Ravi Coltrane-John Scofield recall Chicago South Side jazz "temples" in SCP Jazz sets

Ravi Coltrane Trio/John Scofield Quartet at Symphony Center SCP Jazz Series

by Dwight Casimere

There was a time in the 1950s through early 1970s when Chicago’s South Side was rife with lounges and nightclubs where ensemble jazz was king. Artists, such as Ahmad Jamal, Gene Ammons, Sonny Stitt, Charles Earland and Johnny Hartman were fixtures at places like McKee’s Show lounge, the Brown Derby (now undergoing a revival at the King Tut Room on the South Side with weekend-only performances by local artists such as Maggie Brown, daughter of Oscar Brown, Jr.) and the Apartment Lounge, the last remaining, with Tuesday night shows by renowned octogenarian jazz saxophonist Von Freeman.

Tenor Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane and Guitarist John Scofield might have been channeling those hallowed days in their recent appearance at Chicago’s Symphony Center Presents SCP Jazz Series an intimate pair of sets more apt to be heard in the confine of a small nightclub rather than the cavernous expanse of a symphony hall. Coltrane, the son of jazz saxophone deity John Coltrane, eschewed his normal quartet configuration to appear with a trio, accompanied by Bassist Robert Hurst and Drummer Karriem Riggins.

Known for his fiery forays into musical frontiers bordering on Free Jazz, Coltrane offered a probing set that was most movingly capped by a poetic reading of the evergreen Vernon Duke song Autumn in New York and an emotional tribute to the late poet Zoe Anglesey entitled For Zoe. (Anglesey (1941-2003) was a poet, writer and jazz critic who championed Coltrane’s nascent career. The two remained close friends until her death from lounge cancer.)

John Scofield must have gotten the memo and delivered a set of chamber music jazz that similarly evoked the atmosphere of an intimate cabaret setting.

Unlike Coltrane, who learned of his father’s preeminence through his musician-mother Alice Coltrane, Scofield performed regularly with all of the jazz legends of that vaunted era. As soloist, front man, composer and arranger, he was immortalized on recordings with such jazz gurus s Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker and Charles Mingus. His 1980s recordings and world tour with Miles Davis are legend.

Scofield brought an untamed Rock sensibility to the jazz scene at a time when the music was threatened with extinction and sparked a renewed interest and revival among a younger, more eclectic audience.

It was the voice of legends that he was echoing from the Armour Stage in a set that reflected the musical attitude of his acoustic album Quiet (Verve, 1996) rather than his out-and-out Funk album A Go Go (1997) or Bump (2000). The most sublime moment of his entire effort was the Victor Young/Ned Washington song My Foolish Heart from the 1949 film of the same name. Scofield, best known for creating a searing, almost supernatural tone from his guitar, caressed the melody line and coaxed his strings to play lyrical lines that eerily recalled the vocal version by Billy Eckstine that became a million seller. Pianist Michael Eckroth lovingly recalled the genius of the late Bill Evans; another artist closely associated with the song, in his long, pensive ruminations on this emotionally charged classic.

Scofield further paid tribute to South Side Chicago Jazz with the Lionel Hampton tune My Little Red Top, which was popularized by saxophone powerhouse Gene Ammons in a 1947 recording. “Do you know this was recorded by Gene Ammons just a few blocks from here on the South Side?” Scofield told the crowd from the stage. (The Mercury recording lists Ammons as the composer.) After the brief history lesson, Scofield launched into a spirited rendition of “Green Tea” from the A Go Go album, recalling the hard-rocking John Scofield of old.

Roy Haynes and Fountain of Youth Band with Special Guest Roy Hargrove on trumpet, grace the Armour Stage Friday, December 9 at 8pm in the next installment of Symphony Center Presents SCP Jazz. For tickets and information, visit cso.org/jazz.

