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OF MICE AND MEN @ Sarasota Opera
Longboat Observer
“Of Mice and Men,” reaches into your heart, squeezes it and, finally, rips it from your chest. In producing this, Sarasota Opera has given us a cast that so embodies this work, you forget they’re singing and acting. Michael Unger has taken this beautifully constructed opera and turned it into a brilliant piece of theater. Singers are allowed to soar but, through Unger’s intelligent and poignant direction, they use their singing voices to embody their characters. Raw emotion fairly swims through every note; it’s even evident in the silences. From the prolonged (and deserved) cheers and ovations at the end of this production, it’s made converts of many who never thought they’d salute a 20th-century opera.
Classical Singer
In the final tragic moments of Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, a handsome, well-dressed woman began quietly weeping, continuing without letup until the end of the opera. “I’m sorry,” she said later after the lights came up. “I knew what was coming but I couldn’t help myself. It was just so powerful.” Floyd’s 1970 adaptation of John Steinbeck’s tragic tale received a deeply moving and emotionally harrowing performance Sunday afternoon, presented by Sarasota Opera. The production was not only the high point of the company’s American Classics Series, but one of its finest efforts over the last decade. That certainly did not appear to be the case for Of Mice and Men at Sunday’s matinee. The audience frequently punctuated the performance with spontaneous applause, and the thunderous ovation at the end was by far the loudest and longest heard at any of the four operas presented this past weekend. Michael Unger’s stage direction was virtually faultless, making the dramatic moments searingly effective and the final scene devastating.
Sarasota Herald Tribune
‘Of Mice and Men’ moves opera audience. One of the marks of an effective tragedy is the way its conclusion affects you even though you have seen it coming all along. The overall effect is gradually hypnotic. Their final scene is tragically gripping and bestows the finality this strange work demands. On Saturday evening, that reward was greatly appreciated by a hushed audience as the impressive protagonists and the superb orchestra brought the opera to its inevitable close.
Letter to Editor of Sarasota Herald Tribune
Finest local opera ever
My husband and I were dismayed by the number of empty seats at the Sarasota Opera House for the opening night of Carlisle Floyd’s “Of Mice and Men” last Saturday night. Those who had tickets, and did not attend or give their tickets to others, whether because of schedule conflicts or the fear that an American classic would be dissonant and tedious, missed a unique and unforgettable experience. In our 13 years of attending performances at Sarasota Opera, we have never seen anything as moving, powerful and emotionally devastating as the performance Saturday night. It was the finest piece of musical theater the company has presented since we first became subscribers and supporters. It was a tribute to the masterful presentation of this modern classic that the audience’s response to the first curtain call by “George” and “Lennie” was a thunderous roar of appreciation, followed by nearly equivalent approbation when the other singers took their bows. And when Carlisle Floyd, the composer of this iconic work that premiered in 1970, appeared on stage for a bow, there was no question that we who witnessed the performance were in the presence of genius. If any readers of this paper have hesitated to attend “Of Mice and Men” for whatever reason, I urge them to set aside their preconceptions and take the opportunity to experience something remarkable. They will find themselves immersed in one of the great American stories of all time, superbly presented by Sarasota Opera.
Opera News
With Of Mice and Men, conductor David Neely and director Michael Unger staged their third work in Sarasota’s American Classic Series, following Samuel Barber’s Vanessa (2012) and The Crucible, by Robert Ward (2011). The productions have been highlights for the company, garnering critical praise, prestigious awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. Tenor Michael Hendrick and baritone Sean Anderson starred as Lennie Small and George Milton, respectively, in the Sarasota Opera production (seen Mar. 9), and it’s hard to imagine these two outcasts portrayed any better.
