All stories by Mike Silverman on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

'Organized chaos' - behind the scenes at 'La Boheme' by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- Mimis come and Rodolfos go, but one thing never changes in "La Boheme" at the Metropolitan Opera: When the curtain goes up on Act 2, the audience al…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 11:32AM
Tuesday, January 23, 2018

'Tosca' to air as part of Met Opera's 'Live in HD' series by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- You've probably heard how all three original stars dropped out of the Metropolitan Opera's new "Tosca" and how the conductor had t…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 07:31AM
Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Philadelphia offers binge-watching opera festival by Mike Silverman

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- In a downtown theater, five teenagers take refuge at a site once occupied by members of the radical group MOVE. Across the street, a serial killer terrorizes Vict…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 12:22AM
Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Waltraud Meier as a human Klytemnestra in Met performance by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- No monsters of depravity for Waltraud Meier, thank you. The German mezzo-soprano takes a very different view of the Greek queen Klytemnestra than the one usually seen…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 03:53PM
Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Washington Nat'l Opera finishes 'Ring Cycle' after 10 years by Mike Silverman

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For the Washington National Opera, completing Wagner's "Ring Cycle" has been an endeavor worthy of its epic subject: Launched with great …

SOURCE: Associated Press at 12:52PM
Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Soprano stars in Met Opera HD broadcast as angry queen by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- Portraying an aging, embittered Queen Elizabeth is hard work, but for Sondra Radvanovsky there's a moment late in Donizetti's opera "Robert…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 01:59PM
Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Puccini's last opera next up for Met HD broadcast by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- You won't hear Nina Stemme singing in Act 1 of Puccini's "Turandot," but watch closely and you'll spot her - looming over…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 10:08PM
Monday, May 25, 2015

Anna Nicole, the opera: She aims to sleaze by Mike Silverman

And sad to say, despite the expenditure of considerable talent and money — and a splendid performance by Eva-Maria Westbroek in the title role — the question remains unanswered f…

SOURCE: news.yahoo.com at 05:58PM
Thursday, April 23, 2015

Tenor does double duty in Met HD broadcast by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- When the Metropolitan Opera closes out its HD broadcast season this Saturday, tenor Marcelo Alvarez will be doing double duty. In a relatively rare feat, he'll sing the …

SOURCE: Associated Press at 09:23AM
Monday, April 20, 2015

Basses discuss being black opera singers by Mike Silverman

When King Philip II of Spain faces off against the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's "Don Carlo" at the Academy of Music, they won't just be portraying history, they'll be making a bit of it, too.…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 09:26AM
Thursday, March 5, 2015

Cold War-era thriller premieres as opera by Mike Silverman

Take a little brainwashing, add a few political assassinations and stir in a villainess evil enough to rival Lady Macbeth. The enduring result is "The Manchurian Candidate," first as a novel…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 02:07PM
Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Q&A: Opera star Deborah Voigt writes of turbulent life by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- Soprano Deborah Voigt keeps a picture of herself performing alongside tenor Placido Domingo at the Metropolitan Opera - both as a treasured memory of a great triumph and…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 11:17AM
Thursday, December 18, 2014

Freud's goal: Keep Chicago's Lyric Opera relevant by Mike Silverman

CHICAGO (AP) -- When Anthony Freud was 14, his favorite pastime was going to the opera in London and then, on the train ride home to Wimbledon where he lived with his parents, "dreaming …

SOURCE: Associated Press at 10:36AM
Thursday, December 11, 2014

Baritone gets crash course for Wagner role by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- In a bare rehearsal room three floors underground at the Metropolitan Opera, Michael Volle was learning how to move around on a set that wasn't there....

SOURCE: Associated Press at 10:11AM
Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Met to present controversial `Klinghoffer' opera by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- When the Metropolitan Opera announced in February that it would present John Adams' "The Death of Klinghoffer" this fall, there was, as Peter Gelb recalls it, "absolutel…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 10:59AM
Monday, September 22, 2014

Overcoming turmoil, Met opera opens season by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- After a summer of uncertainty, the sounds of discord gave way to joyful music-making as the Metropolitan Opera opened its season Monday night with a sparkling new produc…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 11:48PM

Met opening a big deal for Russian bass by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- For Ildar Abdrazakov, this may go down as the biggest opening night that almost didn't happen....

