Becoming Santa Claus

Mark Adamo Becoming Santa Claus opera to a libretto by the composer. Directed 2015 by Paul Curran at the Winspear Opera House in Dallas, Texas. Stars Jennifer Rivera (Queen Sophine), Jonathan Blalock (Prince Claus), Matt Boehler (Donkey/Messenger), Hila Plitmann (Yan), Lucy Schaufer (Ib), Keith Jameson (Yab), and Kevin Burdette (Ob). Also features dancers Kym Cartwright, Caradee Cline, Jason Fowler, Matt Holmes, Tom Kilps, and Elise Lavallee. Emmanuel Villaume conducts the Dallas Opera Orchestra with associate conductor Paolo Bressan and handbell director Tim Effler; musical preparation by Kirk Severtson and Christopher Devlin. Choreography by Paul Curran; set and costume design by Gary McCann; lighting design by Paul Hackenmueller: projection design by Driscoll Otto; wig and make-up design by David Zimmerman; assistant director was Ophelie Wolf; stage manager was Lisa Marie Lange; assistant stage directors were Katy Reeves and Miranda Wilson. Directed for TV by Aaron Butler. Sung in English. Released 2017, disc has LPCM stereo and 5.1 Dolby Digital sound. Grade: NA

Here’s a clip from the Dallas Opera:

Octavian: Tara Erraught The Marschallin: Kate Royal Baron Ochs auf Lerchenau: Lars Woldt Sophie: Teodora Gheorghiu Herr von Faninal: Michael Kraus Marianne Leitmetzerin: Miranda Keys Valzacchi: Christopher Gillett Annina: Helene Schneiderman London Philharmonic Orchestra The Glyndebourne Chorus Conductor: Robin Ticciati Stage Director: Richard Jones Strauss's musically ravishing comic masterpiece is given a visual updating in director Richard Jones's stylish and 'gently subversive' Glyndebourne staging, one which offers 'a dreamlike distortion not just of Vienna's 18th-century past, but also of everything we know about reality' (Financial Times).

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Here's news about high-definition video disc ("HDVD") recordings of opera, ballet, classical music, plays, fine-art documentaries, and paintings. In the journal below are independent (and hard-to-find critical) reports on hundreds of HDVDs. Pick the best titles for your excelsisphere.

Feb 25. We have just completed one of our most ambitious reviews: Einstein on the Beach opera, the surreal 4 and 1/2 hour cult legend. Kudos, encomiums, and accolades to Opus Arte for giving us this authoritative and weirdly fascinating recording, which we grade A+. Absorbing and learning Einstein is uniquely challenging. We try to help out by providing aids not included in the keepcase materials: an accurate libretto and a list of segments in the opera with correct Opus Arte time stamps. Good luck!

We have some other good grades with an A for the recent Met The Pearl Fishers (Les pêcheurs de perles) and a B- for an earlier The Pearl Fishers from Naples. Also, we recently gave an A- for the new Don Quixote from the Vienna State Ballet.