Broadway In Chicago: Baby Boomer's Night Out

BROADWAY IN CHICAGO: ROCK OF AGES-BABY BOOMERS NIGHT OUT

Photos courtesy Phoenix Entertainment

This weekend would be a great time to break out those old faded jeans that may be two sizes too small, and head on down to the Oriental Theatre for some steamy Rock ‘n Roll. The five-time Tony Award nominated musical slithers its way onto the stage for one weekend only, through Sunday, November 13, with the iconic songs of Whitesnake, Journey, Styx, Reo, Speedwagon, Foreigner and Pat Benatar. You’ll be happy you did it. The high-energy show is just the sort of last-minute rush you’ll need before the Holiday treacle starts to settle in!

Rock of Ages relives the Go-Go, Reagan-era of the late ‘80s, when Rock ‘n Roll reigned supreme. The action unfolds at a hardscrabble Hollywood Rock Club ‘cum strip joint called The Bourbon on Sunset Strip. With Book by Chris D’Arienzo and Direction Re-Created by Adam John Hunter from original Director Kristin Hangii and Choreography Re-Created by Marcos Santana from the original Choreography by Kelly Devine, the show bristles with raw energy.

Artistic Producer Michael McFadden and Set Design from Beowulf Borritt deserve

The plot is as thin as a wisp of Pat Benatar’s hair, but this is not Masterpiece Theatre. It’s all about the music, and there’s plenty of it provided by the high-energy Rock of Ages Band, conducted by Darren Ledbetter. The dancer numbers, especially the imaginative ‘lap dance’ scene in the second act, really set the decibel reading beyond the red line.

Rock of Ages tells the story of two star-struck kids from nowheresville, Drew (Dominique Scott) and Sherri Shannon Mullen), who decide to head to the bright lights of Tinsel Town and make it big on the Rock stage. The land on the Sunset Strip in 1987, in what was then L.A.’s most legendary rock club. They believe their dreams will finally realized until they suddenly learn that the club is about to be razed by the wrecker’s ball, because of the machinations of an evil German developer, Hertz (an uproarious Philip Peterson, with the world’s worst fake German accent, played for laughs) and his quasi-Gay son Franz (Stephen Michael Kane), who delivers the shows funniest line (I’m not Gay, I’m German!).

The plan to turn Sunset Strip into a replica of Times Square brings about the musical’s most rousing ensemble number, Starship’s We Built This City.” Justin Colombo as Lonny the narrator consistently keeps things moving along with his bright humor and deft sense of comedic timing. Amma Osei as Mother is the real show-stealer, however, with her rock the house, Gospel tinged voice. We could have heard a lot more from her. Matt Nolan is a blaze of sequins, skin and sexy-sweat bravado as Stacee Jaxx. There’s one hilarious ‘love’ scene that has he and Sherrie having a hookup in a bathroom stall that is one of the most imaginative bits of choreography ever. There's tons of raunchy humor and tongue in cheek (pardon the pun) sexual innuendo and a few off-color remarks about gays (it’s the ‘80s, remember!), but all of it is in good fun. It all climaxes with the full ensemble and the audience rockin’ out to Journey’s Don’t Stop Believin’. On that note, how can you possibly go wrong?

Did I mention that you can now get drinks served at your seat with a pre-paid ticket at the Oriental Theatre? It doesn’t get much better than that!

For tickets and showdtimes, visit broadwayinchicago.com.

The Actor: well deserved Oscar buzz for a 'new' classic

Story and photos by Dwight Casimere

Actor James Cromwell with Dwight The Connoisseur

The Director and Cast of The Artist in a news conference at the New York Film Festival

Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo star in The Artist/Photo courtesy The Weinstein Company

NEW YORK-The most delightful film to premiere at this year’s New York Film Festival is the black and white silent movie “The Artist” from The Weinstein Company and Warner Bros. That’s right, I said silent and black and white!

The film goes against the grain of modern day filmmaking techniques and that’s exactly where its charm and empirical stature lie. The film has already received a 5 star review from its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, which also bestowed the Best Actor Award upon its star, French actor Jean Dujardin who plays the lead character, George Valentin, who bears and uncanny resemblance to William Powell of The Thin Man fame. (There’s even a cute Jack Russell terrier, which plays his sidekick, which bears a remarkable resemblance to Asta.) The film opens in theatres nationwide Wednesday, November 23.

