Pacific Opera Project has been driving operatic innovation across the country for good reason: their colorful, inventive and often hilarious productions always include a unique spin of some sort, they feature some seriously talented performers from SoCal and well beyond, and this little company has one of the most devoted audiences this observer has ever seen.
So the coming season, announced this week, appears to be right up POP’s alley, with the return of #Superflute, Donizetti’s throbfest, Gilbert & Sullivan’s reason to say “Arrrrrrrrh….”, and the US premiere of a mythical Vivaldi opera.
Pay special attention to the announcement that the company is offering discounted season subscriptions for the first time — a welcome option for fans of the company “voted” most likely to sell out.
It all sounds good to us. Mark your calendars!
See press release below:
Pacific Opera Project Announces 2022-2023 Season
A 1950s L’elisir d’amore, the U.S. Premiere of Ercole S’ul Termodonte, The Magic Flute AKA #Superflute, and The Pirates of Penzance
“Making opera cool, affordable, accessible and enticing to young audiences is
easier said than done. It’s also something every opera company in the country is trying
desperately to do… It’s not trying desperately to be hip. It just is.” – LA Weekly
www.pacificoperaproject.com
Los Angeles, CA (April 21, 2022) — Pacific Opera Project (POP) today announces its 2022-2023 season of performances, marking a return to a fully in-person season following two years of engaging virtual, hybrid, and outdoor content, prompting the Los Angeles Times to write, “In this strange time and strange place and strange way, the pandemic has made POP matter in a telling new way.” POP’s season features a revival of their 2017 smash hit, L’elisir d’amore, set in the 1950s (September 9-18, 2022); the U.S. premiere of a rare Vivaldi opera, Ercole su’l Termodonte, with a period orchestra (January 6-21, 2023); one of POP’s biggest hits, The Magic Flute AKA #Superflute, set in classic video games from the early 1990s (March 17-26), 2023; and finally, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates Of Penzance outdoors on the lawn of the Heritage Square Museum (May 19-28, 2023).
The 2022-2023 season opens with L’elisir d’amore (The Elixir of Love) by Gaetano Donizetti, taking place on Friday, September 9, 2022 at 8:00pm; Saturday, September 10, 2022 at 7:00pm; Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 3:00pm; Friday, September 16, 2022 at 8:00pm; Saturday, September 17, 2022 at 7:00pm; and Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 3:00pm at the El Portal Theatre. A reprisal of their 2017 smash hit production, set in the 1950s, L’elisir d’amorewill be sung in Italian with supertitles sourced from classic 1950s song lyrics, and set in a diner, a la Happy Days or Grease. Of the production, Stage and Cinema wrote, “It’s a shame that we don’t see this type of acting in big opera productions. This astoundingly enjoyable production easily proves why Donizetti’s opera was one of the most frequently performed of its time. This fab outing will not only cement its reputation among devotees, but will gain new admirers. This is a nifty way to introduce opera to the cats in your life” and LOL-LA raved, “Once again Josh Shaw… has a huge hit on his hands, this time set in the world of 1950s Americana.”
POP presents the U.S. premiere production of a rare Vivaldi opera, Ercole su’l Termodonte, to the Highland Park Ebell Club on Friday, January 6, 2023 at 8:00pm; Saturday, January 7, 2023 at 7:00pm; Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 8:00pm; Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm; Friday, January 20, 2023 at 8:00pm; and Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 2:00pm and 7:00pm. The opera is based on the ninth Labor of Hercules, where Hercules is tasked with capturing the sword of Antiope, the queen of the Amazons. Recently rediscovered hiding in libraries in Münster, Paris, and Turino, Ercole su’l Termodonte is Vivaldi’s 16th opera, written in 1723 and premiered in Rome, during the Pope’s ban on women in opera. The original cast featured seven castrati (many en travesti) and one tenor. POP will employ a mix of countertenors, mezzos, tenors, and sopranos performing these roles with a period orchestra.
