I guess that because the season premier concert was a one-off performed on a Thursday, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra could get away with calling last night’s performance their opening weekend concert. As per tradition, Spano led the orchestra in the Star Spangled Banner with much of the audience singing along.
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Despite being down a principal 2nd violinist, a principal percussionist, and a principal trombonist, the ASO began its season with an incredibly well performed concert of Tchaikovsky’s music last night. The evening began with Suite no. 1 from the Nutcracker. This was the first time that I can recall hearing any of the music from the ballet live. It was refreshing not to hear it tied to anything Christmassy and I found that it was enjoyable and had some pretty interesting things in it that I’ve never really noticed before on the radio. There was nothing really exciting about the performance, though Christina Smith’s gorgeous and masterful flute playing really stood out for me in the Dance of the Reed Flutes.
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Directed by Michael Haverty and Bryan Mercer and using the Blitzstein translation of the script, the best thing about “The Threepenny Opera” at 7 Stages last night was the Brecht. There were some good performances, but the production suffered a bit from miscasting and Haverty’s penchant for gimmickry and novelty.
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One of the sad truths that I have had to face in life is that if any organization were to market directly to my tastes then they’d go under very quickly. With this in mind, it’s not surprising that I’d eventually find myself in the audience for a Chamber Cartel concert that didn’t really suit me. I am not of the opinion that “Living in Light” was poorly programmed — I think that a lot of people would really like it — but it just wasn’t for me.
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Last night I saw Derek Dixon’s “When Things Are Lost” staged by Essential Theatre as part of their 2016 Play Festival. It had a lot of potential but, unfortunately, due to some sloppy characterization and trying a bit too hard to be surreal, this potential wasn’t realized. However, I think that the playwright found a good way to tell a very important and touching story and hope that there will be a rewrite in the future.
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Zombified from a nasty bout of insomnia last night and smelling a bit more like dramatically burned popcorn than I’d have liked, I went to see Blake Beckham’s “One Another” at the Mary Gray Munroe Theater at Emory University. It was a strong piece with well developed choreography. I regret that a scheduling conflict kept me from going last night when I’d have been more alert and able to enjoy the piece more because I feel like there was a richness of depth to the piece into which I could only hang my feet but into which I would have loved to have had the chance to dive.
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I will probably never go to the Mammal Gallery again if it has been over 90°F during the day, but I’m glad that I suffered the heat for this evening’s Chamber Cartel concert. Titled “Wonderblock,” the program was fairly eclectic, with works by George Crumb, John Luther Adams, Franco Donatoni, Helmut Lachenmann, and Hans Thomalla. Overall, the performance was enjoyable, though the heat took its toll on my attention span by the end.
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