French film Director Michel Hazanavicius (Nest, Lost in Rio, which also starred Dujardin) gets everything right in The Artist. The framing, in the box format typical of old movies, rather than the wide screen format of today’s films, and a warm black and white chroma that evokes the films 1920s Hollywood, gives the film an authentic feel without drawing attention itself. Add magnificent sets and costumes, a terrific cast, including luminous Argentinean actress Bernice Bejo and the U.S.’s terrific John Goodman and (my personal favorite) James Cromwell (Babe, LA Confidential) and you have the makings of a marvelous film experience.

“The care that went into this film is astounding,” Cromwell said in a post screening news conference at the Lincoln Center Film Society. “You can really see it frame by frame. It was a true delight to work on this film because of the level of care and professionalism.”

The Artist centers on George Valentin (Dujardin), a dashing, arrogant screen idol in the tradition of Douglas Fairbanks. Everything is going swimmingly as he battles secret agents in the spy films A German Affair and A Russian Affair, but he gets blind-sided with the sudden arrival of Talkies. Goodman plays the studio exec heavy, in the tradition of Jack Warner. He plays the character in all its oily bravado without going over the top.

The great thing about this film is that the acting is all done without dialogue. The actors convey the action, with the help of subtitles, but without the exaggerated movements that you would expect. That’s part of it. They ‘act’ in the truest sense of the word.

To further exemplify that ‘Glory Days of Hollywood” feel, there are some terrific Fred ‘n Ginger dance scenes between the Dujardin and Bejo characters that really clinches the charm factor of The Artist.

This is an out-and-out joyous film that celebrates not only the art of filmmaking, but also the enduring power of love in its truest sense. It may all sound really corny and sentimental, but it all works so beautifully that the director could have been describing himself when he named the film.

THE LAST RITES OF JOE MAY OPENS AT CHICAGO'S GENE SISKEL FILM CENTER

THE LAST RITES OF JOE MAY: DENNIS FARINA BRINGS A PRIZEFIGHTER’S TITLE-WINNING PERFORMANCE HOME TO CHICAGO

Story and photos by Dwight Casimere

1. Dennis Farina (Joe May) with Dwight Casimere

2. Jamie Anne Allman is Jenny

3. Gary Cole is Lenny

4. Joe May is played by Dennis Farina

5. A scene from The Last Rites of Joe May/Courtesy Tribeca Films

CHICAGO—Dennis Farina has played everything from an Irish mob boss in You Kill Me to a police detective in NBC’s Law and Order, which wasn’t too much of a stretch, since he actually was simultaneously a Chicago cop during the early days of his acting career.

He must have felt like a prizefighter parading his title-winning belt before more than 1,200 adoring fans as he strode the Red Carpet into the Harris Theatre for Music and Dance at Millennium Park for the Chicago Premiere of his most recent film, The Last Rites of Joy May at the Opening Night of the 47^th Chicago International Film Festival along with his co-stars Jamie Anne Allman, Ian Barford, Gary Cole and Chelcie Rose, writer/director Joe Maggio and the film’s producers.

The Last Rites of Joe May begins showing in Chicago Friday, November 25 through Thursday, December 1 in a limited run at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 North State Street, near State & Lake, across from the Chicago Theatre. Visit www.siskelfilmcenter.org for tickets and showtimes.

For Farina, this was a victory lap of sorts for a Chicago-born actor who fought, and won a decision to bring the film project to his home town and create what many are calling a career-defining character performance as the down-and-out hustler seeking redemption, Joe May. “It was originally set in New York,” Farina confided in the heady afterglow of the film’s premiere night. “I brought Joe Maggio, our writer/director here, and persuaded him to shoot it in Chicago.”

The Last Rites of Joe May has writer Nelson Algren written all over it, or scenes from the 1949 Nicholas Ray Film, Knock on Any Door, which starred Humphrey Bogart and was based on the best-selling first novel of the same name by African American author Willard Motley. It is an elegiac, atmospheric look at the underbelly of society, only so much more. This is living Hell!

