What do you get when you cross Richard Wagner’s “The Ring Cycle,” with its dramatic story of warring gods and goddesses told by the light of an exorbitant musical tapestry, the humorous animations of Warner Bros., a large helping of ironic self-awareness? Well, you end up with “What’s Opera, Doc?” The brain child of animators Chuck Jones and Michael Maltese, {…}
What happens when you mix incredible beauty with a knack for theatrical allure, a stellar work ethic, as well as a drive to succeed? Of course, you produce someone who’s situation can never get the best of them. Within the annals of operatic history are many figures for whom their upbringing did not promise them anything that was afforded them {…}
Photo: ShoutPR (Shout Factory) This review was written jointly by Chris and Finn Ruel. Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” directed by Florian Sigl, hit the silver screen nationwide on Mar. 10, 2023. It’s a fantasy film that captures the essence of Mozart’s stunning operatic fairy tale and does it well. There is much to commend about Sigl’s film. It’s well put {…}
Peter Sellars warned the crowd gathered in the Rubin Museum on a recent Friday night that the film would be long. “It’s only an hour and fifteen minutes,” he said. “But the beginning feels like several lifetimes.” At first, the caution was unnecessary. “this body is so impermanent,” a new film Sellars directed at the height of the pandemic, explores {…}
Although they are best known for films such as “The Cocoanuts” (1929), “At The Circus” (1939), and “A Night in Casablanca” (1949), one of the Marx brothers operatic-related films was just as spell-binding and deserves its place in history. When “A Night At The Opera” first premiered in 1935 in the continental United States, the brothers were still under contract {…}
Films based on opera often feel inadequate. They are frequently an attempt to introduce reality into art, and this concept is flawed. Directors fail to realize that what it should be is the other way around: bringing art into reality, making opera about human beings and their everyday trials. Luckily, some directors do know what they’re doing, and Italian director {…}
Ukrainian writer Ivan Kotlyarevsky wrote the original story of “Natalka Poltavka” in 1819. Scholars and nationals alike consider Kotlyarevsky to be the “father” of Ukraine’s literature. Having helped Ukrainian literature make the jump from its older form to its new form in the late 18th to early 19th centuries, Kotlyarevsky (much like Pushkin for Russian literature) mirrored the societies in which {…}
This month the Metropolitan Opera celebrates the holiday season with three productions opening. So we will continue our series that introduces newcomers to opera through film. Opera can be daunting and while some works are more well-known than others, those that have never been to the opera, don’t have the same connection to certain works as traditional operagoers do. This {…}
Censorship. Repression. Scorn. Brutality. Humor. Absurdity. Hysteria. Russia’s relationship with self-expression has been a fraught one throughout its tumultuous history. Full of danger and hardship, with no guarantee that your vision will be seen, respected, or even tolerated unless it is confined to authorized narratives, music has always been that one art form whose voice is hard to control and {…}
November at the Metropolitan Opera will showcase three new operas productions. Audiences will see “Don Carlo” starring tenor Russell Thomas, “Rigoletto,” and the world premiere production of “The Hours” starring Renee Fleming and Joyce DiDonato. In the third article of the series, we will look at two of those operas and their corresponding silver screen adaptations. The Hours Modern operas {…}
The now well-known story of a celibate, chaste monk (Athanaël) trying to convert a licentious courtesan and worshiper of the Goddess of Love (Thaïs), has decorated operatic stages and captivated audiences since its premiere on 1894 at the Opéra Garnier (National Opera House) in Paris, France. With a harrowing story originally written by the French writer Anatole France in 1890, {…}