|
Return to Main News page
Rebecca at the Raimund Theater, Vienna (from Variety, October 8, 2006)
"Around 30 Tony-winning best musicals have been made into Hollywood films, but Broadway has rarely returned the favor: Only three winners of the best picture Oscar successfully transferred to the musical theater stage ("Grand Hotel," "All About Eve" and "The Apartment"). We now can add "Rebecca" to that list. Michael Kunze and Sylvester Levay deliver a work every bit as compelling as their hit "Elisabeth," the most successful German-language musical of all time, while Francesca Zambello's dazzling, cinematic production offers storytelling at its best, clearly defining the whirlpool of emotions experienced by the three tortured principal characters."
Carmen at Royal Opera House (from Variety, December 13, 2006)
 "As Covent Garden's hotly anticipated new production thrillingly proves, this most dramatic of operas only achieves true liftoff when all three partners in the central fervid love triangle are on inflammatory form. But it's not just three powerhouse lead performances that fire up the present proceedings. Director Francesca Zambello scores a major hit by making spectacle respectable.
"Where Hitchcock, according to rumor, treated actors like cattle, Zambello (who's about to join the Disney stable with stage tuner "The Little Mermaid") treats cattle like actors. A live donkey ambles across the sunny Seville square of the first act, a clutch of chickens actually laid eggs during the first-night performance, and toreador Escamillo (Ildebrando D'Arcangelo) makes a suitably high-status entrance on the back of a huge black horse.
"The second-act set may look pretty large for a secret smugglers' tavern, but the place is packed with activity, thanks in part to 34 extra singers, dancers and actors in addition to the already large Opera House chorus. Arthur Pita's flamenco-style choreography has the supreme virtue of looking natural. The vivid, foot-stamping dancing continues the gypsies' dramatic line rather than merely operating as token display. If all that suggests a Seville-theme-park approach, think again. Although Zambello's almost widescreen grandeur risks swamping the story, as soon as the heavily populated life of each location has been established, the focus narrows. She and conductor Antonio Pappano ensure serious storytelling via full-blooded, intensely characterized singing.
 "Heat surges throughout the production...[Pappano] and Zambello effectively create a new edition of the score midway between the original version's spoken dialogue and the later addition of recitative. Most of the latter has been scrapped to sharpen the action, which is also the reasoning for a cut at the beginning of the final act.
"The fact that this production is being filmed by BBC TV will encourage the edition's further uptake. The Royal Opera's last "Carmen" opened in 1991 and was last revived here in 1994. Zambello's production, which has already virtually sold out a long run, not only fills a crucial repertoire gap, it deservedly looks set to last for years."
Showboat at Royal Albert Hall (from Variety, June 21, 2006)
"This gigantic arena revival is in the experienced hands of opera director Francesca Zambello. If you've staged all 15 hours of Wagner's Ring Cycle, what's three hours in the company of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II? Hell, these guys even wrote jokes.
"Zambello and choreographer Arthur Pita keep the stage alive, employing swathes of people — whether the Mississippi "colored folks" of the opening lyrics, working and lifting cotton bales, or the white folks playing — to keep the slow-to-no-tension first act afloat. The vast stage area seems to insist upon a wide-angle view, but Zambello and Pita keep the aud focused on action in long shot.
"Zambello's pruned-down variant on the 1994 Hal Prince version cannot stop the plots of the first half from overspilling, but she contracts the second-act jump cuts and wraps it all up smartly enough to suggest her arena version is likely sail on into further waters."
Placido Domingo visits Francesca Zambello and the cast of Showboat at Royal Albert Hall. Photo by Catherine Ashmore
Rupert Holmes Joins Zambello for First Wives Club Musical
The Broadway-bound musical based on The First Wives Club is gradually coming together, with Francesca Zambello confirmed as director and Rupert Holmes set to pen the book.
Zambello was previously announced as a strong candidate to direct the musical, which is based on the Olivia Goldsmith novel and the hit 1996 film comedy it inspired. Holmes, who won two Tony Awards for writing the book and score of The Mystery of Edwin Drood, has joined the production as librettist, according to the LA Daily News.
