Dec 17
OK, the blog post title is a little cute-sy and Marx Brother-ish. On Friday night, I attended the opening night of the Lyric Opera’s “Dr. Atomic” , John Adams and Peter Sellars’ modern opera about Robert Oppenheimer and the frenzied, heady days leading up to the first atomic bomb test in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, with my friend Erik (who luckily procured free main floor tickets for us- thanks buddy!). Chicago is only the third city to see this major artistic work, after it’s 2005 San Francisco Opera premiere, and the revised and updated staging at the De Nederlandse Opera this year. It is a stunning, important work, full of challenging themes around moral conscience, scientific purpose, and individual and collective accountability, which demands days of reflection and introspection. I cannot say enough great things about it and encourage my avid blog readers to run and scoop up tickets as soon as possible. I will be posting my own reaction to the opera in the next few days, but I wanted to share this except from John Van Rhein’s Chicago Tribune review that was published today: “Don’t go to “Doctor Atomic” expecting a comforting night at the opera. It’s not that kind of work. It’s not that kind of world. The opera allows you to make up your own mind as to what the issues it raises mean for the future of life on this planet. Be prepared to be moved to tears, not by easy operatic sentiment but by tough artistic truth.” There are hundreds of artistic events in the city this season, but “Dr. Atomic”, masterfully and undeniably proving the transcendence of great art, is, in my mind, the best use of that disposable, left-over-from-Christmas-shopping, dollar. It’s going to be a shame if you opt for “The Nutcracker” instead. (Picture: Intermission at the Lyric’s Grand Foyer, still breathless after tenor Gerald Finley’s-who plays Oppenheimer-show stopping Act One aria, with Erik, looking crisp in a suit and tie, banishing any thoughts of his Suduku puzzle costume!)
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OK, the blog post title is a little cute-sy and Marx Brother-ish. On Friday night, I attended the opening night of 
December 18th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
In Monday’s NY Times, they had a rather lengthy review of this Opera.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/17/arts/music/17atom.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
(Not sure if the link works but if you go to www.nytimes.com and search for Atomic and Chicago, it is the first story to come up.)
December 18th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
Thanks Joel. I think the New York Times review is pretty favorable. The New York production at the Metropolitan Opera is not going to be until late spring/early summer of 2008. Interestingly, Peter Sellars is NOT directing the Met version (despite being one of their favorite opera directors over the years), because Peter Gelb, the Met’s General Manager, called the San Francisco staging “undramatic”. Just a little bit of opera gossip. It’ll be interesting to find out what opera lovers will think as the definitive version of “Dr. Atomic”- Sellar’s Chicago staging or the Met’s (which will be directed by Penny Woodcock and go on to the English National Opera).