SOURCE: Associated Press at 11:47PM
Friday, July 25, 2014

Lockout looms as Met contracts set to expire by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- Figaro might not be getting married anytime soon. Mimi and Rodolfo might not fall in love in that cold Parisian garret. And Macbeth might never murder his way to the thr…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 08:49AM
Friday, April 11, 2014

In debut whirlwind, soprano lands at Met by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- Suddenly, it seems, Olga is everywhere....

SOURCE: Associated Press at 07:53AM
Friday, December 27, 2013

Career NY stage actor makes Met debut by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- For longtime Broadway actor Danny Burstein, the big challenge in preparing for his Metropolitan Opera debut has been "trying to find the funny."...

SOURCE: Associated Press at 08:18AM
Monday, November 25, 2013

Hawaiian baritone making his mark in Verdi by Mike Silverman

CHICAGO (AP) -- There are baritones who sing opera, and then there are "Verdi baritones." Quinn Kelsey has no doubts about which camp he is in....

SOURCE: Associated Press at 11:17AM
Friday, November 22, 2013

Tenor Villazon making Met opera comeback by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- It's an opera singer's nightmare: Suddenly, in mid-performance, the voice fails to respond - and instead of a high note, the audience hears a painful croak....

SOURCE: Associated Press at 10:14AM
Friday, September 20, 2013

Patricia Racette to the rescue at SF Opera by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- For Patricia Racette, this was already shaping up as a memorable year at the San Francisco Opera, opening the season in Boito's "Mefistofele" and returning in June to he…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 08:43AM
Sunday, July 21, 2013

Susan Graham a happy camper as the 'Duchess' by Mike Silverman

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) -- Ask Susan Graham how she reacted when Santa Fe Opera first offered her the title role in Offenbach's "The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein."...

SOURCE: Associated Press at 10:21AM
Sunday, April 28, 2013

Nina Stemme ignites Houston's 'Tristan' by Mike Silverman

HOUSTON (AP) -- Thunderbolts and torrential rains greeted the audience arriving for Wagner's "Tristan und Isolde" at the Worth Theater Center on Saturday night. Inside the opera house th…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 11:10AM
Friday, March 29, 2013

John Adams' staged `Gospel' has NY premiere by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- The very title tells you this is no traditional version of the biblical story: "The Gospel According to the Other Mary."...

SOURCE: Associated Press at 09:54AM
Monday, February 25, 2013

Britten ghost story at City Opera by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- When it comes to operatic ghost stories, none is more creepily effective than Benjamin Britten's "The Turn of the Screw."...

SOURCE: Associated Press at 10:52AM
Sunday, February 17, 2013

Striking new look for 'Parsifal' at Met in NYC by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- In Wagner's "Parsifal," the leader of the Knights of the Holy Grail suffers from an agonizing wound that will not heal. In Francois Girard's vision of the opera, this wo…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 10:39AM
Sunday, February 10, 2013

Eloquent WWI opera in East Coast premiere in Pa. by Mike Silverman

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A melancholy sense of lost opportunity pervades "Silent Night," an opera that tells of a moment in World War I when soldiers from hostile nations joined together for…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 09:24AM
Sunday, January 27, 2013

New opera's success is beyond `Doubt' by Mike Silverman

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- "Only the children's voices soothe me," an anguished Sister Aloysius sings at the conclusion of "Doubt," the new opera based on John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer Pr…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 03:54PM
Tuesday, January 1, 2013

DiDonato a luminous Mary Stuart at Met by Mike Silverman

NEW YORK (AP) -- The Metropolitan Opera may have pretty much turned opening night over to the glamorous Anna Netrebko, but New Year's Eve belongs to a very different diva - Joyce DiDonat…

SOURCE: Associated Press at 02:06AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards