Passing Strange's Armitage Stages Ariadne Unhinged for Gotham Chamber Opera
By Adam Hetrick
11 Feb 2008
Passing Strange choreographer Karole Armitage will stage the world premiere of Ariadne Unhinged for Gotham Chamber Opera in May.
Ariadne Unhinged will run May 7-11 at the Abrons Arts Cetner. The new work, incorporating the music of Monteverdi, Haydn and Schoenberg, will feature Armitage's troupe, Armitage Gone! Dance Company, as well as six musicians and one singer.
"Ariadne has just been abandoned by her lover and savior Theseus on the island of Naxos, where she alternates between near-madness and madness," states production notes for the new adaptation of the classic story featuring Emily Langford Johnson and Brenda Patterson alternating in the title role.
Three musical works from different centuries intertwine to reflect Ariadne's emotional and psychological states: Monteverdi's "Lamento d’Arianna," Haydn's solo cantata "Arianna a Naxos," and Schoenberg's "Pierrot Lunaire."
"Karole and I have created something entirely new with this production: not just an operatic evening or a night of dance, but an outpouring of one woman's emotions that explodes the normal artistic boundaries; it is a songdance of a woman psychologically unhinged," commented Gotham Chamber Opera artistic director Neal Goren.
Ariadne Unhinged features scenic and visual design by Vera Lutter with costume design by Peter Speliopoulos and lighting design by Clifton Taylor.
In addition to her work on Broadway's Passing Strange, Armitage recently staged Connoisseurs of Chaos with Armitage Gone! Dance Company at the Joyce. She has collaborated with such pop stars as Madonna and Michael Jackson, as well as filmmakers Merchant and Ivory, painter David Salle, fashion designer Christian Lacroix and composer György Ligeti.
For tickets call (212) 279-4200 or visit www.ticketcentral.com.
The Abrons Arts Center is located at 466 Grand Street in Manhattan. For further information visit www.gothamchamberopera.org.
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