Champion at Opera Parallele: strong, but no knockout

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 20 February 2016

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Reviewed at SFJazz Center, San Francisco on 19 February 2016

Blanchard, Champion: An Opera in Jazz

Opera Parallèle

Nicole Paiement, Conductor

Brian Staufenbiel, Director

Dave Dunning, Set Designer

Christine Crook, Costume Designer

Arthur Woodley, Emile Griffith

Kenneth Kellogg, Young Emile Griffith

Karen Slack, Emelda Griffith

Robert Orth, Howie Albert

Michelle Rice, Kathy Hagan

Victor Ryan Robertson, Benny 'Kid' Paret

Andres Ramirez, Luis Rodrigo Griffith

Chabrelle Williams, Sadie Donastrog Griffith

Moses Abrahamson, Little Emile

Evan Holloway, Little Emile

Mark Hernandez, Ring announcer

Matthew Antaky, Lighting Designer

Joe Orrach, Choreography

Bradley Kynard, Baritone

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The effect was like raindrops falling on the surface of the world, transforming it from the dull white of fog and industry into saturated colors of fecund leaf and flower.

****1

Dead Man Walking returns to the Bay Area

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Despite some confused visual elements, an excellent musical performance makes Seattle Opera's production well worth watching.

****1

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David Karlin, 3rd April

Seattle Opera do full justice to Dove and De Angelis's comic opera with a dark twist, filming it in the city's Museum of Flight.

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Laurence Vittes, 24th June

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****1

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Ilana Walder-Biesanz

Ilana Walder-Biesanz is a product manager for Yahoo, a theatre and opera critic, and a classically trained mezzo-soprano. She explored theater and opera stagings as a Gates Scholar at Cambridge and as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany. She currently writes for Bachtrack, San Francisco Classical Voice, and Stark Insider. Twitter: @ilana_wb.