On Friday, March 17, 2023 8:00pm; Saturday, March 18, 2023 at 7:00pm; Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 3:00pm; Friday, March 24, 2023 at 8:00pm; Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 3:00pm; andSunday, March 26, 2023 3:00pm at the El Portal Theatre, POP brings back its 2019 season-opening tour-de-force production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute AKA #Superflute, set in classic video games from the early 1990s. The “super” production transports Papageno, Tamino, and the gang to the land of video games resembling Mario Bros. and Zelda with a new English libretto by Artistic Director Josh Shaw and E. Scott Levin. Opera Magazine wrote that the new production “could bring in a new generation of opera-goers” and Opera Today raved “Pacific Opera Project’s rollicking new take on The Magic Flute is as much endearing fun as a box full of puppies. And as ingenious Artistic Director Josh Shaw has reimagined the piece (marketed as #Superflute), the staging is also just about as relentlessly and adorably rambunctious, all the while proving to be commendably musically refined… I loved it. I think Mozart would have loved it. If not, to hell with him!”
Following the success of The Mikado in the 2019 season, POP presents Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates Of Penzance on Friday, May 19, 2023 at 8:00pm; Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 8:00pm; Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 8:00pm; Friday, May 26, 2023 at 8:00pm; Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 8:00pm; and Sunday, May 28, 2023 at 8:00pm on the lawn of the Heritage Square Museum. A large outdoor production nestled among the Victorian homes of Heritage Square Museum, a perfect early summer setting for this Gilbert & Sullivan favorite. Table seating, regular seating, and bring your own seating are all available and picnicking is highly encouraged.
Performance Information
L’elisir d’amore by Gaetano Donizetti
El Portal Theatre | 5269 Lankershim Blvd | North Hollywood, CA
Friday, September 9, 2022 at 8:00pm
Saturday, September 10, 2022 at 7:00pm
Sunday, September 11, 2022 at 3:00pm
Friday, September 16, 2022 at 8:00pm
Saturday, September 17, 2022 at 7:00pm
Sunday, September 18, 2022 at 3:00pm
Tickets: Season subscriptions are now on sale at a 20% discount and start at only $92 for all four shows. Individual tickets go on sale starting 8 weeks before each production.
Ercole S’ul Termodonte by Vivaldi (U.S. Premiere)
Highland Park Ebell Club | 131 S Ave 57 | Los Angeles, CA
Friday, January 6, 2023 at 8:00pm
Saturday, January 7, 2023 at 7:00pm
Thursday, January 12, 2023 at 8:00pm
Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 2:00pm
Saturday, January 14, 2023 at 7:00pm
Friday, January 20, 2023 at 8:00pm
Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 2:00pm
Saturday, January 21, 2023 at 7:00pm
Tickets: Season subscriptions are now on sale at a 20% discount and start at only $92 for all four shows. Individual tickets go on sale starting 8 weeks before each production.
The Magic Flute AKA #Superflute by W.A. Mozart
El Portal Theatre | 5269 Lankershim Blvd | North Hollywood, CA
Friday, March 17, 2023 8:00pm
Saturday, March 18, 2023 at 7:00pm
Sunday, March 19, 2023 at 3:00pm
Friday, March 24, 2023 at 8:00pm
Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 3:00pm
Sunday, March 26, 2023 3:00pm
Tickets: Season subscriptions are now on sale at a 20% discount and start at only $92 for all four shows. Individual tickets go on sale starting 8 weeks before each production.
The Pirates of Penzance by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan
Heritage Square Museum Lawn | 3800 Homer St. | Los Angeles, CA
Friday, May 19, 2023 at 8:00pm (Gates open at 7:00)
Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 8:00pm (Gates open at 7:00)
Sunday, May 21, 2023 at 8:00pm (Gates open at 7:00)
Friday, May 26, 2023 at 8:00pm (Gates open at 7:00)
Saturday, May 27, 2023 at 8:00pm (Gates open at 7:00)
Sunday, May 28, 2023 at 8:00pm (Gates open at 7:00)
Tickets: Season subscriptions are now on sale at a 20% discount and start at only $92 for all four shows. Individual tickets go on sale starting 8 weeks before each production.