The show will likely have "all songs completed by December, then put it up the beginning of next year to work out the kinks before we get to Broadway," stated Eddie Holland, who with Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland was previously announced to pen the score.
Zambello is renowned for her work staging both theatre and opera. Past productions include Lady in the Dark on the West End, West Side Story at the Bregenz Festival, and Les Tryoens at the Metropolitan Opera.
To learn more about the upcoming show, visit www.fwcthemusical.com.
Francesca Zambello in rehearsals for Cyrano de Bergerac at the Royal Opera House. Photo by Rob Moore
National Opera Molds Wagner's 'Ring' to Fit American Myths
"On Saturday night the Washington National Opera introduced its new production of "Das Rheingold," the first installment of its first complete "Ring" cycle (a co-production with the San Francisco Opera), which will unfold over the next three seasons at the Kennedy Center. For months, the director Francesca Zambello's staging had been touted as a provocatively American "Ring" steeped in American mythology and iconography.
"There are many fresh and impressive elements to the company's colorful, abstract and well cast "Rheingold." But its success is only partly attributable to overtly American imagery. It's true, for example, that in the opening scene Ms. Zambello, working with the set designer Michael Yeargan and the costume designer Anita Yavich, portrays Wagner's Alberich, the dwarf who dwells among the lower race of Nibelungs, as a hulking forty-niner, with thick boots and suspenders, panning for gold; the Rhine Maidens are a trio of sassy gals in fleecy dresses who cavort on a mining sluice, a wonderful wood contraption with chutes and ladders.
"But the visual imagery that really gives this scene its impact is the depiction of the pristine river. Rushing water is suggested through swirling video projections by Jan Hartley. When the magic gold glows from the river bed, the Rhine Maidens do a celebratory dance with a billowing silken sheet atop this abstract river's sleek, clear plastic surface. Shafts of golden light (courtesy of the lighting designer Mark McCullough) fill the stage..."
"The giants Fasolt and Fafner, having just finished building Wotan's castle Valhalla, first appear sitting on a steel beam as it is lowered from an unseen crane. They are blue-collar laborers in matching overalls with elongated legs and huge clodhopper feet. If they look a little like Gumby giants, the cartoonish humor seems intentional. Ms. Zambello is refreshingly attentive to the whimsical side of Wagner's mythological tale. The audience, sensing it was O.K. to laugh, did...
"The lingering image of this production comes in the deep, dank and sulfurous mine where Alberich brutally drives his slaves to hew rock and forge gold. The workers are played by a roster of some 50 mostly minority children, large and small, with tattered clothing and sooty faces. Evoking the history of slavery in America is the idea, but the image of child labor, which remains an international outrage, is what came through for me."
— Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
"Washington National Opera launches its new production of Wagner's Ring cycle tonight with the first performance of Das Rheingold, the prelude to the four-part epic. The WNO's staging, a co-production with San Francisco Opera, is directed by Francesca Zambello, with sets by Michael Yeargan and costumes by Anita Yavich.
"In December, Zambello said that she and WNO general director Plácido Domingo had conceived her production as an "American Ring," with imagery drawn from the "American history, mythology, iconography, and landscape." In costumes sketches, the goddess Erda is depicted as a Native American woman; Wotan wears a stylish, sharp-creased suit and an eye patch."
— Ben Mattison, Playbill Arts
"The Royal Opera's 2006-7 season looks like one of its strongest since reopening...
One of the most rewarding revivals of the season will surely be Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades from November 11. Francesa Zambello's production is full of the psychological insights that this work requires, and the strong cast includes Vladimir Galouzine (Hermann), Gerald Finley (Yeletsky), Katarina Dalayman (Liza) and Larissa Diadkova (Countess).
"Francesco Zambello's production of Don Giovanni returns from June 11. Erwin Schrott follows up his recent Figaro by playing the Don; Anna Netrebko (the only good thing about the last revival) is Donna Anna, and veteran Robert Lloyd returns as the Commendatore. Ivor Bolton returns to conduct, after a long absence from the House."
For more information, see the Royal Opera House website.