“We have our wonderful cinematographer Jay Silver (Persona Au Gratin-2011, War Against the Weak (documentary), 2009) to thank for that,” said co-star Gary Cole, who played the part of Lenny, the two-bit mob boss who sets the defeated Joe May on a wild goose chase that accelerates his downward spiral. “You can almost smell the garbage in those back alleys and taste the raw meat of the packing houses. We wanted to show that this is no place to be. In fact, its downright dangerous!”

In addition to the Ivan Albright-like frames of Jay Silver’s evocative cinematography, there’s the seamless editing of Seth Anderson, which provides the legato pacing that adds to the film’s gravitas.

About his character, Joe May, Farina says his upbringing in Chicago and his experience as a Chicago cop had a great deal to do with the background information that informs his character.

“We shot the film around my old neighborhood,” Farina emphasized. “So I was familiar with some of those streets and back alleys. It was mostly shot around West Grand Avenue-on May Street, Racine. All the streets I grew up on. And those characters. The guys who sit in the tavern all day long and in the back rooms of local diners and make deals; those are people I know. They remind of people, not just from my police days; they’re people I ran across my whole life!”

Joe May is a low life hustler who comes out after months of confinement in the hospital due to a serious illness. He undergoes a Shawshank-like experience. Substitute the infirmary for prison. May gets a rude awakening when he finds that, in his absence, everything in his life has dramatically changed. Strangers now occupy his apartment. All of his belongings have been tossed into the trash and his car has been towed away and sold. Not exactly a heroes’ welcome.

All that is precious and dear in Joe May’s life is seemingly destroyed, save for two things, which will later become key elements in the unfolding of the plot. His valued collection of old opera recordings of the great Enrico Caruso and Carlo Bergonzi singing the great operas of Giuseppe Verdi and Giacomo Puccini were squirreled away in a closet by the new tenant of his apartment. “I thought you might want them,” she says off- handedly. Touched, but still wounded, Joe exclaims, “A hell of a lot of good they are without my record player!” The records and a worn family photo he finds inside one of the record jackets are reminders of happier times. At night, their discovery evokes memories, sadness, and tears.

The other element is his rooftop pigeon coop, his haven away from the rigors of the mean streets. A neighbor has stolen his trained pigeons and the coop is a mess but, “just put in some new grass for them to nest and some feed and they’ll come back home!” Slowly, and with great psychic pain, he begins to rebuild the shattered shards of his life.

May starts to get his footing when he’s invited back to his old quarters to share them with the new tenants, a single mother named Jenny, (“Rapp, like the music, she says smarmily”, his retort, “mine’s May, like the month.”), who has a world-weary 10 year old, Angelina, played by Meredith Droeger, a newbie who is the younger sister of actress Abigail Droeger. Jamie Anne Allman (Six Feet Under, The Practice. The Shield), is Jenny.

“I was really glad that the director just let me and the character just sit and live in the moment. There were whole scenes that could have been just edited and cut short, but Joe (Maggio) allowed that character to live in that moment and allowed the audience to really feel her emotion. The movie raised the whole issue of the battered wife and I think the film really allowed the audience to feel what its like to live that. It also talks about inter-generational living, which a lot of people are living with now, especially with this economy. There are lots of people who suddenly find an elderly relative on their doorstep with nowhere to go or a friend who just lost their job who has no place to live. I didn’t really think about that until I’d seen the film a couple of times, but those issues are really there as part of the sub-plot.”

One of the criticisms of the movie is that it moves too slowly. That there’s not enough action. “I think it’s a matter of taste,” Allman said. “”If their taste isn’t toward sitting with someone for a while in a situation, then they’re not going to like it at all. They’re going to want the film to move on and get to the next situation. It’s not going to be to their taste.