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THE CONSUL @ Opera NJ
Princeton Packet
OPERA REVIEW: BreathlessOpera New Jersey mounts stunning production of Menotti’s ‘The Consul’It’s a moment that happens only in opera, really, and helps to define the difference between sung and spoken drama. The singer, having poured out her heart and soul, having given all she has got to give, arrives breathless at the end of particularly poignant aria — in this case, an aria intended not to amuse, not to delight, but to transfigure the listener with, well, nothing less than the truth of a desperate woman’s existence. The swell of the orchestra subsides. There’s a profound silence. You could hear a pin drop. Then a smattering of applause -— and the audience suddenly lets loose with a l-o-n-g roar that sounds like it might blow off the roof of McCarter Theatre. Opera New Jersey repeats its astonishingly persuasive production on Sunday, July 24, at 2 p.m. All I can tell you is, be there. Michael Unger’s stage direction was generally so deft as to be virtually invisible. This observation is not intended as a left-handed compliment; it recognizes that the stage action of The Consul is meant to look utterly natural, aside from a few instances. When a stage director succeeds in this challenge people say, “So where was the stage direction?”
Newark Star Ledger
Director Michael Unger culled nuanced acting from the cast. Opera New Jersey had the audience on its feet for a roaring and richly deserved standing ovation.
Philadelphia Inquirer
The circumstances of Menotti’s The Consul involve a woman openly struggling to help her sick baby and freedom-fighting husband escape repression – heroism most apparent to those who lived in the early-1950s era when the opera was written. Much of the opening-night audience was of an age to have been aware of the postwar totalitarian crackdown in much of Europe, which may account for the cathartic ovations.
…with the considerable virtues of the well-mounted production, conducted by Joel Revzen and staged by Michael Unger… the casting is as musically and theatrically adept as one could hope for.
US - 1
Opera New Jersey’s production of Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Consul” transforms a grim situation into a dramatic torrent that provokes questions about love, freedom, devotion, heroism, and compassion. Once again ONJ’s habitual marriage of artistic excellence to superb stagecraft produces a taut vehicle. Director Michael Unger lays bare the tumultuous emotional world that seethes below the lives of characters with constricted choices. Shifts between apartment and consulate are accomplished through sleekly choreographed movements in semi-darkness by members of the ensemble. The audience on Saturday, July 16, interrupted the performance by an extended ovation; the applause could not be stifled. Viewed 60 years after its opening, “The Consul” raises questions anew. ONJ’s “The Consul” is a must-see. It raises profound questions about relationships, life, and politics.
AP News
Menotti’s ‘The Consul’ an all-too-timely tale
By: MIKE SILVERMAN | For The Associated Press | 07/25/11 1:26 PM
It’s almost inconceivable that any new opera today could enjoy the combination of critical and popular success that greeted Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Consul” at its premiere in 1950. Opening in a Broadway theater, rather than an opera house, it ran for an astonishing 269 performances. Menotti, who wrote both the score and the English-language libretto, won the Pulitzer Prize for music and the New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award for best musical. But Menotti’s works have long since fallen out of fashion. So an admirable production of “The Consul” by Opera New Jersey at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton — marking the 100th anniversary of the composer’s birth — provided a rare chance to hear his first full-length opera. Director Michael Unger kept the action moving smoothly between the Sorels’ apartment and the consulate.
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THE CRUCIBLE @ Sarasota Opera
From Composer, Robert Ward
The Sarasota “Crucible” was among the finest I’ve ever witnessed and heard. And over the years and attendance at many productions I have learned that no one deserves more credit for that than the Stage Director. Thanks to you, all the nuances of Arthur Miller’s play in the opera were realized by the splendid cast in their performances and by the fine ovation by audience at the final curtain. May many more audiences have the benefit of your fine direction of future performances. With admiration and gratitude, Robert Ward.
Opera Today
With Robert Ward’s The Crucible, engagement is never a problem. In reading through Sarasota Opera’s literature reporting on the opera, the word powerful appears many times. Michael Unger’s stage direction was instrumental in the power of this performance. The positioning, and jumpiness, of male characters at Reverend Parris’ house was tension-inducing. The distance kept between the Proctors at the farmhouse kitchen was indicative of the couple’s split and how their individual misunderstandings led to mutual isolation. The Act III courtroom was one of a sniveling and jeering cabal out to bring down the Proctors and whip up Abigail Williams on one side, and the outnumbered and drowned-out voice of reason on the other. By the time of Proctor’s booming high note of despair closing Act II, the stage was set for a bring-down-the-house performance.
