Victor Cordell
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Recent Articles:
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The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs Front Page
Technology Scores Big in the Storyline and the Score
By: - Sep 26th, 2023Composer Mason Bates and librettist Mark Campbell strike gold with this focused bio that should find a place on the opera circuit. San Francisco Opera's stunning production along with superb performances make it even better. The title character is portrayed with all of his positive and negative complexity, and even operagoers who learn nothing new about Jobs will find the opera highly involving and entertaining.
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POTUS: Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive Front Page
A President's Improprieties Trigger a Zany Cavalcade of Events
By: - Sep 22nd, 2023The subtitle of the play suggests where it’s going. But if you think that it may simply be misandristic, that wouldn’t be correct. Given the crazy antics of these females who are close to the president, you could just as easily add the word dumbass in front of the word women. In any case, the result is “POTUS,” a farce that had Berkeley Rep’s opening night audience laughing with glee from start to finish. But it's not for everyone.
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Il Trovatore Front Page
One of Verdi's Most Challenging and Emotional Operas
By: - Sep 19th, 2023The title character is Manrico, a troubadour and leader of a Roma troupe. Unbeknownst to anyone but his adoptive mother, he is of noble blood and the brother of his arch enemy, Count di Luna. They contest not only in the communal and political world but for the love of a woman, Leonora.
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Bald Sisters Front Page
A Clash of Cultural and Family Values.
By: - Sep 19th, 2023One Cambodian-American sister has married a Christian pastor and has remained in Dallas, where the mother had resettled the family. The younger sister had moved to New York City, rejecting some of the family's values, but reconnecting with Buddhism. When their mother dies, the sisters face conflicts that extend well beyond dealing with death rites.
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The Addams Family Front Page
A Fun Look At The Ghoulish Family
By: - Sep 16th, 2023Horrors! Guess who's coming to dinner. Gomez and Morticia's daughter Wednesday has fallen in love and wants to marry a "normal" young man. She has even invited him and his family over for a meal. What can be done to stop such a fearsome turn of events?
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Crowns Front Page
An Uplifting Celebration of African-American Women and Hats They Wear To Church
By: - Sep 14th, 2023Hats are an integral part of the African-American woman's church attendance. Playwright Regina Taylor celebrates not only hats but the women that wear them - their fortitude, their triumphs, and their tragedies. Animated vignettes and a gospel dominated song book provide for a rousing entertainment.
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Romeo and Juliet - Gounod's Opera Front Page
Fine Voices and Acting of Young Opera San Jose Cast Carry Opera
By: - Sep 11th, 2023"Romeo and Juliet" reigns as the touchstone of love stories centuries after its creation. But the play offers depth of meaning and cautions in many other social realms which contribute to its greatness. Adapted in many genres, Gounod's opera remains perhaps the most compelling and enduring realization. Its lush music and tight adherence to the Bard's work yield a timeless masterpiece.
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Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical Front Page
Dominique Morisseau's Second Musical About Black Song In The Late 20th Century at San Francisco's ACT
By: - Sep 08th, 2023After her Broadway success with "Ain't Too Proud," which also premiered in the Bay Area, Morisseau pays homage to "Soul Train," the syndicated TV show that became the Black community's "American Bandstand." The playwright also successfully integrates a warts-and-all biography of creator and longtime host, Don Cornelius.
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Mahabharata Front Page
A Highly Abbreviated Version of the Longest Poem Ever Written
By: - Aug 14th, 2023The Mahabharata is regarded by many to be the fifth veda, or sacred Hindu religious text. Appropriately, the storyteller in this production, J Jha, is transgender, as the stories are told from both male and female perspectives, and sexual ambiguity plays an appreciable role. Jha gives an inspired solo performance in delivering a narrative that centers on a war between competing bands of cousins fighting for control of BCE Bharat, which would become India.
