The Lyric Stage: Feb. 25 - Three takes on Romeo and Juliet

The story of Romeo and Juliet and their star crossed love is one of the most compelling narratives in literature, and has inspired, in various versions, plays other than Shakespeare's, seven operas, many ballets, a fantasy overture, at least ten movies in the last thirty-five years, and on and on.  Bellini and Gounod wrote the most successful operas, and while Tchaikovsky never wrote a Romeo and Juliet opera as such, he was leaning toward that goal, at the time of his death re-working material from his fantasy overture that sounds about as operatic as it gets. The fragment of this effort he left is tantalizing to say the least, and it will conclude our program this week on the Lyric Stage. 

Other examples of the timeless story we have this week are from the operas by Bellini and Gounod. Vesselina Kassarova, Roberto Alagna, Eva Mai, and Angela Gheorgiu are among the singers who bring the romance to life this week on The Lyric Stage.