Elizabeth Baker was an overnight success in 1909. She went from “obscure stenographer making five dollars a week” to “one of the most widely discussed playwrights in London” after her first play, Chains, had a one-performance “try-out” at the Royal Court in London. The next year, Baker’s drama was running in repertory with the plays of Galsworthy, Barrie, Granville Barker and Shaw. Chains tells the stories of ordinary people yearning for less ordinary lives. Charley lives with his wife Lily in suburban London, sharing a cramped house with a lodger. Charley commutes to an office in London, his only pleasure is the tiny garden patch beside the house. Charley’s sister-in-law, Maggie, finds the drudgery of shop work so stifling that she plots an escape by marrying a kind man she doesn’t love. “A gleaming gem, both engrossing and supremely well-acted.”—Charles Isherwood, The Wall Street Journal. Photo: Todd Cerveris.
Bronx Opera’s presents an English-language production of Mozart’sLa Clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Tito). Benjamin Spierman’s directorial concept transplants the Roman Empire to today, incorporating technology. The production highlights parallels between Sesto’s attempt to burn down the Roman Capitol in the 1st Century and the American seditionist attempts of 2021. With an onstage camera capturing live action and projecting it onto a screen, the production reflects on contemporary themes of scrutiny, perpetual news cycles, and visual culture in politics. “Spierman’s updated take on Mozart’s gem of an opera proposes an intriguing, thought-provoking, and relatable production not to be missed.”
—Maria-Cristina Necula, Woman Around Town.
Bronx Opera presents a Jim Howard production of Gilbert & Sullivan's Trial By Jury, reimagined as a remotely-created opera film. The earliest collaboration in the G&S catalogue (1875), and their only piece without dialogue, this lighthearted one-act satirizes the legal system through an absurd story of a "breach of promise of marriage" lawsuit.
Penelope is married to Odysseus, the King of Ithaca. For the last twenty years, she’s been waiting for him to return from the Trojan War. Meanwhile, a bevy of suitors have gathered, each wanting to marry her and take over the kingdom. The York Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Penelope, or How the Odyssey Was Really Written, a new musical comedy with book & lyrics by Peter Kellogg and music by two-time Richard Rodgers Award-winner Stephen Weiner. An “old-fashioned, comfort-food kind of musical”—Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times. Photo: Carol Rosegg
The fifth Gilbert & Sullivan collaboration, The Pirates of Penzance is a two-act, comic opera following the adventures of Frederic—long-term apprentice to a benevolent crew of pirates, and in love with one of the Major General's many daughters, Mabel. This is Intuitive's fourth collaboration with Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts.
In this contemporary adaptation of Beethoven's Fidelio, a black activist is wrongfully incarcerated. His wife, Leah, disguises herself to infiltrate the system and free him. But when injustice reigns, one woman's grit may not be enough to save her love. Featuring the voices of more than 100 incarcerated singers from six prison choirs—Oakdale Community Choir, KUJI Men’s Chorus, UBUNTU Men’s Chorus, HOPE Thru Harmony Women’s Choir, East Hill Singers, and Voices of Hope—Heartbeat Opera's daring adaptation pits corruption against courage, hate against hope. "Imaginative, vital, and heartbreaking."—Alex Ross, The New Yorker.
Photo: Russ Rowland
A powerful commentary on unchecked ambition and power, Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s most influential contributions to world literature. The National Endowment for the Arts and Arts Midwest present Shakespeare in American Communities, inviting Aquila Theatre as one of 40 professional theater companies selected to perform a Shakespeare play for middle- and high-school students with a professional team of actors.
Aquila Theatre’s Desiree Sanchez's new theatrical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby draws from an inclusive portrayal of characters and pays homage to some of the true innovators of the Jazz movement. The New Yorker has raved that Aquila Theatre productions are “Beautifully spoken, dramatically revealing and crystalline in effect.” Photos: Darryl Estrine.