Oct 27

Bravo: “La Tragédie de Carmen”

Presented by the Boston University Fringe Festival
Adapted from Georges Bizet’s opera by Marius Constant, Jean-Claude Carrière, and Peter Brook
Stage Directed by Jim Petosa
Conductor: William Lumpkin

October 8 – 26, 2014
BU Theatre, Lane-Comley Studio 210
264 Huntington Avenue
BU Fringe Festival on Facebook
CFA School of Theatre on Facebook

Review by Danielle Rosvally

(Boston, MA) Opera might be opera, but you’ve never seen opera like this before. The Fringe festival’s production of La Tragédie de Carmen is a fresh, energetic take on Brook’s gritty adaptation of Bizet’s piece with exciting voices full of promise.

One of the exhilarating things about seeing students perform opera is that they are singing machines. Conservatory, as a general rule, makes from semi-trained talent lean, mean, professional instruments with clarity and utterly perfect precision. As such, performances by these students are chock full of those qualities, as well as an exuberance and boundless energy that is simply thrilling to watch. These students are hungry to perform, and this brings the stakes of their performances through the roof. Continue reading

Oct 20

Between the Modern and Bygone: LATER THE SAME EVENING

EDWARD HOPPER

Room in New York

Presented by the BU Fringe Festival
Composed by John Musto
Libretto by Mark Campbell
Based on 5 paintings by Edward Hopper: A Room in New York, Hotel Room, Hotel Lobby, Two on the Aisle, and Automat
Music direction by Allison Voth
Stage direction by Jason King Jones
Conducted by Tiffany Chang

October 18 & 19, 2014
BU Theatre, Lane-Comley Studio 200
264 Huntington Ave
Boston, MA
BU Fringe Festival on Facebook

Review by Kitty Drexel

(Boston, MA) Later The Same Evening is a concept opera based on five paintings by Edward Hopper. Edward Hopper (1882–1967) was an American artist who employed watercolor (Impressionist) techniques in his paintings of everyday life. His style is defined by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as utilizing, “clearly outlined forms in strongly defined lighting, a cropped composition with an almost “cinematic” viewpoint, and a mood of eerie stillness.” His influences include cityscapes, Cape Cod, his wife Josephine Verstille Nivison. He is famous for capturing the tensions between the modern and the old, people, and mood lighting. His most famous painting, Nighthawks, is used frequently in popular culture (including this sassy adaptation) to depict late night melancholy. Continue reading

Oct 08

Catfish, Opera Served Cold: SIREN SONG

Presented as part of the Boston University College of Fine Arts Fringe Festival
Based on the novel by Gordon Honeycombe
Composed by Jonathan Dove
Libretto by Nick Dear
Stage direction Jim Petosa
Conducted by William Lumpkin

Oct. 4 – 6, 2013
BU Theatre, Lane-Comley Studio 210
Huntington Ave
Boston, MA
BU Fringe on Facebook (directions at bottom of page)

More Fringe Works
Dark Sisters playing Oct. 11 – 12, 2013
Back Bog Beast Bait playing Oct. 22-27, 2013

Review by Kitty Drexel

**Not suitable for kids. Sex is for grownups.**

(Boston) In Homer’s The Odyssey the sirens were mermaid-like creatures with a voice so intoxicating that sailor’s ships crashed into land. Outdated slang defines a women so gorgeous that she drives sanity from the minds of men. Jonathan Dove and Nick Dear’s opera combines the myth of olde with the modernized definition in their rarely performed work, Siren Song. Continue reading