We had plenty of time as we slow-walked to the Boston Lyric Opera’s new venue, on the waterfront this time, at the Leader Bank’s Pavilion (for two performances on October 1 and 3 as part of its “Street Stage” performance at outside venues), a huge tent just a couple minutes’ walk from the Silver Line’s “Silver Way” stop — third from South Station. Grey skies and seagulls… Who knew that not only would the venue be so accessible, but also the theme of Mascagni’s late 19th century opera, “Cavalleria Rusticana,” set in a Sicilian Village, on Easter Sunday — morning to be exact — so resonate with our own times — at least to this auditor. At the opera’s opening, Turiddu, sung by Adam Diegal, has just returned from military service, a return which already sounds both familiar and ominous. Turiddu is singing, lyrically, of his ardent love for Lola, which love sounds to the … [Read more...] about THE BOSTON LYRIC OPERA BLOSSOMS, AGAIN, WITH WATERFRONT PERFORMANCE OF CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA

Currently at the Lyric Stage is a warm, quirky and increasingly electrifying meeting between four characters who hail from the same small town located somewhere outside of The Big Apple, but not quite close enough to visit. Shani Farrell plays Patty Cooper and Katherine C. Shaver, her aunt, Luanne Cooper. We meet them seated at a work-table doing a menial job along with a third worker, Bari. The three women are clipping labels from women’s clothing revealing that each garment was ‘Made in China’ so that buyers’ will feel good as they gift phony clothing to people they wish to impress. As viewers, we could feel sorry for them, stuck in such paltry, dead-end jobs, but the two sisters possess some joie de vivre which is infectious. Both young, buoyed by their youth and happy to be employed, they each have passionate interests they are busy sustaining: Luanne, her … [Read more...] about LYRIC STAGE COMPANY’S ‘BE HERE NOW” IS INFECTIOUS