Annenberg Theater

Great theatre space. Wish there were more productions.

If you are visiting the Palm Springs area from April 19 – 28, you should go and see «Tru» at the Annenberg Theatre! What a fantastic performance!!! Should not be missed!

35^th Annual Opera Showcase of the Desert, Wednesday, January 26, 2011 at 6PM.
ARWWWWWGGGG…Who programmed this «off Broadway»…way off Broadway evening of some very fine young operatic voices singing mostly show tunes instead of arias?
There were some obviously talented performers on stage that didn’t really get a chance to showcase their «real» classical talents, but were coached into singing boring show tunes in English with some annoying slavic accents in some cases. The somewhat portly mezzo soprano, Marina Harris, appeared to have the most promising vocal instrument amongst the women with soprano Valerie Vinzant running a close second, And while this evening’s strongest female vocal instrument belonged to soprano Narine Ojakhyan, her vibratto was distracting and if she doesn’t tone it down, in ten years or so she’ll sound like she’s singing in a buggy rolling over cobblestones!
Music director, Paul Floyd, clearly demonstrated his keyboard talents and his running commentary was entertaining when it could be heard. He should have been miked.
And alas, there’s Mark Lamanna the stage director. I can excuse his poor programming based on his obvious musical theater background and he’s really cute, but Mark, don’t ever try again to choreograph a dance ditty for opera singers. They’re upper body divas and most of the time don’t even know where their feet are! Most can barely handle hand movements and basic blocking.
This was my first time to attend this annual event and perhaps my expectations were too high, but I do hope that next year the program would truly showcase the classical talents of these rising young opera stars!