Maryland performances including Theater, plays, ballet and opera

Annapolis Film Festival Tickets Now Available!

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Published on Tuesday, 12 March 2013 09:43

Written by Heather

Festival passes and film tickets are now available on the Annapolis Film Festival website. Visit www.annapolisfilmfestival.net and click on purchase tickets. The program and complete film schedule of the 96 films on view are also on line.
 
Festival passes, just $75 (and $40 for 25 and under) gain you admittance to all film screenings, showcases, workshops, the opening night film and after-party. They are the Festival’s best value. No tickets will be mailed.
 
Festival passes can be picked up at the Maryland Hall Box Office a week before the Festival up to March 19. They will then be available at Festival Central in the Loews Annapolis Hotel on West Street in Annapolis from noon on Wednesday, March 20. Visitors are advised to pick up their passes before the Festival starts.   
 
Single screenings cost just $10 ($8 for 25 and under) and can be purchased online by midnight the night before a performance. They will then be available for pick up at the relevant venue’s Will Call. Any tickets remaining will be sold at the door. Venues include Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, St. John’s College, St. Anne’s Church, Banneker-Douglass Museum, and Bay Theatre.   
 
Tickets for the Bash at West Festival party on Saturday night, where you can mingle with the filmmakers and enjoy hors d’oeuvres and a live deejay (one drink ticket included), are just $30. Availability is limited.
 
For more information please contact AFF Executive Director, Debra Fortier at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or by phone at 410-533-1220.

Annapolis Opera Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Verdi's Rigoletto

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Published on Tuesday, 12 March 2013 07:37

Written by Heather

Annapolis Opera’s year-long celebration of its 40^th anniversary will culminate on March 15 and 17 at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts with Verdi’s Rigoletto. First performed in Venice, Italy in 1851, Rigoletto ranks amongst Giuseppe Verdi’s most beloved works and is one of the most performed operas of all time. The composer himself referred to it as “perhaps the greatest drama of modern times.” Based on the play Le Roi S’Amuse, by Victor Hugo, Rigoletto poignantly portrays Verdi’s favorite themes – parental love, the complexities of parent-child relationships, and the consequences of anger and bitterness. The opera includes some of the most beautiful music ever written, with caro nome and la donna e mobile ranking among the most beloved arias in all of grand opera.

This powerful story of lust, betrayal, and revenge features a stellar cast of professional opera singers including Chad Armstrong and Megan Hart in the title role of Rigoletto and his daughter Gilda. Tenor Rolando Sanz will portray the Duke, with Mezzo Soprano Jennifer Hines as Maddalena and Bass Liam Moran as the Assassin Sparafucile.

Fully staged with sets and period costumes, Annapolis Opera’s Rigoletto promises to be a grand production. Musical accompaniment will be provided by the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Annapolis Opera’s Artistic Director Ron Gretz. The performance will include supertitles in English projected over the stage for those who wish to follow along.

“Not only does Rigoletto include some of the most recognizable operatic arias, the themes that underlie the story are just as relevant today as they were when the opera was written in the 1800s,” commented Annapolis Opera President Lee Finney. “At the time Verdi wrote it, Rigoletto was censored because of its portrayal of royalty as corrupt. The concept of power as a corrupting force is a very contemporary theme that we continue to see make headlines today. Rigoletto is an incredible operatic drama and I’m excited for audiences here in Annapolis to experience it!”

The company will hold a dress rehearsal that is open to students (ages 8-25) on Wednesday, March 13 at 7:30pm. Tickets for the dress rehearsal are $5 with a valid student ID (available only at the door).

The performances will take place on Friday, March 15 at 8:00pm and Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 pm, with a pre-performance lecture one hour before, at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts (801 Chase St., Annapolis, Maryland). Tickets are $90 for Section A, $75 for Section B, and $25 for students. Group discounts are also available.

The Met: Opera Comes to the Shore

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Published on Thursday, 07 February 2013 13:56

Written by Heather

The Met: Live in HD at the Avalon Theatre

The Met:Live in HD Series brought world class opera to The Eastern Shore in 2010 and they are coming back in 2013!  The Avalon Theatre in Easton, MD is THE ONLY performing arts venue in Maryland to host these live transmissions.

Avalon patrons left the theatre thrilled last year as the cinematography captured on screen brought opera lovers that much closer to the action with images and angles that can only be defined as the brilliance of The Metropolitan Opera. As one long time Opera lover answered when asked whether to see a live opera or one broadcast Live in HD, “You have to see them both!”.

We hope you will join us in one of the fastest growing forms of entertainment this year as The Met brings us LIVE transmissions in HD from Lincoln Center in New York City on Saturday afternoons.

Upcoming Shows:

Verdi’s Rigoletto
Saturday 2/16/2013
1:00 pm

Wagner’s Parsifal
Saturday 3/2/2013
12:00 pm

Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini
Saturday 3/16/2013
12:00 pm

Handel’s Giulio Cesare
Saturday 4/27/2013
12:00 pm

Play Review: “Barefoot in the Park” at Compass Rose Theater

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Published on Monday, 28 January 2013 14:09

Written by Anthony Douglas

The two-hour run time of "Barefoot in the Park" by Neil Simon, now playing at the Compass Rose Theater in Annapolis went by much more quickly than I would have liked. And that's a good thing.
James Phillips provides brilliant direction in this incarnation of Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park". He notes that "Barefoot" is "some of the finest American comic writing put to page."

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