Lyric Opera Spins Hoffmann’s Woes into Glorious Musical Drama

Poor Hoffmann is unlucky in love, but his woeful tales give the world magnificent music. Lyric Opera of Chicago opened its 57th season and the Civic Opera House rang out with “The Tales of Hoffmann,” packed with Jacques Offenbach’s familiar melodies, one more glorious than the next. The drunken protagonist is foiled by a succession […]

by Dorothy Andries

Carmen Seduces Us All

Carmen is one of opera’s very bad girls. She seduces and then abandons her lovers about every six months, leaving them in various states of despair.   But the weak-willed Don Jose, a Spanish soldier who deserts his regiment for her, will be her undoing. Lyric Opera of Chicago opened its production of Bizet’s “Carmen” […]

by Dorothy Andries