Season Tickets:
For the first time, Pacific Opera Project is offering season ticket packages at a 20% discount for all four operas in the 2022-2023 season. Season tickets start at $92 per person. Learn more: www.pacificoperaproject.com/season-tickets
About Pacific Opera Project
Founded in 2011, Los Angeles’s Pacific Opera Project (POP) is dedicated to providing quality opera that is innovative, affordable, and entertaining in order to build a broader audience for the art form. LA Magazine writes “If you think you hate opera, you’ve probably never seen a Pacific Opera Project show.” POP’s regularly sold out performances take place in a wide variety of venues, from outdoors, to small clubs, big amphitheaters, and warehouses. LA Weekly named POP the “Best Opera Company in Los Angeles” in 2018, writing “making opera cool, affordable, accessible and enticing to young audiences is easier said than done. It’s also something every opera company in the country is trying desperately to do… [Pacific Opera Project] is not trying desperately to be hip. It just is.” In 2020, POP was awarded The American Prize in Opera Performance.
POP has presented more than 40 innovative new productions to date, including revolutionary drive-in productions of COVID fan tutte and the US staged premieres of two Gluck operas in November 2020, about which Opera Magazine wrote “Despite this plague year of postponements, POP has refused to bow to the pandemic or its restrictions…There is surely no opera company in this Covid-ravaged country with a better average for 2020.” Other critically acclaimed productions include Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio set as an episode of Star Trek; a “fan-tastic” (LA Daily News) Harajuku-themed Mikado; a Dick Tracy Don Giovanni; a Magic Flute inspired by 1990s video games, called “one of the freshest takes on Mozart’s 1791 classic I have come across” (Operawire); and many more. POP’s signature take on Puccini’s La bohème, “AKA The Hipsters,” set in modern day Los Angeles, has become a holiday tradition, returning year after year to sold-out audiences and called “riotous” (LA Weekly) and “an undeniably fun night at the theater that should not be missed” (Stage Raw). POP gave the world premiere of Brooke deRosa’s The Monkey’s Paw in 2017.
In 2019, POP presented its most ambitious project to date: the first ever true-to-story bilingual Madama Butterfly performed in LA’s Little Tokyo. A co-production with Houston’s Opera in the Heights, the production featured a new libretto written by POP’s Founding Artistic Director Josh Shaw and Opera in the Heights Artistic Director Eiki Isomura, presenting Puccini’s story as if it actually happened and attempting to answer the question: “How would Butterfly and Pinkerton communicate?” All Japanese roles were sung in Japanese by Japanese-American artists and all American roles were sung in English. San Francisco Classical Voice described the production as “on a visual scale beyond anything it has taken on before – a sumptuously costumed, fully staged, bilingual co-production… Pacific Opera Project deserves a great deal of credit for making this concept into a reality… innovative, creative, and immensely successful.”
POP presented the 2018 west coast premiere of Giacomo Rossini’s rarely performed 1816 opera, La gazzetta “The Newspaper.” The first performances in the US were given in Boston at the New England Conservatory in 2013, and POP’s production was only the second in North America. Opera Today raved about the premiere, writing “Director Josh Shaw has invested the proceedings with enough good comic ideas for at least three productions. Shaw has set the show in 1960’s Paris, with eye-popping set elements and brilliant uses of color which add to the manic feel… Mr. Shaw has fashioned a take-no-prisoners approach to the staging, which was rife with clever touches… Pacific Opera Project has evidently hit on a winning formula for a night out, serving up food, drink and an operatic discovery in equal measure.”
POP has been dedicated to reaching young audiences with performance and education since its inception, regularly performing for school-aged groups in family-friendly productions of The Mikado, The Barber of Seville, Sweeney Todd, Cosi fan tutte, Gianni Schicchi, L’enfant et les sortilèges, and La bohème. POP has ongoing internships with Occidental College and collaborates with their Glee Club every other year, as well as internships with The Waverly School and Orange County School of the Arts. POP also partners with Bob Baker Marionette Theater, local YMCAs, and the Burbank Boys and Girls Club. During the COVID-19 pandemic, POP created interactive Education Packs appropriate for kindergarten to eighth grade students to accompany videos of POP’s productions of The Magic Flute and Madama Butterfly. Learn more at www.pacificoperaproject.com.
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www.pacificoperaproject.com
Featured image courtesy of Pacific Opera Project
