In the News:
SoBe Arts Press Release, "SoBe Arts presents 'FAIRY TALES, Songs of the Dandelion Woman" April 2014
South Florida Classical Review, "Kievman’s “Fairy Tales” makes a bold and powerful impact in world premiere" May 2014
Knight Foundation, "Down the rabbit hole with the 'Dandelion Woman' at SoBe Arts" May 2014
Miami New Times, "SoBe Institute of the Arts Proudly Presents an Original Fairy Tale for Adults" May 2014
Miami Herald, "Carson Kievman’s ‘Fairy Tales’ for adults only" May 2014
Palm Beach ArtsPaper, "Standout singing, graphics make for intriguing ‘Dandelion Woman’" June 2014
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From May 8 through May 18, the Little Stage Theater at SoBe Institute of the Arts became the portal to Fairy Tales, Songs of the Dandelion Woman, a 70-minute trip “down the rabbit hole.” With a score and libretto created by Carson Kievman, this contemporary music-theater journey hurtles through a kaleidoscopically shifting mental landscape, past the borderline between hilarity and madness, into a surrealistic dislocation. This parallel world, very much like our own as seen through a magnifying glass, is created as the Bank Examiner (Ken Mattice, baritone) and The Dandelion Woman (Meagan Brus, soprano) become aware of each other: an authority figure who is charged with determining her competence, and a misfit who moves with angular grace through her own private world, and is charismatic enough to dismantle the system simply by living as she pleases.
For this production, soprano Meagan Brus and baritone Kenneth Mattice returned to SoBe Arts to sing the roles of Dandelion Woman and Bank Examiner. Both artists were highly praised for their roles as Ophelia and Hamlet in SoBe Arts world premiere staged concert of the HAMLET Opera in 2012. Aalso engaged were the acclaimed opera director Jeffrey Marc Buchman, music director Mary Adelyn Kauffman, award winning designers, Sean McClelland (sets), Patrick Tennent (lighting), Camilla Haith (costumes), Alain Lores (projections) as well as a top-flight ensemble of instrumentalists. Audiences had the opportunity to see FAIRY TALES in a run of 1 preview and 6 performances from May 8 through May 18 in the Little Stage Theater on the SoBe Arts campus, a beautiful, historic setting and intimate venue
Music by Carson Kievman
Libretto by Carson Kievman & MD Needle
CAST
Meagan Brus, soprano as Dandelion Woman / Kenneth Mattice, baritone as Bank Examiner
CREATIVE TEAM
Stage Director, Jeffrey Marc Buchman / Music Director, Mary Adelyn Kauffman / Projection Design, Alain Lores / Costume Design, Camila Haith / Lighting Design, Patrick Tennent / Stage Manager, Jane Rosenbaum / Set Design, Sean McCelland
ENSEMBLE
Conductor, Mary Adelyn Kauffman / Flute, Carol Naveira-Nicholson / Clarinet, Miles Jaques / Percussion, Karli Mason & Tyson Voigt / Piano, Junko Kainosho / Violin, Rebecca Mosloff / Viola, Emilee Newell / Cello, Joy Adams
“In a season that has seen more twentieth- and twenty-first century opera in South Florida than in the last two decades combined, Kievman’s opus is a stunner. It deserves wider performances beyond the current Miami Beach run”
“‘Fairy Tales’ makes a bold and powerful impact in world premiere”
“...is a shattering experience”
“SoBe Institute of the Arts proudly presets an original fairy tale for adults”
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