Sarasota Herald Tribune
Courage of all kinds marks ‘The Crucible’ at Sarasota Opera – Robert Ward’s compelling opera based on Arthur Miller’s powerful play about the infamous Salem witch trials of the 1690’s honors both political and artistic courage, a quality made abundantly clear in the production which made its debut Saturday evening. This is music drama of great power, presented by a large and exemplary company of fine singers… intense stage direction by Michael Unger.
Longboat Observer
Director Michael Unger has brought us a traditional production that transports us to the stark realities of the 1690’s when people plowed and seeded a land that seemed “the size of a continent when you go foot by foot sowing new seed.” Unger’s characters [are] so real they could easily be your next door neighbors.
St. Petersburg Times
Sarasota Opera revival of ‘The Crucible’ is both familiar and scintillating. Sarasota Opera has revived the work in an excellent, often stirring production to launch its American Classics Series.
Palm Beach Arts Paper
Sarasota Opera season highlighted by brilliant “Crucible”.
This powerful opera, which was given a strikingly brilliant performance, goes to the heart of this company’s success. Nine studio artists and eight apprentice artists were in the full cast of 21 singers, and enormous risk in casting terms. But it was a production that ranks in the top level of professional regional opera. Everyone was first-rate in acting, voice and diction. Stage director Michael Unger stayed close to Miller’s drama and made it wholly believable… the highlight of the weekend operas I saw.Sarasota Herald Tribune #2
Michael Unger, who came to the opera after years of directing plays, gives a sense of reality to his staging… my favorite production of the company’s winter season.
Robert Kolt - author of "Robert Ward’s The Crucible: Creating an American Musical Nationalism"
Mr. Unger was the stage director for a production of The Crucible recently presented by the Sarasota Opera, and in my estimation it was a first-rate effort in all regards. Mr. Unger mentioned to me that he had read my book in preparation for this production and he was most kind in saying that it had helped in his conception of the work. Thanks to his thorough, studious preparation, Mr. Unger’s staging of this work was exactly what Robert Ward (who was present at the production) had in mind, and I most certainly concur with that sentiment. Mr. Unger proved that he well understood the intentions of the composer and his staging and direction fit the work in a way that allowed for its full impact, both dramatically and musically, to be revealed. His direction was mature and sensitive, insuring that the performers on stage understood their place within the dramatic whole. In addition to the exemplary “large-scale” directional aspects that Mr. Unger brought to these performances, I was extremely impressed by the subtle nuances of characterization that he not only understood, but imparted to the performers; aspects of production that insured excellent presentation. It is rare for presentations of opera to have the benefit of high quality stage direction such as that provided by Mr. Unger, but for the production mentioned above, his work insured memorable performances. This was shown not only by the enthusiastic audience reaction during the performances, but by the numerous laudatory critical reviews after the fact. Mr. Unger is to be congratulated for his fine work, and he would no doubt bring his skills, knowledge, and enthusiasm to any organization seeking a director of exceptional talent.
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LA RONDINE @ Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Herald Tribune
As Sarasota Opera’s strong new production of Giacomo Puccini’s “La Rondine” (The Swallow) surged across the stage Saturday evening, it was difficult to justify its neglect by major opera companies. Stage Director Michael Unger kept the lovers’ tumultuous emotions in tight focus.
Longboat Observer
The Sarasota Opera’s new production of La rondine is so breathtakingly beautiful from the creative, innovative staging by Michael Unger that one can’t help but sigh with the romance of it all. It’s as rich and colorful as a Manet, and as heart-stopping beautiful as a Shakespeare Sonnet.
