that threaten their lives. With its stark contrasts of lively humour and poignant tragedy, La Boheme is one of Puccini's most immediate and compelling works. This spectacular Royal Opera House production stars Ileana Cotrubas and Neil Shicoff as Mimi and Rodolfo in Puccini's tragic love story. :This full-blooded ...
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Offenbach - La Vie Parisienne / Ossonce, DeLavault, Opera National de Lyon
: :Offenbach's melodious extravaganza is essentially a celebration of Paris as a tourist trap, a background for attempted seductions, and a fertile source of routine flim-flams. This 1991 Opera National de Lyon production, emanating from one of Paris's chief rivals among French cities, focuses gleefully on the sordid aspects of the City of Lights, but its strongest appeal is in the quality of the singing and dancing. The opening scene of La Vie Parisienne takes place in a railroad station around the year 1860; tourists are pouring in from all parts of the world, ...
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Meyerbeer - Les Huguenots / Bonynge, Sutherland, Thane, Australian Opera
: :Offenbach's melodious extravaganza is essentially a celebration of Paris as a tourist trap, a background for attempted seductions, and a fertile source of routine flim-flams. This 1991 Opera National de Lyon production, emanating from one of Paris's chief rivals among French cities, focuses gleefully on the sordid aspects of the City of Lights, but its strongest appeal is in the quality of the singing and dancing. The opening scene of La Vie Parisienne takes place in a railroad station around the year 1860; tourists are pouring in from all parts of the world, ...
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Rossini - Semiramide / Conlon, Anderson, Horne, Metropolitan Opera
: :Bel canto can be translated as 'pretty singing,' and that definition seems tailor-made for this production, which offers grace, charm, and a fine-tuned sense of style in abundance to compensate for its limited psychological and emotional impact. The four principal singers are all specialists in the bel canto style, and this opera has played a key role in building their substantial reputations. Their singing is more spectacular than their acting, but that is what bel canto is all about. Those who want gut-wrenching situations and passionate emoting should try the verismo style. Meanwhile, ...
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Verdi - La Traviata / Patane, Moffo, Bonisolli, Rome Opera House
: :Musically, this is a quite satisfactory Traviata. Visually and sonically, it has a few small problems (pre-digital sound, imperfect tape splices, moments of imprecise lip-synchronization), but it can be recommended for those who enjoy less-than-perfect historic recordings. Anna Moffo was an endearing Violetta, and her identification with the role is lovingly captured by director Mario Lanfranchi, who was her husband, with charming close-ups and detailed attention to her body language. Giuseppe Patane was one of the best Italian opera conductors of his generation, and he treats Verdi's masterpiece with stylistic sensitivity allied to ...
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Boito - Mefistofele / Arena, Ramey, Benackova, San Francisco Opera
: :Arrigo Boito's treatment of the Faust legend has never been as popular as Gounod's, but Boito was an imaginative composer and a great librettist (he wrote the words for Verdi's Otello and Falstaff, the two finest librettos in Italian opera). As the title suggests, his Mefistofele puts the spotlight on the diabolical villain of the story at least as much as its hapless hero. It is a role ideally suited to Samuel Ramey, requiring a rich, deep voice, a striking stage presence, and only elementary acting skills. He has taken it to most ...
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