“In a lot of movies, there’s explosions and things that might get your attention. It’s all for the eye. But this film is more meat for the soul (pardon the pun!).” She was referring to a scene where Joe is given a 50lb leg of lamb to boost as a backhanded tribute from mob boss Lenny. Frustrated that he’s unable to sell the meat, he finally discards it to a stray alley dog. “I’ve seen the film twice,” Allman said,” and each time I say to myself ‘why didn’t he just take that meat home and put it in the freezer. I’m sure Jenny and her kid would have liked to eat it. That 50 pounds of meat could have lasted them for months!”

The relationship between Joe May and the little girl, Angelina, are cemented as the two fly trained pigeons from Joe’s rooftop coop. “Racing pigeons is just like life,” he counsels in the film. “You’re flyin’ high one minute, and down in the crapper the next.”

Farina explained the odd couple relationship between his character and the girl this way; “We wanted Joe to talk to the little girl, just as if she were another adult, another 65 year old, because he really doesn’t know any other way. But Angelina, like a lot of kids like her today, grows up to be old very early. The kid sleeps with a knife under her bed, after all. It’s really sad.”

The film is rife with symbolism and metaphor. In addition to the life-lesson symbolized by the pigeons, there’s a scene at the very beginning and at the very end where Joe ceremoniously shaves and dresses himself. They occur first, as he’s leaving the hospital, and again as he prepares for his final reckoning.

It’s a conceit that’s often used by directors to telegraph the denouement of the plot. It was used most eloquently in the 1986 Claude Berri film Jean de Florette, in which the character played by Yves Montand prepares to atone for his complicity in the events that led to the titled character of the film’s demise. It was used most recently in the 2008 American film drama Gran Torino, in which the Clint Eastwood character, Korean veteran Walt Kowalski, prepares to exact revenge against the gang bullies who have been pressuring his young Hmong neighbor, to whom he has entrusted his prized 1972 Ford Gran Torino.

There’s another ‘character’ in the Joe May film, which plays a pivotal, if not vital role- a rap of the knuckles on a mahogany tavern bar. “That knock on the bar was the director, Joe’s idea,” Farina explained. “I don’t want to give too much away about the film, but Joe said that was a thing his grandfather used to do. It meant that everything was ‘on the arm.’ Things were straight.”

Farina credits his old comrades at Steppenwolf Theatre with the success of the film. “It all really came together when Steppenwolf Films got involved. They brought a lot to the table with their people and their expertise. They let us borrow some of their actors and once they brought Gary (Cole) on board, it all coalesced.”

The Last Rites of Joe May is a film that demands your full attention. In fact, I recommend seeing it more than once, because there’s a lot that goes on that seems insignificant upon first viewing, that turns out to be vital to the plot’s development. The solitary piano in Lindsay Marcus’s sparse, but highly emotive score evokes the loneliness and isolation felt by Joe May. Even the opera arias selected for the film aren’t just there to impress. Sung mostly by the great Enrico Caruso, the words from Verdi’s Otello and Il Trovatore and Puccini’s La Boheme, tell the story concurrently with Silver’s stark images and Maggio’s poignant script. Case in point, the aria Ah Si Ben Mio, sung by Caruso in the opera Il Trovatore. It’s sung during the final scenes in which May prepares to face his destiny. It’s eerily reminiscent of the setup to the score-settling at the end of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather, only the blood-letting here is on a much smaller scale.

Tribeca Film has acquired The Last Rites of Joe May for distribution in the U.S. and Canada. Produced in association with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Films, it will be released nationwide October 28 on Video On Demand. It opens theatrically in New York November 4 at Quad Cinema and in Chicago November 25^th at the Gene Siskel Film Center near State & Lake, across from the Chicago Theatre. I suggest ordering your tickets now and setting aside some time for discussion over dinner or cocktails afterward. This is a thought-provoking film that takes on a lot of hot-button issues such as battered women, homelessness, multi-generational living and the general disregard we have for our aging population. This is a film that will live in your conscience long after the final credits have rolled.

