Little Women...
Houston Grand Opera’s 23rd World Premiere of Mark Adamo’s Popular Setting of Little Women Released on DVD
Houston Grand Opera (HGO) recently announced the commercial DVD release of its 23rd world premiere, Little Women, by the American composer Mark Adamo on the Naxos label. Little Women, recorded for this release at its HGO revival in 2000, had its premiere in 1998 in the Cullen Theater at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston. Mr. Adamo’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel was the first of HGO’s forty-one world premieres to receive a revival.
Little Women was the first opera for which Adamo composed both music and libretto. It has since been nationally telecast on the PBS series “Great Performances,” released on CD by Ondine Records, and heard in over 70 national and international engagements including New York, Mexico City, Minneapolis, Adelaide, Tel Aviv, Calgary and Tokyo.
Following the 1998 premiere, William Albright of Opera News described Little Women as “a musically and emotionally satisfying work” with “characters sympathetically and crisply drawn.” Wayne Gay of The Fort Worth Telegram wrote, “Musical motifs that stick in your head, characters that come to life both dramatically and musically, [and] superbly managed orchestra resources… make this opera look and sound like a winner.” Of the revival performance, New York Times music critic Anthony Tommasini called it “visually stimulating” and Barrymore Scherer of the Wall Street Journal heralded it as a “major miracle of success.” Richard Dyer of the Boston Globe called the PBS “Great Performances” broadcast “a grand success.”
Singing the roles of the four March sisters are American mezzo-sopranos and HGO Studio Alumnae Stephanie Novacek and Joyce DiDonato as Jo and Meg, and American sopranos Stacey Tappan and Margaret Lloyd, making their HGO debuts, as Beth and Amy. Former HGO Studio artists baritone Daniel Belcher and tenor Chad Shelton sing the roles of John Brooke and Laurie.
Houston Grand Opera Music Director Patrick Summers leads the HGO orchestra. The production is directed by Peter Webster with sets by Christopher McCollum, costumes by Melissa Graff and lighting by David Plevan. It is directed for video by Brian Large.
This DVD marks Houston Grand Opera’s third video release following Rossini’s La Cenerentola, (London/Decca, 1996) and Joplin’s Treemonisha, (Kultur Video, 1982).
Source: Houston Grand Opera
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