Thursday, December 23, 2010

Los Angeles Times: 'bass-baritone Cedric Berry (King Balthazar) performed solidly'

["Amahl and the Night Visitors" (Luis Sinco, Los Angeles Times / December 16, 2010). Robin Buck, left, Cedric Berry, Casa Grant and Stephanie Hullar perform in Intimate Opera of Pasadena's production of "Amahl and the Night Visitors" at the Pasadena Playhouse on Thursday.]

Los Angeles Times Blogs
December 17, 2010 | 2:00 pm
Richard S. Ginnell
“...'Amahl' made a near-ideal relaunching pad Thursday night for Intimate Opera of Pasadena (formerly known just as Intimate Opera), an outfit that has parked itself as the resident opera company in the Pasadena Playhouse as of this fall. The company aspires to be a regional force, and it is getting good help from the pros. Singer-turned-stage-director Stephanie Vlahos has become Intimate Opera’s artistic director.”

“Vlahos rounded up some fellow travelers from L.A. Opera’s ranks for the evening cast (the matinees feature a young second cast), starting with mezzo-soprano Suzanna Guzmán’s multifaceted portrayal of Amahl’s mom (as the composer himself once said about Guzmán, she does look and act like a young widow 'who is starving'). Tenor Greg Fedderly broadly played the hard-of-hearing King Kaspar for laughs; baritone Robin Buck (King Melchior) and bass-baritone Cedric Berry (King Balthazar) performed solidly; and the excellent boy soprano Caleb Glickman was a delightful Amahl.”

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