Met Live in HD Siegfried: new tenor, technologies explode on movie screens worldwide

The Met Live in HD: New tenor, new technology ignite Siegfried on world stage

Reviewed by Dwight Casimere

Photo Gallery by Ken Howard/Metropolitan Opera

Siegfried (Jay Hunter Morris) with Brunnhilde (Deborah Voigt)

Robert Lepage's elaborate Ex Machina set with projected 3D images and motion detecting cueing technology

Eric Owens as Alberich (l) and Bryn Terfel as The Wanderer

Fafner the Dragon squares off against Siegfried

Hans-Peter Konig as a mortally wounded Fafner

Gerhard Siegel (l) as Mime

Bryn Terfel as The Wanderer (Woton)

Eric Owens as Alberich

Jay Hunter Morris in the title role

Siegfried (Jay Hunter Morris) and Brunnhilde (Deborah Voigt) embrace in Act III of Siegfried

More than 100,000 people on movie screens in 50 countries watched a landmark live transmission of the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Richard Wagner's Siegfried, the third installment of his Ring cycle, directed by Robert Lepage and eloquently conducted by Fabio Luisi, the Metropolitan Opera’s new Principal Conductor. They also saw the Met debut of a new Siegfried and a promising Wagnerian sensation in-the-making. Jay Hunter Morris is a true Helden tenor (heroic tenor) in the tradition of such Met legends as Placido Domingo, Siegfried Jerusalem and the late Lauritz Melchior. Morris hails all the way from Paris(Texas that is) and just a few months ago, as told to Met backstage interviewer and soprano superstar Renee Fleming, was selling roller blades in Central Park, a few blocks from the Metropolitan Opera stage, where he gave his towering, and possibly career defining performance.

The third time was the charm for the Met in its casting of the role of Siegfried. Another of opera’s popular Wagnerian tenors was originally assigned to sing the role, but Ben Heppner withdrew in February. Gary Lehmann was then brought in, but also left just over a month ago. That’s when Morris was asked to step into what is said to be the toughest tenor role in the world. His prior experience in the role this past summer with the San Francisco Opera served him well, because within days of his arrival, he was in full costume, singing in his first Met Dress Rehearsal, an experience beautifully documented in a video segment presented during the first intermission of the Met’s Live in HD transmission.

Morris describes his unconventional journey from Paris, Texas to the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House. “In Dallas Texas a few years ago, I saw Traviata. I was so fascinated, I said ‘I want to try that.’ Since then, I’ve had enormous buckets of good luck! You know, it wasn’t all that long ago that I was selling roller blades at 72^nd & Central Park West (just a short distance from Lincoln Center where The Met is housed) and it wasn’t all that long ago that I was passing out towels at the Fitness Center in Paris, Texas. There’s no magic formula. I’m just the luckiest guy in the world.”

That's the beauty of attending a Live IN HD performance, all of the backstage interviews and special segments are exclusive to movie theatre audiences. The brilliant close up camera work, particularly in this broadcast’s camera direction, also provides visual insights that just can’t be seen from a seat in the house, no matter how close you are. (Case in point, the loving glances and visual asides between Siegfried and Brunnhilde conveyed the romantic spark that ignited between them in Act III.) As always, principal Live In HD Director Gary Halvorson (TVs Two and a Half Men) did a stellar job. This Met Live In HD matinee was also distinguished by the fact that this production marked the first time ever that new 3D, and even 4D technologies where utilized in combined fashion on the opera stage.

The new production, by Canadian director Lepage, dwarfs the action on stage with a 45 ton apparatus of movable steel panels, collectively known as Ex Machina, which rotates and pivots on cues from a bank of computers offstage. 3D images are projected on the moving panels throughout the opera to depict scene changes from the forest to Fafner’s underground lair and the subterranean realm of the Nibelung to the fire-ringed mountain where Brunnhilde lies immobile. At one point, as Siegfried traverses the pivoting planks in search of Brunnhilde, he seems perilously in danger of sliding into the abyss. Whether that was intentional or a byproduct of the device’s inherent dangers is anyone’s guess, but Morris nimbly regained his footing and proceeded on his noble quest.