Opera Today
Sometimes called “a poor man’s ‘Traviata’” because of parallels in plot, director Michael Unger proved that La Rondine is anything but; it is an opera to be taken seriously for its own merits. One hopes that the excellence of the SO staging will lead other companies to consider the work.
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HMS Pinafore @ Opera New Jersey
Philadelphia Inquirer
Opera NJ’s ‘Pinafore’ sails successfully
The audience arrived Sunday at the McCarter Theatre Center for H.M.S. Pinafore primed for immediate enjoyment, ready to giggle at the sprightly tunes — and with every reason to do so. Opera New Jersey’s second production of its summer season is an artistic success on every front, a hit that happily has four more performances.
The anatomy of this triumph, however, begins with director Michael Unger’s keen strategic awareness of what this operetta is and isn’t. Anything but realistic, Pinafore remains an articulate social critique, but one whose humor best arises from fully investigated characterizations, even if the plot’s personalities are paper-thin types. At McCarter, humor wasn’t cheap, and sight gags had genuine wit. The always-engaging Gilbert and Sullivan songs were more so here because they so clearly reflected the characters’ motivation.
Newark Star Ledger
Gilbert and Sullivan for skeptics
Even a Gilbert & Sullivan skeptic would have a difficult time finding fault with Opera New Jersey’s engaging, creative production.
…execution was excellent. The stage served as an animated playground for director Michael Unger and the cast, with masts that unfurled, ropes and ladders from which singers swung, and several doors and tiers for maximum visual impact.
Unger capitalized on all that was there and mined the show for humor until it seemed much more than what was in the score.Princeton Packet
Opera New Jersey makes it easy to see why this Gilbert and Sullivan work endures
If you’re a Gilbert and Sullivan fan, or even if you’re only slightly acquainted with their work, this is a don’t-miss opportunity.
There are some humorous contemporary references slyly thrown into the lyrics, as well as some suggestive ones. Running gags involve handkerchiefs, the conductor’s baton, and Miss Buttercup’s assets, as well as a rope in the rigging on which characters swing into view. Props are malleable. One hilarious extended number is the trio of the Captain, Sir Joseph and Josephine in Act 2. Their dancing and their toasts are increasingly tipsy as drinks evolve from a spot of wine to things more intoxicating and finally more plebeian.
The orchestra is even brought into the action. And those who know Gilbert and Sullivan’s other work have a few surprises in store as well.
Under the direction of Michael Unger, this first-class production of H.M.S. Pinafore is thoroughly enjoyable both musically and theatrically. It has everything to satisfy the Gilbert and Sullivan purist while adding some unexpected delights.New Jersey Newsroom
‘H.M.S. Pinafore’ is a fun social critique
The current production by Opera New Jersey at Princeton’s McCarter Theatre shows just why it remains popular to this day—a clever mixture of fun and silliness, with a stirring underbelly of social commentary.
…a witty, sometimes close to irreverent directorial approach by Michael Unger, well-known to local audiences for his handling of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” for the past many years.
Director Unger even tosses “three little maids from school” and “the pirate king (entering swinging on a rope) into the mix.
Director Unger’s use of the aisles (all three) keeps everyone alert. One of the finest Gilbert and Sullivan’s in many years.
Out in New Jersey
Opera NJ has surmounted the challenges in HMS Pinafore
Opera New Jersey has brilliantly met and surmounted the challenges above noted… the show filled the stage at McCarter Theater and had the packed house wildly applauding and often rocking with laughter. Director Michael Unger made the material fresh with comic business and sight gags that worked perfectly with the spirit of the original creation. There is no doubt in my mind at all that Sir Arthur Sullivan and William S. Gilbert themselves would have laughed and applauded as enthusiastically as did today’s audience.
Altogether, this production is among the best – very possibly THE best version of Pinafore of all the ones I have yet seen, and trust me, that list is a long one.
