(828) 526-0173 | [email protected] | Copyright 2024 – All Rights Reserved.
Always In The Limelight
Written By: Mary Adair Trumbly - Highlands PAC | Issue: October 2024 | Photograph By: Manuel Harlan
Laughter, heartbreak and unexpected passion are served up at Highlands Performing Arts Center this month.
Present Laughter
Saturday, October 5, kicks off the MET Opera’s Live in HD 2024-25 season.
Starting with, live streamed from NYC, Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann. Offenbach’s fantastical opera starring French tenor Benjamin Bernheim in the title role of the tormented poet.
Joining Bernheim is American soprano Erin Morley as Olympia, South African soprano Pretty Yende as Antonia, and French mezzo-soprano Clémentine Margaine as Giulietta to complete Hoffmann’s trio of lovers. Marco Armiliato conducts Bartlett Sher’s evocative production.
Saturday, October 19, at 1:00 P.M. brings Grounded by the Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori; libretto by George Brant. Grounded wrestles with often-overlooked issues created by 21st-century warmaking: the ethical conflicts created using modern military technology and the psychological and emotional toll supposedly safe remote technology takes on our servicepersons. Canadian mezzosoprano Emily D’ Angelo stars as the hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. American tenor Ben Bliss costars as the Wyoming rancher Eric in a production by Michael Mayer that brings this story to life in a high-tech staging, which presents a variety of perspectives on the action. Met Music Director Yannick Ne’zet-Se’guin takes the podium.
The National Theatre of London returns to the PAC also. Thursday, October 3, at 5:00 P.M. features Prima Facie. Filmed live from the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End, Prima Facie returns to cinemas this Autumn. Jodie Comer is Tessa, a young barrister at the top of her game. When an unexpected event changes the way she perceives the law, Prima Facie takes us to the heart of where emotion and experience collide with the rules of the game.
Also showing from the National Theatre is Present Laughter. Matthew Warchus directs Andrew Scott in Noël Coward’s provocative comedy. As he prepares to embark on an overseas tour, star actor Garry Essendine’s colorful life is in danger of spiraling out of control. Garry’s few remaining days at home are a chaotic whirlwind of love, sex, panic and soul-searching. Captured live from The Old Vic in London, Present Laughter is a giddy and surprisingly modern reflection on fame, desire and loneliness. Showing on Thursday, October 17, at 5:00 P.M.
Tickets are available at HighlandsPerformingArts.com.