"This is the first time that 3D technology, like you see in the movies, has been used on the opera stage in combination with all these other technologies, like tracking and night vision used in flight simulation and in combat," said Roger Parent, President of Realisations, the company that creates the Ring's interactive video projections, to Fleming in a backstage interview. While he was talking, Met HD cameras captured shots of the stage crew meticulously placing rods and bolts into the mechanized stage that served as the backdrop for the 3 dimensional forest, mountains and streams of Wagner's Siegfried.

Besides Morris's commanding performance, Deborah Voigt was the consummate Brunnhilde, lending dramatic color and vocal stamina to the demanding role. In the early scenes, Morris was especially adept at conveying the awkwardness and unbridled energy of the youthful Siegfried. His voice seemed more than up for the challenge of singing virtually without a break in the five-hour production. His voice only gave way for a brief moment when a note escaped his vocal grasp while reaching for the crescendo at the end of Act One when he forges his sword, Nothung, from its shattered fragments. His performance was otherwise robust and flawless (Morris spoke that a note ‘ got away from me’ in the dress rehearsal segment, but was quickly reassured by his fellow cast members and crew.)

Eric Owens was a commanding presence as Alberich. His perfect German enunciation and rich, mahogany basso profundo gave his character added depth and a sense of underlying menace that made for a mesmerizing performance. Owens will reprise the role in the Met's new production of Gotterdammerung, the final installment in the Ring cycle, which premieres. January 27. It will be transmitted Live In HD February 11, 2012 at Noon Eastern Time, 11am Central.

Owens spoke about the difference in his character in the two operas while backstage with Renee Fleming. "The Tessatura (general vocal range) is higher in Siegfried, so I really have to be 'on' for this one. It requires me to reach, not only for a higher pitch vocally, but dramatically as well."

Bryn Terfel as The Wanderer (Woton in disguise), brings an incredible heft to the role with his richly textured voice and superior acting skills. I bet he strolls around Lincoln Center Plaza wearing that cool forest green hat during his off hours!

Patricia Barda was a luminous Erda (Mother Earth). Hats off to Costume Designer Francoise St-Auvin for that shimmering black reflective costume.

One of the more delightful and technically dazzling moments was Siegfried’s encounter with the 3D Forest Bird that led him to a sleeping Brunnhilde in Act III. The “voice” of the bird was provided by soprano Mojca Erdmann, who sang fluidly offstage, and a trio of wind instruments, including Stefan Hoskuldsson, Principal Flute, Elaine Douvas, Principal Oboe and Anthony McGill, Principal Clarinet.

“My singing was actually the ‘cue’ for the bird to fly,” Erdmann revealed in her backstage interview with Ms. Fleming (who is a marvelous interviewer, by the way. Her sensitive and comforting manner towards her colleagues elicits some very revealing and informative answers from them.) Realisation President Parent further explained; “The movement of the bird and the other 3D imagery was actually triggered by the movements of the actors. Its the kind of motion detection technology used in combat,” he said. “The operative word here is ‘tracking.’ In this production,” he elaborated, “we use at least three new technologies commonly used in dramatically different circumstances. We have 3D technology, which we see today in the movies. We have technology that is typically used in flight simulation. Then there is night vision and motion detection used in combat situations. In real life, these technologies are either used to make movies or to fight wars. When we put them all together and give them to theatre or opera people, they use them to make magic!”

Note that the encore presentation of Siegfried will not be part of the Met Live HD series until May when the complete Ring Cycle is broadcast, exact dates still to be determined.

The next Met Live IN HD transmission is Satyagraha (truth force), Philip Glass's musical dramatization of the politically formative years of India’s martyred independence leader, Mahatma Gandhi, and his fight against racism in 1890s South Africa. Historians say that experience formed the ideological bedrock of his philosophy of Civil Disobedience, which became the foundation to all modern protests from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s to the present-day Occupy Wall Street demonstrations. Satyagraha airs in movie theatres Saturday, November 19 at 1pm Eastern, Noon Central. For tickets and information, visit www.metopera.org or www.fathomevents.com.

