Sex with a side of brilliant opera

By Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 14 August 2016

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“McNairy tossed off pitches far above the staff while crawling and tumbling about the stage”

Reviewed at Oakland Central Station, Oakland on 13 August 2016

Adès, Powder Her Face

West Edge Opera

Mary Chun, Conductor

Elkhanah Pulitzer, Director

Laura Bohn, Duchess

Emma McNairy, Maid

Jonathan Blalock, Electrician

Earplay Orchestra

Hadleigh Adams, Baritone

West Edge Opera’s Snapshots of the future

Jaime Robles, 25th February

The program presented excerpts from five new works in a riotously diverse selection, from an adaptation of the unfinished Fitzgerald novel, The Last Tycoon, to Death of a Playboy, an imaginary reenactment of Hugh Hefner’s funeral.

****1

A dreamlike forest in an abandoned train station: The Cunning Little Vixen at West Edge Opera

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 7th August

The sets, costumes, and venue contribute to the atmosphere, but it's the singing and playing of Janáček's enchanting music that make West Edge Opera's The Cunning Little Vixen magical.

****1

The “other” Bohème delights at West Edge Opera

Ilana Walder-Biesanz, 20th March

Leoncavallo's rarely produced La bohème offers enchanting musical variety, delivered in a well-cast concert staging by West Edge Opera.

****1

Opera Medium Rare presents Rossini’s Zelmira

Jaime Robles, 17th February

West Edge Opera has come up with a means to engage and develop opera audiences in that home of West Coast radicalism, the San Francisco Bay Area.

***11

John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra arrives at the Met

David Wolfson, 12th May

John Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra puts the composer's propulsive music at the service of both moments of riveting human drama and less effective scenes of battle and politics.

****1

Antony and Cleopatra: Adams offers a Shakespeare speed-read

Mark Pullinger, 18th September

Great vocal performances from Amina Edris and Gerald Finley grace John Adams' new opera, which opens San Francisco Opera’s centennial season.

***11

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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.

Sex with a side of brilliant opera: Powder Her Face in Oakland