The Dallas Opera presents a beautiful and hilarious comedic opera, Falstaff by Verdi in late April. In more than six decades of presenting opera at its finest, the occasion marks the first time this 1893 masterpiece has ever been produced on The Dallas Opera stage. Falstaff is the perfect first opera for anyone opera-curious for a simple reason: it's hilarious. My first, and one of my favorite operas, was the Marriage of Figaro, which led to a wonderful evening, and destroyed any preconceived notions I had of the opera as being an activity only open to those in the know. Even if you don't enjoy more traditional, tragic operas, Verdi's Falstaff will leave you laughing and coming back for more! With tickets starting at just $19, how can you say no?
Verdi’s Falstaff will open for the first of four performances on Friday, April 26, 2019 at 7:30 p.m. in the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House at the AT&T Performing Arts Center (with additional performances on April 28(m), May 1 & 4, 2019) conducted by Guest Conductor Riccardo Frizza and directed by Shawna Lucey in her company debut.
Ticket prices start at just $19 and can be purchased online at www.dallasopera.org.
Falstaff, an 1893 opera based on a much-loved comic character who appears in William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) is set in “Merrie Olde” Tudor England. The storyline revolves around Falstaff’s efforts to woo a couple of wealthy wives capable of supporting his prodigious lifestyle. The ladies catch on and decide they must have payback for Falstaff’s brazen behavior and, thus, the games begin!
This superlative international cast is led by American bass-baritone Mark Delavan in the title role of Sir John Falstaff. The star-studded cast also includes show-stopping soprano Angela Mead, as well as beloved mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and renowned German soprano Mojca Erdmann in their eagerly-awaited company debuts. Other principal singers in the impressive ensemble are baritone Quinn Kelsey, Spanish tenor Airam Hernández, mezzo-soprano Megan Marino, tenor Alex Mansoori, Italian bass Andrea Silvestrelli and tenor Robert Brubaker.
Robert Craft, writing decades ago in the New York Review of Books, noted “Falstaff is not only a masterpiece of opera but…a comedy of pure fun and a great work of art.”
By condensing Shakespeare’s original plot and tightening the structure while at the same time adding particularly strong passages and Falstaff soliloquies from Henry IV, librettist Arrigo Boito (with encouragement from his friend, the composer) created a book that surpasses the original source material in its brilliance.