Lady Macbeth

BROOKLINE - I’ve seen “Macbeth’’ numerous times over the years, but never before has that villainous usurper of the Scottish throne actually shouldered me aside on his way to the feast where he will meet the harrowing sight of Banquo’s ghost. Nor have I ever before found myself face to face with Macbeth as he made his way toward his lethal Lady in their bedroom, forcing him to steer me to one side (and brushing my notebook in the process). Hey, I got off easier than some of Macbeth’s other foes.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was the special guest at the opening night reception for the Boston Lyric Opera's production of Verdi's "Macbeth. " Davies composed "The Lighthouse," which in February will become the first staged opera to be performed at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. Joining the composer for the "Macbeth" festivities - which were at the Four Seasons - were soprano Carter Scott (a.k.a. Lady Macbeth) and BLO music director David Angus . Read the Names blog at www.boston.com/namesblog.

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies was the special guest at the opening night reception for the Boston Lyric Opera's production of Verdi's "Macbeth. " Davies composed "The Lighthouse," which in February will become the first staged opera to be performed at the John F. Kennedy Library and Museum. Joining the composer for the "Macbeth" festivities - which were at the Four Seasons - were soprano Carter Scott (a.k.a. Lady Macbeth) and BLO music director David Angus . Read the Names blog at www.boston.com/namesblog.

The dead never really die in Boston Lyric Opera's exceedingly dark and psychologically driven new staging of Verdi's "Macbeth. " They haunt, shadow, and torment the living - quite literally - walking alongside them, floating above them, and looming in their presence as giant totems out of some nightmare drawn from the primordial recesses of the brain. Before the curtain goes up, you can see where things are heading. Bodies of the dead, tightly bound, hang by their feet from the rafters.

Don't expect to see any kilts or bagpipes in the Boston Lyric Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Macbeth" when it opens a five-performance run at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre on Friday. Not surprisingly, visiting director David Schweizer, still a noted theatrical enfant terrible after 40 years in the business, has something more provocative in mind. This "Macbeth" has "a timeless contemporary feeling," he remarked in a recent phone interview during rehearsals.

HOLYOKE -- You walk in and border guards with machine guns line you up, yelling at you to move faster. Men and women dance menacingly, looking you straight in the eye. This is not your average production of Shakespeare. This is not, in fact, your average night of theater. There are lots of adjectives you can and will throw at Out of Joint's "Macbeth," but average will not be one of them. Out of Joint is a British company founded by Max Stafford-Clark in 1993 that does mostly new work.

The dead never really die in Boston Lyric Opera's exceedingly dark and psychologically driven new staging of Verdi's "Macbeth. " They haunt, shadow, and torment the living - quite literally - walking alongside them, floating above them, and looming in their presence as giant totems out of some nightmare drawn from the primordial recesses of the brain. Before the curtain goes up, you can see where things are heading. Bodies of the dead, tightly bound, hang by their feet from the rafters.

After its triumphant all-male production of "Titus Andronicus" at the end of last season, the Actors' Shakespeare Project announced that it would reverse the trick this year, with an all-female "Macbeth. " Fortunately, as with "Titus," it quickly becomes clear in Adrianne Krstansky's impassioned and forceful staging that this is not a gimmick, but a way of inviting us to see a familiar tragedy in thought-provoking new ways. The actresses, many of them regulars with Actors' Shakespeare, had a say in choosing Krstansky to direct them, and she has emphasized that she developed the...

American Opera said goodbye to its eccentric first lady yesterday, exalting Sarah Caldwell in a musical memorial fit for a giant in the performing arts. Caldwell, who died March 23 at age 82 of heart failure, staged and conducted some 100 performances as the founder and director of the Opera Company of Boston. She was the first female conductor at New York's Metropolitan Opera and was hailed in a 1975 Time magazine cover story as "the best opera director in the United States.

LONDON - South African-born opera singer Elizabeth Connell, who won global acclaim in roles by Wagner, Strauss, Beethoven, and others, has died. She was 65. Ms. Connell's management company, Helmut Fischer Artists International, said yesterday that the singer died of cancer Saturday in London. Born in Port Elizabeth in 1946, Ms. Connell moved to London in 1970 and made her debut at Ireland's Wexford Festival in 1972. She had a long association with both Opera Australia and the English National Opera, and performed at the world's major...

Don't expect to see any kilts or bagpipes in the Boston Lyric Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi's "Macbeth" when it opens a five-performance run at the Citi Performing Arts Center Shubert Theatre on Friday. Not surprisingly, visiting director David Schweizer, still a noted theatrical enfant terrible after 40 years in the business, has something more provocative in mind. This "Macbeth" has "a timeless contemporary feeling," he remarked in a recent phone interview during rehearsals.

BROOKLINE - I’ve seen “Macbeth’’ numerous times over the years, but never before has that villainous usurper of the Scottish throne actually shouldered me aside on his way to the feast where he will meet the harrowing sight of Banquo’s ghost. Nor have I ever before found myself face to face with Macbeth as he made his way toward his lethal Lady in their bedroom, forcing him to steer me to one side (and brushing my notebook in the process). Hey, I got off easier than some of Macbeth’s other foes.

After its triumphant all-male production of "Titus Andronicus" at the end of last season, the Actors' Shakespeare Project announced that it would reverse the trick this year, with an all-female "Macbeth. " Fortunately, as with "Titus," it quickly becomes clear in Adrianne Krstansky's impassioned and forceful staging that this is not a gimmick, but a way of inviting us to see a familiar tragedy in thought-provoking new ways. The actresses, many of them regulars with Actors' Shakespeare, had a say in choosing Krstansky to direct them, and she has emphasized that she developed the...

HOLYOKE -- You walk in and border guards with machine guns line you up, yelling at you to move faster. Men and women dance menacingly, looking you straight in the eye. This is not your average production of Shakespeare. This is not, in fact, your average night of theater. There are lots of adjectives you can and will throw at Out of Joint's "Macbeth," but average will not be one of them. Out of Joint is a British company founded by Max Stafford-Clark in 1993 that does mostly new work.

WASHINGTON - Joyce Redman - the Anglo-Irish actress who brought a mischievous sparkle to the most suggestive scene ever filmed at a dining table, the unforgettable display of gluttony and lust in the 1963 movie "Tom Jones" - died May 10 in Kent, England. She was 96. Her son, actor Crispin Redman, announced the death and said his mother had pneumonia. In a career spanning eight decades, Ms. Redman was a stalwart of the British theater. She appeared in productions at the Old Vic, the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, and the National Theatre and opposite actors such as...

Photo by MrDrew Photography Brendan Leonard of Rowley as Lady Macbeth (left) and Kyle Mitchell of Plaistow, NH, as Macbeth in the St. John's Prep production of "Macbeth. " Both are seniors at St. John's Prep in Danvers. The following was submitted by the Massachusetts Education Theatre Guild: Students from 14 public, private and parochial schools from across the state will compete in the final round of the 81th Annual Massachusetts High School State Drama Festival on Thursday through Saturday March 22 — 24 in John Hancock Hall at the Back Bay...