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The Nightingale & Erwartung - A Double Bill Front Page
West Edge Opera Offers a Dynamic Duo of Short, Atonal Operas
By: - Aug 08th, 2023Stravinsky's "The NIghtingale" sets a simple but thoughtful Hans Christian Anderson tale to music. Production values sizzle. With Schoenberg's "Erwartung," the setting of the psychologically-driven soliloquy is switched from forest to hospital. The use of dancers as mute characters adds depth and diversity to the narrative.
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Rusalka Front Page
Fine Performances Benefit This Appealing Opera
By: - Aug 06th, 2023“Rusalka” ranks as Dvorák’s most popular opera and with good reason. Applying Wagnerian principles with leitmotifs and in sung-through fashion, it also draws from Czech folk music. The thoroughly romantic, luxuriant music possesses extractable set pieces of compelling melody and emotion. The fairy tale story draws on several sources, mixing light and dark, with a resulting dramatic outcome.
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Pelléas et Mélisande Front Page
Santa Fe Opera's Take on a Brooding Tale from Debussy and Maeterlinck
By: - Aug 05th, 2023Claude Debussy sought a prospective opera libretto in which characters seemed out of place, out of time, and only half disclosed. For “Pelléas et Mélisande,” he found his soulmate in future Nobel Prize winner Maurice Maeterlinck, whose opaqueness suited Debussy so well that he adapted the playwright’s work almost verbatim. The result was a turn-of-the-century landmark - Debussy’s only completed opera.
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Orfeo Front Page
A Scintillating World Premiere Orchestration of This Oldest Opera
By: - Aug 03rd, 2023The uniqueness of Santa Fe Opera's facility and setting make for a stunning visualization of Monteverdi's early masterpiece. With the back stagewall initially open to nature, the scenario begins in literal and figurative brightness; followed by a threatening storm in the mesas behind; leading to brutal darkness on stage with deliciously harsh lighting effects. Modern orchestration smooths the Baroque edges of the music.
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Cruzar la Cara de la Luna: A Mariachi Opera Front Page
Mariachi Music Makes it to the Opera House
By: - Jul 25th, 2023The story is about Laurentino, a man in New York who immigrated from Mexico half a century before. On his deathbed, he reveals an undisclosed past to his family. He had a first wife in Mexico who died in the crossing and a son who returned to his native land. A poignant metaphor of the butterfly recurs in the music and conversation. When the butterfly emerges from its chrysalis and moves on from its life as a caterpillar, it never returns to the same location, reenacting life’s transformation in a new land. It is only the descendants that circle back to the homeland of earlier generations.
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The Coronation of Poppea Front Page
West Edge Opera Right Sizes a Classic
By: - Jul 24th, 2023The narrative is historical only in the broadest sense. While the plot points actually occurred from AD 58 to AD 65, not only are they condensed into one day, but their order is shifted! Further, the librettist fancifully changes the character of characters, making some good who were actually bad and vice versa. Who would have thought of the barbaric and narcissistic Nero as also having room for love and magnanimity? So, for those who lambaste Hollywood for being fast and loose with the facts, let it be known that it had models to draw on
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The Rape of Lucretia Front Page
The Act That Gave Rise to the Republic of Rome
By: - Jul 14th, 2023Roman officers, including Prince Tarquinius, who are in a military camp wager whether their wives have remained constant. Investigations prove that the wives of all of the men in the discussion have had indiscretions, with one exception. Lucretia has remained faithful. Tarquinius is determined to corrupt her morals. Returning to Rome, his amorous advances toward Lucretia are repelled, and he forces himself on her. Although not dealt with in the opera, this incident was the crowning blow to the king’s reign, and his overthrow led to the period of the Republic of Rome.
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Les Misérables Front Page
A Powerful Indictment of Justice in an Unjust Society
By: - Jul 08th, 2023Jean Valjean spends his adult life paying for having stolen a morsel of bread for his sister. Even after a long prison sentence, he finds himself needing to hide and lie to avoid the relentless Inspector Javert, who obsesses over making Valjean pay endlessly for his petty crime.
