Distinguished NJ Songwriters Joe Rapolla and Joe D’Urso are back this year hosting the celebrated Songwriters by the Sea series at the Lauren K. Woods Theatre. What once started in a small coffee shop as an area for local songwriters has now grown into a series that features some of the top songwriters in the country. This year, the show features special guest Willie Nile
Angela Meade makes her Met role debut as the title character in Semiramide. Rossini’s opera, which has not been seen at the Met in 25 years, will be conducted by Maurizio Benini and feature Elizabeth DeShong as the Commander of the Assyrian army Arsace, Javier Camarena as an Indian king Idreno, Ildar Abdrazakov as the prince Assur, and Ryan Speedo Green as the high priest Oroe.
Phelim McDermott returns to the Met staging Mozart’s comedy Così fan tutte, led by David Robertson. Set in the 1950s on Coney Island, the cast features Amanda Majeski as the conflicted Fiordiligi; Serena Malfi as her sister, Dorabella; Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara as their feisty maid, Despina; Ben Bliss and Adam Plachetka as the sisters’ fiancés, Ferrando and Guglielmo; and Christopher Maltman as the cynical Don Alfonso. Così fan tutte is a co-production with the English National Opera.
Ben Whishaw (The Danish Girl, Skyfall, Hamlet) and Michelle Fairley (Fortitude, Game of Thrones) play Brutus and Cassius, David Calder (The Lost City of Z, The Hatton Garden Job) plays Caesar and David Morrissey (The Missing, Hangmen, The Walking Dead) is Mark Antony. Broadcast live from The Bridge Theatre, London.
Caesar returns in triumph to Rome and the people pour out of their homes to celebrate. Alarmed by the autocrat’s popularity, the educated élite conspire to bring him down. After his assassination, civil war erupts on the streets of the capital.
Nicholas Hytner’s production will thrust the audience into the street party that greets Caesar’s return, the congress that witnesses his murder, the rally that assembles for his funeral and the chaos that explodes in its wake.
Tickets for all performances of the MU Player’s 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee are SOLD OUT! Fourth annual student produced musical. A celebration of student performers and designers all presented on the Woods Theatre stage.
Plácido Domingo adds yet another role to his legendary Met career in this rarely performed Verdi gem, a heart-wrenching tragedy of fatherly love. Sonya Yoncheva sings the title role opposite Piotr Beczała in the first Met performances of the opera in more than ten years. Bertrand de Billy conducts.
Maestro de Billy made his Met debut in 1998. He is principal guest conductor of the Dresdner Philharmonie and was formerly Music Director at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna, as well as principal guest conductor of the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne. He regularly conducts for such companies as the Vienna State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Paris Opéra, the Salzburg Festival, and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 2018 he will also conduct performances of Tosca and Cendrillon at the Met.
Elijah Moshinsky’s production of Luisa Miller features Sonya Yoncheva in the title role, with Plácido Domingo as her father. Piotr Beczała sings Rodolfo, with Olesya Petrova as Federica, Alexander Vinogradov as Count Walter, and Dmitry Belosselskiy as Wurm.
Performances of Luisa Miller are on March 29, Apr 2, 6, 9, 14 (matinee), 18 and 21 (matinee), 2018. The April 14 matinee will be transmitted live as part of the Met’s Live in HD series, which reaches more than 2,000 movie theaters in 73 countries around the world.
For further information, including casting by date, please visit www.metopera.org.
Phelim McDermott returns to the Met staging Mozart’s comedy Così fan tutte, led by David Robertson. Set in the 1950s on Coney Island, the cast features Amanda Majeski as the conflicted Fiordiligi; Serena Malfi as her sister, Dorabella; Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara as their feisty maid, Despina; Ben Bliss and Adam Plachetka as the sisters’ fiancés, Ferrando and Guglielmo; and Christopher Maltman as the cynical Don Alfonso. Così fan tutte is a co-production with the English National Opera.
Massenet’s enchanting opera Cendrillon, based on Cinderella, premieres at the Met conducted by Bertrand de Billy and directed by Laurent Pelly, whose Met credits include staging Donizetti’s La Fille du Régiment and Massenet’s Manon. Joyce DiDonato adds another role to her Met repertory as the title character, a role she has sung to acclaim at the Grand Teatre del Liceu, Santa Fe Opera, and Royal Opera, Covent Garden. The cast also stars Alice Coote as Prince Charmant, Stephanie Blythe as the evil stepmother Madame de la Haltière, Kathleen Kim as the Fée, and Laurent Naouri as Pandolfe. Cendrillon is produced in association with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London; Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona; Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie, Brussels; and Opéra de Lille. This production was first performed at The Santa Fe Opera.
Brianna, a charming and curious girl, hops into an ‘adventure-through-the-seasons’ in Spring-A-Ding-DING! A colorful cast of characters create the vivid enchantment of springtime. Jump-roping frogs, twirling flowers, dancing birds, glittering rain showers and even a contortionist earthworm bring the budding season to life! Portrayed through dazzling circus, dance, and can’t-believe-your-eyes specialty acts, audiences of all ages will delight as the glory of the new season unfolds. Imagine Brianna’s surprise as she meets comical creatures and even befriends a skunk! Our young heroine has lessons to learn and teach the woodland creatures as she eagerly searches for the butterfly that will usher in the next season, summer. This delightful new show thrills young and old while warming hearts in the way only Cirque-tacular can!
Brianna is back… Spring bursts to life through the adventures she shares with a fresh cast of amusing woodland creatures. Families are sure to enjoy amazing things at Spring-a-Ding-DING!
