San Francisco Opera's The Handmaid's Tale offers hope

Irene Roberts (Offred)

Irene Roberts (Offred) and Simone McIntosh (Offred Double)

Sarah Cambridge (Aunt Lydia), Irene Roberts (Offred) and chorus

John Relyea (The Commander), Lindsay Ammann (Serena Joy) and Irene Roberts (Offred)

The Handmaid's Tale

By Lois Silverstein, 16 September 2024

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“the sound palette... like a quasi-moan and shriek, as if a wound spoke”

Reviewed at War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco on 14 September 2024

Ruders, The Handmaid's Tale

San Francisco Opera

Karen Kamensek, Conductor

John Fulljames, Director

Chloe Lamford, Set Designer

Christina Cunningham, Costume Designer

Fabiana Piccioli, Lighting Designer

San Francisco Opera Orchestra

San Francisco Opera Chorus

Lucy Bradley, Director

Irene Roberts, Offred

Simone McIntosh, The Double

Christopher Oglesby, Luke

Gabrielle Beteag, Offred's mother

Sarah Cambidge, Aunt Lydia

Katrina Galka, Janine/Ofwarren

Lindsay Ammann, Serena Joy

Sara Couden, Rita

John Relyea, The Commander

Brenton Ryan, Nick

Matthew Dibattista, The Doctor

John Keene, Choirmaster / chorus director

Unmasking illusions: SF Opera’s Ballo mirrors life’s motley

Thomas May, 24th September

An excellent cast and smart, engaged direction make for an auspicious season launch in San Francisco Opera’s production of one of Verdi’s most sophisticated creations.

****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

San Francisco Opera offers a dark, powerful Rusalka

Edward Sava-Segal, 22nd June

Both vocally and instrumentally the performance was a high-class one

****1

Exquisite Handelian singing in San Francisco Opera's Orlando

Edward Sava-Segal, 21st June

The evening’s most revelatory performance came from the young countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen as Medoro.

****1

Heggie creates a new holiday tradition for the opera world

Donna Stoering, 20th November

A wonderfully realized production at San Francisco Opera of Jake Heggie's operatic version of a holiday classic.

*****

A Cav & Pag with virtues and flaws at San Francisco Opera

Edward Sava-Segal, 30th September

Tenor-turned-director José Cura transplants the action from southern Italy to Buenos Aires.

***11

More reviews...

Lois Silverstein

Lois Silverstein, PhD, a New Yorker born and bred, has lived and worked in San Francisco for over 35 years. Her eight books include novels, poems, essays and memoir; she also writes reviews for OperaWire. After numerous roles in San Francisco Opera as a supernumerary, she performed her one-woman, multimedia show about a freedom fighter in 1939, during the fall of Poland, Valia: The Story of a Woman of Courage. Her newest novel, When Crying Stops: War Echoes from Romania, will be published in 2024.

San Francisco Opera's The Handmaid's Tale offers hope in a totalitarian world