Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights (Gertrude Stein)

This fine production by the Yale School of Drama students was directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz and earns high marks for being somewhat coherent and, shall we say, illuminating of a very obscure text.

Recommend

The Ides of March (Clooney)

Engaging but not completely coherent.

Recommend with caveats.

The Threepenny Opera (Kurt Weill, 1928)

 Directed by Robert Wilson and performed (in German) by the Berliner Ensemble (a descendent of the theatrical ensemble Brecht founded in 1949), this production of Weill's savage satire thrust the audience squarely into Weimar Germany. The design was impeccable and the performances were flawless. It merits seeing a 2nd time.

Highly Recommend. And again.

New Music New Haven

• Garth Neustadter, New Haven Counterpoint 
• Paul Kerekes, connecticut shift 
• Loren Loiacono, Waking Rhythm 
• David Lang, sweet air 
• Hannah Lash, Hush 
• David Lang, cheating, lying, stealing

Atys (Lully)

To my mind, there is no musical ensemble responsible for more exquisite productions than William Christie's Les Arts Florissants. The ensemble has a head start by dedicating itself to Baroque music, but it maintains that lead by attending to every detail so that the whole is as close to perfect as possible.
This year, LAF and Opera Comique restaged their 1987 production of Lully's Atys.
The court of King Louis XIV birthed French opera in the middle of the 17th century, and the man most responsible for its development was Jean-Baptiste Lully, a musician and dancer from a working-class Florentine family. Under the king's oversight, Lully developed tragedies en musique incorporating highly stylized dance and costumes into the opera. Atys is one of his earliest productions, its subject matter chosen by the king.
The story of Atys comes from Ovid, as retold by Philippe Quinault.
Highly recommend.

Three Sisters (Anton Chekhov; new version, Sarah Ruhl)

Devastating production of a heart-wretching work.

Recommend

Peace, Love, and Light (New Haven Symphony)

Michael Brown's piano performance of the Beethoven was exquisite. I've never heard someone play with such command of the incidentals.
Rossini, Overture to The Barber of Seville
Beethoven, Piano Concerto no. 3 in C minor, op. 37
Theofanidis, Peace Love Light YOUMEONE
Mendelssohn, Symphony no. 4 in A Major, op. 90, "Italian"

Recommend...and keep an eye out for Michael Brown