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A Chorus Line Front Page
Character Laid Bare in the Pursuit of Dreams.
By: - Jul 06th, 2023On Broadway and in Hollywood, the backstage genre endures and endears like few others. In the history of American entertainment, no backstage montage has proven more heart wrenching and more diverse in its themes explored and its characters examined than “A Chorus Line.”
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The Dignity Circle Front Page
The Grift Is On
By: - Jul 05th, 2023Opening with the alluring pitch “How would you like to receive $40,000 with no strings attached?” Angela lures her prey into her seductive scheme. But one of the devices of the Circle is wearing masks, which suggests that there is indeed something hidden beneath the surface.
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San Francisco Opera 100th Anniversary Concert Front Page
America's Third Oldest Opera Company Celebrates Its First Century
By: - Jun 18th, 2023San Francisco Opera celebrated its centenary at War Memorial Opera House with a grand concert of 21 operatic pieces, performed by 15 principals and the company’s orchestra and chorus. Artistic Director Eun Sun Kim, past Artistic Director Donald Runnicles, and past Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Summers shared the baton. Matthew Shilvock, only the seventh General Director of the company, hosted the glorious event.
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El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego Front Page
Two Modern Artists Fictionalized in an Opera with an Orpheus-like Story.
By: - Jun 15th, 2023Composer Gabriela Lena Frank’s special compassion for Frida Kahlo may derive from their shared experience. Cuban-born, Pulitzer Prize winning (“Anna in the Tropics”) playwright Nilo Cruz provides the literate libretto. Wishing to integrate aspects of Mexican culture into the story in a magical realism fashion, he builds the narrative around the culturally significant Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) and Aztec mythology.
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Die Frau ohne Schatten Front Page
Richard Strauss's Lush Music, Captivating Fairy Tale Story, and Pop Art Scenery.
By: - Jun 12th, 2023The Empress faces Sophie’s choice. Either decision - to accept or reject the shadow - could leave blood on her hands. High drama occurs with real or perceived betrayals and threats of killing, but since nobody dies, some would characterize “Die Frau” as a comedy!
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The Wizard of Oz Front Page
A Fanciful Stage Adaptation of an American Movie Classic
By: - Jun 09th, 2023L. Frank Baum’s beloved “The Wizard of Oz” has become an American touchstone and introduced a bevy of memes and tropes that define our narrative. While it is easy to sit back and enjoy it as an entertaining pastime, in its richness, it is also a fable of the American spirit. Dorothy, despite being young and female, represents the prototypical hero on an odyssey, a quest to find her way home after defeating the odds, aided by trusty sidekicks she has met along the way. Together, using brains and hearts and courage, they conquer fears and earn their way to becoming what they had aspired to be.
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Madame Butterfly Front Page
At War Memorial Opera House San Francisco
By: - Jun 08th, 2023“Madame Butterfly” integrates the best of the earlier "La Boheme" and "Tosca" and overlays pentatonic scale Japanese folk melodies to add a whole new dimension to the score. The popularity of this beautiful and exotic wonder should be no surprise. San Francisco Opera’s wonderous creative and visually striking production is led by four powerful singers - Karah Son, Michael Fabiano, Hyona Kim, and Lucas Meachem.
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A Soldier's Play Front Page
Murder, Mystery, and Racism on the Home Front During World War II
By: - Jun 05th, 2023In 1944, African-American military units were always commanded by white officers, with black non-coms, and enlisted men, reflecting the plantation structure that preceded it by a century and more. This organization represents the natural order to Captain Charles Taylor, a West Point grad, who happily manages and cajoles a platoon comprised of talented black baseball players who will get to play the Yankees if they continue to win all of their games. To this day, a common condition persists, that racists like Taylor often carve out exceptions to allow minority peoples to reflect glory on their white overlords.
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