Performer: Jason Switzer

Fallujah, a chamber opera exploring the Iraq War and post-traumatic stress disorder, makes a powerful impression in its East Coast première. 

Never has the expression “A good time was had by all” been more accurate than at Tuesday night’s performance Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Centennial Hall in Haverford, Pennsylvania.

Most Americans are ashamed of the legacy of the Ku Klux Klan in this country and their lawless persecution of non-whites. Racism in America is not a pretty subject, and it doesn’t make for pretty opera. It does, however, make for a thought-provoking and even disturbing piece in the hands of Philadelphia’s Center City Opera Theater (CCOT).