David Gockley, General Director of San Francisco Opera, announced in a press release dated January 11, 2006, that "renowned American stage director Francesca Zambello will join his creative team as artistic adviser. Ms. Zambello made her North American stage debut in collaboration with Mr. Gockley for Houston Grand Opera's 1984 production of Fidelio. Ms. Zambello has also had a lengthy association with San Francisco Opera, having directed eight productions [there] in over two decades. Her production of Tristan und Isolde will be featured during the 2006-07 Season. In her new role with the Company, Ms. Zambello will assist in identifying new talent, help to ensure the highest quality of stage production, and work to broaden audiences for opera."
For more information, see the San Francisco Opera website.
"An American Tragedy...would not be out of place in a Broadway theater, the opera is accomplished, dramatically effective and thoroughly professional...The production by the director Francesca Zambello could not be more gripping. Ms. Zambello has choreographed the staging so that scenes flow, merge and shift hauntingly. As always, she elicits detailed and believable portrayals from the cast..."
— Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
"Francesca Zambello's production is as fluid as the score. Working on Adrianne Lobel's three-level set with elegant movable panels stunningly lighted by James F. Ingalls, Zambello cleverly creates a sense of drama gracefully taking place in many arenas."
— Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times
"Francesca Zambello staged the opera with fine cinematic sweep...The seamless parade of imagery was inseparable from the fluid arc of Zambello's direction."
— John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune
"Francesca Zambello's direction is ideal — simple and direct, with formalities clear between and within the classes, and movements natural and sincere, with no posturing."
— Robert Levine, Classics Today
"Francesca Zambello provided psychologically acute direction; her work with Clyde's wealthy relations, who were played by Jennifer Larmore, Kim Begley, William Burden, and Jennifer Aylmer, brought out much funny, telling social detail."
— Alex Ross, The New Yorker
"This production is the responsibility of Francesca Zambello, and it is a characteristically smart, persuasive production."
— Jay Nordlinger, The New York Sun
Leading opera director Francesca Zambello is set to helm her first feature, "The Legend of Pork Pie," a musical fantasy from indie producer Daniel Bigel's recently established L.A. production company.
Penned by Michael Genet (Spike Lee's "She Hate Me"), the mythical jazz fable concerns a young man's search for his father, which leads him to legendary jazz club the Pork Pie Hat Bar.
Bigel said he will seek a domestic studio partner for "Pork" once a cast is on board. Film's budget is $25 million.
Last fall, Bigel ("Empire," "Black and White") ankled the Bigel/Mailer shingle in Gotham to launch Bigel Entertainment in Los Angeles. A private equity fund is supplying coin to his new banner, which aims to produce three pics annually.
Among the projects at Bigel Entertainment is a bigscreen adaptation of Elizabeth Berg's bestselling novel "Never Change," with Sharon Stone set to make her directing debut. Roger Wilson ("Missing in America") penned the screenplay.
Zambello is directing "Porgy and Bess" for the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center this fall.
— by Pamela McClintock, for Variety
Liz Smith, NY Post, July 19, 2005
"BACK IN 1996, Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton made a sur prise smash out of "The First Wives Club," a movie about three middle-aged women dumped by their husbands. These females seek and attain delicious revenge. Aside from its own charm as a film, its success was seen as a triumph for mature actresses, and perhaps the beginning of a trend. The latter didn't really happen, but every few years some women over 40 latch onto great roles, as did the "Desperate Housewives." That's as much as we can expect in this youth-mad world.
"Now comes word that ladies of a certain age who can sing and possibly dance will be courted when "The First Wives Club" comes to Broadway as a musical. This is planned for the year 2006! Fun idea? You bet, but even more exciting is that marketing maverick-turned-producer Paul Lambert and his business partner Jonas Neilson have persuaded the legendary songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland to compose the score. The first major teaming of these talents in years!
"They are the geniuses who gave immortal words and music to Martha [Reeves] and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, the Miracles, the Four Tops, and supreme of all, the Supremes. Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote 10 of the group's greatest hits. And while new songs will be written, producer Lambert asked the composers to allow a few of their past hits to be used, when appropriate. Gee, when is "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" not appropriate?
