Skip to main content
NORMA  

An opera to make hearts swoon
The Met: Live in HD


When Norma, that Druid priestess chooses to walk into her death by fire for her sins, she stepped into opera immortality, only to be resurrected every decade when a cast of singers converge who can give divine deliverance of Bellini’s blessed opera. 

That day is now — with the Met’s production of Norma, with Sondra Radvanovsky in the lead role.  Her protege priestess-in-training  and rival in love is Joyce DiDonato in her first undertaking of the role of Adalgisa. 

 The pairing of the two for the beloved soprano duets, is wrought with the conflicting emotions of two very good women entangled in relationships with one forbidden lover.  (Tenor Joseph Calleja is the Roman proconsul, Pollione) 

 And if it seems too unbelievable that these good women are so enthralled with the deity while fighting over a man,  their singing together has been proclaimed divine in this production where Conductor Carlo Rizzi and producer Sir David McVicar wrap the beauty of Bellini’s music into a primitive Druid forest of nature and ancient ritual.

History tells of  the Romans conquering tribal people and Rome was to eventually fall from invaders from the north. 

 Fast forward update— it was really opera that conquered Italy, the Roman homeland, in the 19th century.

It was claimed that 'opera mania' had for a century 'absorbed all the artistic energies of the nation’ and there  were no symphonies and plays because 'music was opera, drama was opera', with even painters forsaking canvas to create  the sacred groves of Norma.  Theaters were built for huge audiences, even if there were not enough musicians to perform.  Etc.   (from The Pursuit of Italy by David Gilmore). 

You guessed it.  Norma was a leader of the pack of operas from the glorious three: Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini. 
  
Wagner praised Bellini’s opera in the19th century.  Callas  and Sutherland took the role to the heights into the 20th.  Now Norma  marches into the  21st  century, on the big screen and into our swooning hearts.

And the best news— 
The Met: Live in HD has expanded its repeat showings.
Upcoming is Mozart’s  Die Zauberflöte
 Check it out  at  
 https://www.fathomevents.com/events/





   

Popular posts from this blog

  Once is here again!   The Brooklyn Gallery Players reach into the treasure chest of great musicals to bring Once alive and on stage in Brooklyn (until to December 17, 2023). Director Mark Gallagher , and Music Directors David Fletcher and Brendon McCray have crafted a vibrant production, seamlessly integrating the 15 member cast in roles  as both actors and musicians. Set in Dublin, the  formula for the poignant love triangle  is simple. Patrick Newhart  plays Guy, an Irish musician who has given up  on love as he sings the award winning classic  Falling.  Newhart mastered the bombastic busking guitar style and performed each of his songs with intensity and passion Sophie Smith-Brody  is Girl,  a Czech woman  who will inspire him to try again both in  love and with music. Smith-Brody performed each of her disparate songs with aplomb,  from the opening classical piece to her plaintive solos – If You Want Me and The Hill.  The performance starts  with an “ impromptu”  p
Read more
               TINA - THE TINA TURNER MUSICAL  at The National Theatre              In the 1970s, I  had spent weeks climbing around ruins in Peru.  I heard music of the Andes all over.  I  was  finally at  Machu Picchu to spend the night so I could get up early  and climb to see the sunrise from the top of the ruins.   As I got to steps by the gatekeepe,  I could hear his boom box blaring across the Andes “I Wanna Take You Higher”  by Tina Turner.   You don’t have to go climbing the Andes to hear her songs — Tina-The Tina Turner Musical  isright here  at the National Theatre, Washington DC,  until  Oct. 23, 2022.    The show has broken all records with the awards it has received since in premiered in April 2018 in London.  No one questions that Tina is a musical legend but  for this show  accolades to  the stars Naomi Rodgers and Zurin Villanueva who alternate in the  spectacular role.   At every performance there will be people  who remember seeing Tina “back when” and
Read more
  Sarah Ruhl’s Orlando — sparkling wit and ageless wisdom —   at   Constellation Theatre — gone but not forgotten In Virginia Woolf’s Orlando A Biography ,  the eponymous hero undergoes many changes over the centuries— from roles in society and relationships to sex change.  Since the time travel gender bending work was published in 1928, this his/her story has continued to undergone adaptions to its original form, from analytical scholarly critiques to crowd pleasing  movies and stage plays.  Constellation Theatre Company continued  the tradition with its amazing presentation of Sarah Ruhl’s narrative play Orlando .    Five actors  take on dozens of roles as characters or in the  chorus to keep the story at its rapid pace,  condensing events spanning almost five centuries into 100 minutes.   Orlando (Mary Myers) is  ever the aristocrat whether as a page in the court of  Queen Elizabeth I (Alan Naylor)  or involved with a mysterious Russian princess (Edmee - Marie Faal) or pursued
Read more