Academy of the West presents The Rake's Progress in Santa Barbara

By Jeffery S. McMillan, 07 August 2012

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Reviewed at Granada Theatre, Santa Barbara on 3 August 2012

Stravinsky, The Rake's Progress

Music Academy of the West

Alexander Lazarev, Conductor

David Paul, Director

Adam Fisher, Tom Rakewell

Jessica Strong, Anne Trulove

Cameron McPhail, Nick Shadow

Kate Allen, Baba the Turk

Gerard Michael D'Emilio, Trulove

Patricia Racette's mesmerizing power as Salome

Edward Sava-Segal, 5th March

In Los Angeles, Patricia Racette was an impressive Salome but the orchestra was, as it should, the main character.

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David Karlin, 2nd June

Leonardo García-Alarcón's exhumation of Bembo's work proves a winner, in a hyper-quirky staging by Netia Jones with Julie Fuchs as the pick of the fine singers.

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Eleanor Knight, 30th May

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***11

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Peter Quantrill, 28th May

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Bruno Ravella's splendid 2021 production of Strauss' opera of Viennese manners returns with a fine cast.

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Jeffery S. McMillan

Jeffery holds an MA in Jazz History and Research from Rutgers University and spent ten years as an archivist for the Metropolitan Opera, where he helped develop the MetOpera Database. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and writes about opera and jazz for publications including Opera News and Musical America.