Opera

DONIZETTI'S DON PASQUALE HAS LYRICAL CHARM IN MENDOCINO FESTIVAL PRODUCTION
by Elly Lichenstein
Friday, July 14, 2017

Mendocino Music Festival's production of Donizetti's beloved opera buffa Don Pasquale - a one-night affair July 15 that was presented in an enormous tent on a greensward overlooking the Pacific Ocean - delighted an audience of more than 600 while doing some real justice to this frothy gem of commedi

Opera

ONE-NIGHT STAND AT MMF'S ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO
by Terry McNeill
Friday, July 15, 2016

Mozart’s Opera “Abduction from the Seraglio” has a long reputation as being tough for singers, and it was with some trepidation that I entered the Mendocino Music Festival’s massive white tent July 15 to hear and see the new production from the 30th season. Not to Worry. Conducted by Festival Arti

Opera

FROTHY FROLICKING AT CINNABAR'S MAGICAL FLUTE
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, June 11, 2016

Though having just two acts, Mozart’s Opera “The Magic Flute” encompasses a jumbled fairy tale plot with complicated staging and myriad performers in demanding vocal roles. Petaluma’s Cinnabar Theater took up the arduous challenge of this 1791 work, among Mozart’s last, in a series of performances

Opera

OPERA BUFFA HI JINX IN ROSSINI'S BARBER AT MENDO FESTIVAL
by Ken Bullock
Friday, July 17, 2015

During his July 17 lecture before the sole Mendocino Music Festival performance of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, stage director Eugene Brancoveanu spoke of Commedia Dell’Arte. Mr. Brancoveanu, who sang the baritone title role of Figaro, alluded to the stylized clowning that is sometimes p

Opera

SIR JOHN'S VISUAL FEAST IN CINNABAR THEATER FALSTAFF PRODUCTION
by Terry McNeill
Saturday, June 13, 2015

Verdi’s operas tend to have a visceral impact on listeners, the connection forged by emphasizing starkly realistic human emotions and glorious tunes for singers and richly hued orchestra writing. But not in his last opera written in 1893: Falstaff. In only the Italian master's second comedy, Fals

Opera

HILARIOUS "MARRIAGE OF FIGARO" AT CINNABAR
by Nicki Bell
Friday, May 30, 2014

Opera

POWERFUL OPENING NIGHT FOR CINNABAR'S CARMEN
by Vaida Falconbridge
Saturday, June 1, 2013

When "Carmen" debuted at the Opera Comique in 1875, it was poorly received. Its composer, Georges Bizet, died a few months later, thinking he had written another failure. Now widely considered the most popular opera in the world, "Carmen" was excellently performed and given an enthusiastic reception

Opera

OPERATIC TWIN BILL OPENS AT SONOMA STATE
by Terry McNeill
Thursday, February 7, 2013

Two one-act operas--Haydn's "The Deserted Island" and Vaughan Williams' "Riders to the Sea"--currently being mounted by Sonoma State University's music, theater and dance departments, reflect the University's usual innovative staging and production. On the Feb. 7 opening night Person Theater's 400

Opera

HENNESSEY TRIUMPHS IN CINNABAR'S WEST COAST PREMIERE OF TOBIAS PICKER'S EMMELINE
by Richard Riccardi
Friday, May 28, 2010

Cinnabar Theater continues to excel in the Northern California music world. This small company has once again raised the musical and theatrical bar in their terrific production of Tobias Picker’s 1996 opera “Emmeline” that opened a West Coast premiere May 28 to a boisterous full house in their smal

Opera

ARDENT CHEMISTRY IN CINNABAR'S PUCCINI OPERA
by Elaine Trowbridge
Friday, November 6, 2009

Puccini’s “La Bohème” continues to be one of the most popular operas of all time, a verismo tale of impoverished young artists and writers living in Paris’ Latin Quarter. It opens as they confront the challenges of staying warm and paying the rent. These problems are handled with great humor, spon

OPERA REVIEW

Cinnabar Theater / Friday, May 30, 2014
The ensemble showcases the talents of Kelly Britt (Susanna), Miguel Evangelista (Don Basilio and Don Curzio), William Neely (Bartolo), James Pfeiffer (Antonio), Cary Ann Rosko (Cherubino), Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek (Count Almaviva), Bharati Soman (Countess Rosina), Maayan Voss de Bettancourt (Barbarina), Eugene Walden (Figaro), and Krista Wigle (Marcellina).

Eugene Walden and Kelly Britt

HILARIOUS "MARRIAGE OF FIGARO" AT CINNABAR

by Nicki Bell

Friday, May 30, 2014

The Cinnabar Theater mounted a delightful, madcap, rambunctious, completely charming, extremely funny, very classy production of Mozartʼs opera "The Marriage of Figaro" from May 30 to June 15. With the feel of a 1920s Upstairs/Downstairs farce, it was sung in English and easily understood.

Though Beaumarchais' original play had a strong political undercurrent with a vein of cynical and sometimes bitter humor, the transformations into high comedy with Da Ponte's libretto and Mozart's enchanting music leave the politics of the 18th century far behind. The cast, all excellent operatic singers, had the physical humor, the facial expressions, the comedic timing all pitch perfect. A small chamber orchestra of about a dozen musicians did a terrific job.

The music, some of Mozartʼs most memorable, revealed all the machinations, tribulations and outright farce unfolding on the stage. At one point, one of the singers tossed something to the conductor. The sets of the four acts were clever, the actors momentarily becoming stagehands.

A terrific cast included Kelly Britt as Susanna, Eugene Walden as Figaro, Christian Smith-Kotlarek as a perfect Count Almaviva, lovely Bharati Soman as Countess Rosina, and a remarkably funny and expressive Cary Ann Kosko as Cherubino. The rest of the cast all deserve mention, as do the musicians.

A polished production, beautiful singing, hysterically funny, this "Marriage of Figaro" was a winner.