...Bryant Park (https://bryantpark.org/), that is; the opera in question being Gounod's
Roméo et Juliette, (https://bryantpark.org/calendar/event/new-york-city-opera-romeo-and-juliet) staged by NYCO for one night only in a two-hour abridged version: seven singers, plus a narrator; no chorus; and a wonderfully effective 12-piece orchestra. The performance is live-streaming right now, but the video will remain on YouTube afterward:
I spent a chunk of the past week painting the Capulet and Montague banners, and helping to paint the rest of the set, with a couple of former NYU classmates.
Banners.jpg IMG_0596.jpg
BalconyScene.jpg
Like a lot of free outdoor summer "...in the Park" performance, this is thrown-together on a wing and a prayer, with surprisingly better results than one might expect -- which still isn't to say that it would run for years on Broadway (or at the Met). But the voices are sublime, and it's a 75º early-September evening in Manhattan (never mind the curtain-delaying drizzle) and it's
opera in the friggin' park -- what's not to enjoy? My classmate John's set is practical, versatile, atmospheric and lovely to look at -- which shouldn't even be
possible, given no time or money, but he makes it look effortless AND lends the evening a sense of scale and event. Color me impressed. And proud to have been a small part of it.