MET: LIVE IN HD Don Giovanni reaches box office landmark

Met: Live in HD grosses over $2 MIL in North America for Don Giovanni

Reviewed by Dwight Casimere October 29, 2011

Photo credit: Mart Sohl/Metropolitan Opera

1. Ramon Vargas as Don Ottavio and Marina Rebeka as Donna Anna

2. Barbara Frittoli as Donna Elvira

3. Barbara Frittoli as Donna Elvira and Luca Pisaroni as Leporello

4. Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni

5. Mojca Erdmann as Zerlina and Mariusz Kwiecien as Don Giovanni

MET: Live in HD’s live transmission of its new production of Mozart’s Don Giovanni brought a watershed occurrence. An estimated 107,000 saw the performance on 850 screens in North America, grossing $2.3 million in ticket sales. An estimated additional 109,000 people saw it live on 625 screens in 42 foreign countries, including 28 in Europe, nine in Latin America, and on screens in Russia, Egypt, Israel, Morocco and the Bahamas.

Encore screenings of Don Giovanni will take place on U.S. screens on Wednesday, November 16 at 6:30pm local time.

Directed for live transmission by veteran Live in HD Director Barbara Willis Sweete, the new production by Tony Award winner Michael Grandage was conducted by the Met’s new Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi in his Live in HD debut. In addition to this being his Met Live in HD debut, Maestro Luisi further dazzled audiences by conducting part of Mozart’s demanding score from the harpsichord, which he played while simultaneously conducting.

“It’s all one continuous motion,” Luisi said of his unique capability to backstage interviewer, MET diva Renee Fleming. “I’m able to do this because I’m working with one of the most flexible orchestras in the world. They’re able to switch gears at the drop of a hat and speed up or slow down to accommodate the singers. That’s the great thing about this orchestra. They are really able to listen to singers and support them by changing the tempo quickly when they need to.”

Tenor Ramon Vargas was the standout performer of the show with his beautiful arias and heart-rending delivery. Mozart’s Don Giovanni is a showcase for beautiful singing and the sterling cast excelled on all counts. Marina Rebeka was electrifying as Donna Anna, one of Don Giovanni’s (a stentorian Mariusz Kwiecien) early conquests. Mojca Erdmann provided a sympathetic portrayal of Zerlina with her silvery, shimmering voice. Luca Pisaroni showed both strong acting and vocal skills in the role of Leporello. Stefan Kocan lent gravitas and a rumbling deep bass register to the role of the Commendatore, creating a spine-chilling spectacle in the final act.

The marvel of afternoon was star Mariusz Kwiecien who, in a bizarre offstage drama of his own, suffered injury to his back in the final dress rehearsal and had to undergo back surgery and extensive physical therapy in order to return to the stage in time for the afternoon’s plawless performance.

The towering rustic sets and the beautifully detailed costumes by Christopher Oram added to the authentic mid-18^th century feel of this fast paced production. The multi-storied design of the sets particularly came into play in the final act in startling fashion.

Don Giovanni takes place in Spain in Spain in the mid-18^th century. It centers on the vengeful and lustful nobleman Don Giovanni and his destructive sexual exploits. He murders the father of one of his young exploits in a duel in the first act, setting in motion the cycle of vengeance that drives the plot, leading to his ultimate demise.

“You have to understand that the entire story happens in a single day,” Ramon Vargas (Don Ottavio) tells Renee Fleming in a backstage interview. ”So, in the Second Act when Ottavio asks Donna Anna to marry him, she tells him that now is not the time. Of course, her father has just been killed on the previous morning. It’s too soon!

“In many ways, she’s torn. She knows that Ottavio is the right man for her, but she is still attracted to the seductive power of Don Giovanni.”

The masked ball at Don Giovanni’s home at the conclusion of Act One is one of the liveliest in all opera. The ornate costumes and terrific dancing by the cast and corps du ballet by Choreographer Ben Wright is captivating. This is an opera worth seeing again at the Encore Presentation November 16. Visit metopera.org/HD or fathomevents.com for tickets.