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L'AMICO FRITZ @ Sarasota Opera
Longboat Observer
To put it bluntly, this three-act opera, directed with strength and understanding by Michael Unger was so appealing, we were left wondering why it’s not performed more often. Unger’s was the first we’ve seen that made the ethnicity of the characters clear. Unger’s characterizations made sense and added to the warmth of the people populating the opera. This production is terrific.
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A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE @ Vertical Player Repertory
From Composer, William Bolcom
A year ago October I was brought to rehearse and to see a pocket production of an opera I composed (words by Arnold Weinstein and Arthur Miller of course), A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE. Originally conceived for Lyric Opera of Chicago (a venue almost as large as the Met) and full orchestra, here was a tiny theater in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn that would barely hold 40 to see it, and with only two pianos. A very old friend was quite doubtful it all would work, but I insisted she come to the opening.
The Vertical Players would amaze us all, not least because of the excellent direction by one Michael Unger, with a consistently top-notch cast; the two pianists strove valiantly to make up for 78 players in size and largely succeeded. But what particularly impressed my doubting friend was that the impact of the opera survived even in such conditions. I’ve been the victim of two misconceived productions because of directors’ notions indulged in which screw up poor Arthur’s play and my opera. What I admired was the clarity and modesty of Unger’s production, which gave value to the writing in both music and word.
Opera Today
Thrilling theatre. The set made you feel scrunched into a claustrophobic kitchen to the point of explosion, just as the characters are on stage. The chorus got on and off stage in amazing style. I wish they’d give lessons on movement to the chorus at the Met. The skill with which they slide on or scuttle off into the cramped edges of the scaffolded VPR set is not the least extraordinary thing about Michael Unger’s vivid direction. The cast put over a riveting account of the play. At VPR all the voices were big and in tune and hardly seemed “operatic,” so natural and intense was the acting.
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DIE FLEDERMAUS @ Sarasota Opera
Sarasota Herald Tribune
A delicious feast for both eyes and ears. This production has it all in spades. Superb stage direction by Michael Unger included physical comedy and pratfalls executed cleanly with great effect. The cast managed to keep pace with both the musical and acting demands brilliantly. From start to finish, the Sarasota Opera has produced a winner…
Longboat Observer
This production, directed by Michael Unger, is effervescent, delicious and totally delightful; bringing joyful guffaws in the theatre and happy hums outside. Unger is gloriously surefooted – he has artfully walked the dangerously thin line between broad comedy and philosophical observations. His direction draws out an honesty of feeling that’s often lacking in broad comedies. This “Fledermaus” is batting a thousand.
Venice Gondolier
This production, directed by Michael Unger, is effervescent, delicious and totally delightful; bringing joyful guffaws in the theatre and happy hums outside. Unger is gloriously surefooted – he has artfully walked the dangerously thin line between broad comedy and philosophical observations. His direction draws out an honesty of feeling that’s often lacking in broad comedies. This “Fledermaus” is batting a thousand.” (Longboat Observer) A finer production is hard to imagine
St. Petersburg Times
“Die Fledermaus” was such a big hit three seasons ago, the Sarasota Opera brought it back this year. This production is an even bigger winner than the previous one… If you love gorgeous melodies, beautiful sets and costumes and plenty of slapstick comedy, this is the operetta for you. The stage direction of Michael Unger was aimed at leaving no funny moments hidden, and he succeeded.
Gondolier Sun
Champagne, love, intrigue and comedy. What a wonderful combination, and they all come together brilliantly in the Sarasota Opera’s final production of the 2006 season, “Die Fledermaus.” A stellar cast glitters more than one could hope for. Stage director, Michael Unger, has created scenes of high comedy including prat-falls and reactions that appear so natural to these young singers that you don’t doubt for a minute that they really are having a grand time. The moves aren’t studied, but arrive so rapidly that the blink of an eye can cause you to miss a thigh-slapping highlight. This production of “Die Fledermaus” is truly ebullient and a finer production is hard to imagine. Do whatever is necessary, but get tickets for this opera. You will have the time of your life.
