Word: libretto
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Unfortunately, such glimpses of sharp humor tease but do not deliver. Gilbert's libretto satirizes Victorian England, and his allusions were blunt and meaningful to contemporary audiences. A modern staging also needs some deeper dimension to do justice to the operetta. this Iolanthe shows possibilities but does not explore them; the campiness factor, the battle between sexes, or its interpretation as the first Jungle Fever could all be developed further. As it stands, Fairyland has as much bite as a flat scene on the back of a Crayola box, and the Lords react to its inhabitants the same why they...
Perhaps one reason for the dramatic effectiveness of the production is its use of an English translation of the libretto. The clear diction of the cast ensures that no word is lost, even in the larger ensembles. The translation itself lacks any particular spice, and at times seems to support the argument that there really just is more room for redundancy in languages we don't understand than in English...
...Abbott unveiled his baseball musical Damn Yankees on Broadway in May 1955, a month before his 68th birthday, he almost certainly didn't expect to attend opening night of a revival nearly 39 years later. He surely didn't expect to be 106 and actively supervising revisions to his libretto about a middle-aged man who sells his soul to the devil for one glorious season as a long-ball hitter. But Abbott was more than a ceremonial presence at last week's gala. He was in the audience for previews night after night -- taking notes. Since well before...
...week and whose fondness for outmoded, Schoenberg- style serialism remains unabated. The story of Esther's dramatic rescue of the Jews from the evil Persian vizier Haman, celebrated each year in the feast of Purim, is one of the Bible's most gripping tales, and Weisgall, working to a libretto by Charles Kondek, has told it well. Tunes, no; drama, yes. The stark and uncompromising Esther is a powerful evening of musical theater, highlighted by the electric performance of soprano Lauren Flanigan in the title role...
Laderman's Marilyn, on the other hand, is for grownups. The libretto by Norman Rosten, based on his 1973 memoir Marilyn: An Untold Story, concentrates on Norma Jean's notorious love life, tracing her downward spiral to a drug- induced death in 1962. Soprano Kathryn Gamberoni gives a breakthrough performance as Monroe: after this, companies should be lining up to offer her femmes fatales from Bellini's Norma to Berg's Lulu. The opera, however, is as much of a mess as Marilyn was. Rosten's lines (Marilyn to her half-sister: "How's your little dog Lollie...