Greenbrier Valley Theatre (GVT), partnering with The Met: Live in HD, will present a double bill simulcast of Peter Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bela Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, Feb. 14 at 12:30 p.m. The broadcast will run approximately 3 hours 39 minutes with two intermissions. A complimentary lecture by Dr. James Caplinger from the University of Charleston will start at 11:45 a.m. Tickets are $18 for adults, $12 for seniors and $10 for children. For tickets, call the GVT Box Office at 304-645-3838.
Acclaimed Polish film director Mariusz Treliński makes his highly anticipated Met debut with an exciting new production, inspired by classic noir films of the 1940s, which brings together two rarely performed one-acts.
Making its Met debut is Tchaikovsky’s lyrical fairy tale Iolanta, about the psychological awakening of a blind princess. Anna Netrebko stars as the title character, with Piotr Beczala and Aleksei Markov as Vaudémont and Robert, two rivals for her love. Iolanta is Tchaikovsky’s final opera and was commissioned by St. Petersburg’s Imperial Theatre as part of a double bill with a new ballet – which became The Nutcracker.
Iolanta is followed by Bartók’s harrowing Bluebeard’s Castle, in which newlywed Judith must open seven locked doors to discover the full depths of her husband’s dark secrets. Nadja Michael sings the central role of Judith in, with Mikhail Petrenko as her mysterious and menacing new husband. Since its debut at the Met in 1974, Bluedbeard’s Castle has been performed in English. The 2015 revival will mark the production’s first performance in the original, Hungarian.
Valery Gergiev conducts the double bill, which is a co-production with Teatr Wielki-Polish National Opera.
Located in beautiful, historic downtown Lewisburg, “America’s Coolest Small Town,” Greenbrier Valley Theatre, The State Professional Theatre of West Virginia, is committed to its mission statement to create live, professional quality theatre in West Virginia and, through theatre, to enlighten, enrich, and enliven the life of our region.
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