"Lambert — who has invested in smaller off-Broadway shows in the past — fought for over a year to secure this movie-to-stage property, but now has the go-ahead from Viacom, Paramount and the estate of the late Olivia Goldsmith, who wrote the novel upon which the movie was based.
"He also wanted a female director, and is inches away from signing Francesca Zambello. She is doing "Porgy and Bess" at the Kennedy Center, and will direct at the Metropolitan Opera in December
"Casting? Lambert has his eye on Queen Latifah, Bernadette Peters, Megan Mullally, Stockard Channing (remember, in the movie she jumped off her balcony, bringing the three friends together for the funeral.) He would also enjoy luring Olivia Newton-John back to the spotlight! And might I suggest Meryl Streep? She began in musical theater, and has a hell of a voice. People who see "Postcards from the Edge" for the first time, still gasp when she belts, "I'm checking out of this Heartbreak Hotel."
"It's too early to give exact dates and theaters, and there's many a slip twixt the lip and the orchestra seats. But if enthusiasm alone could make a hit, Lambert has a huge one heading for The Great White Way."
Celebrated tenor Plácido Domingo stars in the Metropolitan Opera's North American premiere of Franco Alfano's Cyrano de Bergerac, on May 13, 17, and 20 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. Marco Armiliato conducts with Sondra Radvanovsky, Plácido Domingo, Raymond Very, Anthony Michaels-Moore, and Roberto de Candia. Francesca Zambello directs, and the libretto is by Henri Cain.
The world premiere of Tobias Picker's opera, An American Tragedy, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera and based on the 1925 novel of the same name by American writer Theodore Dreiser, is on December 2, 2005 at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. The libretto is by Gene Scheer. James Conlon conducts, with Patricia Racette as Roberta Alden, Susan Graham as Sondra Finchley, and Nathan Gunn as Clyde Griffeths. The cast also includes Dolora Zajick as Elvira Griffeths, Jennifer Larmore as Elizabeth Griffeths, Kim Begley as Samuel Griffeths, William Burden as Gilbert Griffeths, and Richard Bernstein as Orville Mason. Francesca Zambello directs, with sets designed by Adrianne Lobel in her Met debut, costumes designed by Dunya Ramicova, lighting designed by James F. Ingalls, and choreography by Doug Varone. Additional performances are on December 5, 8, 12, 16, 21, 24, and 28. For more information, visit composer Tobias Picker's website.
Washington National Opera's golden anniversary season, which runs September 17, 2005 through June 3, 2006 at the Kennedy Center Opera House, will feature seven productions including Gerswhin's Porgy and Bess, and the beginning of the company's first Ring cycle, both of which will be directed by acclaimed international director Francesca Zambello.
Be sure not to miss Rachel Portman's critically acclaimed new opera
based on the adored book by Saint Exupery, with a libretto by Nicholas
Wright, directed by Francesca Zambello and with designs by Maria
Bjornson. The Little Prince premiered at The Houston Grand Opera in
2003 and was filmed in London in 2004 by the BBC.
"...Portman's opera has the hallmark of an instant...classic...The Little
Prince is a significant addition to the small but crucial canon of
children's operas. Delightful." — The Independent
"Like opera at its 16th century beginnings, Ms. Portman's work lifts
words in the air and carries them along." — The New York Times
"Tousle-haired, always surprised by the next turn in his extensive
travels, [Joseph McManners] gave a performance that marked him out as
someone to watch. If his voice comes right when he passes puberty, one
can well imagine him as a Tamino of the future." — Opera Magazine
AIRDATES for major cities:
Boston/WGBH: April 6, 9pm, CH 2 and April 8, 8pm, CH 44
Houston/KUHT: April 6, 8pm, CH 8
Los Angeles/KCET: April 6, 9pm, CH 28
NY/WNET: April 6, 9pm, CH 13 and April 10, 1pm, CH 13
Philadelphia/WHYY: April 6, 10pm, CH12
San Francisco/KQED: April 6, 9pm, CH 9
For more information:
www.littleprinceopera.com
www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/littleprince/
Buy the Sony CD (audio recording) from Amazon.com
Buy the Sony DVD (video recording) from Amazon.com
Return to Main News page
| 
