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DTSTAMP:20260820T201950Z
UID:ea0c1ed8-413d-4ce9-9dea-19cec015c432
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20261022
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20261025
DESCRIPTION:Oct 22-25\, 2026\nWhen the New Orleans native and MacArthur fel
 low Courtney Bryan was in high school\, contemporary opera came at her in 
 the form of A Streetcar Named Desire\, adapted from the Tennessee Williams
  classic by André Previn and Philip Littel. For her own first opera Bryan
 s follows their lead into the Williams funhouse of Southern Gothic fever d
 reams. For many of the playwright’s fans\, Suddenly Last Summer found it
 s definitive form on celluloid\, shaped by the masterly hand of Joseph L. 
 (All About Eve\, Cleopatra) Mankiewicz. Katherine Hepburn (who loathed Man
 kiewicz) presided as the iron-butterfly matriarch Violet Venable\, forever
  nattering about “my son Sebastian” (deceased) and tending “well-fed
 ” Venus flytraps in a conservatory she calls “The Jungle.” Elizabeth
  Taylor (later Mankiewicz’s Cleopatra) squirmed in agony as the Venables
 ’ poor relation Catherine Holly\, who was there when Sebastian met his h
 orrific fate and will not shut up about it. Violet wants her lobotomized a
 nd is dangling a million-dollar check under the nose of a susceptible neur
 osurgeon to make it happen. Contrary to operatic convention\, Bryan reserv
 es song for a single character. Catherine sings. The rest talk\, even Viol
 et\, flaming diva of the spoken word. Bryan’s opera reached the stage th
 is summer at the Fisher Center\, Bard College\, directed by Daniel Fish\, 
 who developed his revolutionary\, Tony-winning reboot of Oklahoma! on that
  same campus some seasons ago. The Philadelphia transfer stars Bryan’s o
 riginal Catherine\, the versatile soprano Mikaela Bennett\, whose credits 
 include Maria in West Side Story\, Rosasharn in Rick Lee Gordon’s The Gr
 apes of Wrath\, and the learned (possibly heretical) abbess’s pet novice
  in Sarah Kirkland Snider’s medievalist Hildegard. As we go to press cas
 ting for Violet\, originally Tina Benko\, has yet to be announced. Mikhael
 a Mohony\, who served as Fish’s associate director at Bard\, superintend
 s the production\, in tandem with music director\, Nathan Koci\, who’s b
 een music director since this journey’s beginning.
LOCATION:Opera Philadelphia at the Forrest Theatre\, 1114 Walnut St\, Phila
 delphia\, PA 19107\, United States
SUMMARY:Suddenly Last Summer\, by Courtney Bryan
URL;VALUE=TEXT:https://airmail.news/arts-intel/events/suddenly-last-summer-
 by-courtney-bryan-1
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