Word: verrett
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...spirit it follows them very well. There was definitely an apartheid system in Louisiana, and Verrett and Grant were constantly petitioning the authorities for change. I had to take artistic licence to create most of the characters, but the broad strokes of the story are absolutely true. 95 percent of everything that happened in the movie did take place at one time or another...
...Knights are on the verge of clenching the New Orleans colored city championship. They know, however, that their victory is not complete; Travis is determined to find out how they stack up against Jesuit, the best white team in the city. When the St. Augustine coach leaves suddenly, Father Verrett (Homicide's Andre Braugher) takes over as coach. A determined desegregationist from Baltimore, Verrett seizes on the idea of a game with Jesuit as a way to quicken the pace of reform in New Orleans...
...clambake to the fairground fantasy of the title, this production entrancingly conjures iconic places of bygone mill-town New England with expressionistic verve and cinematic speed of transition. The actors are adequate, save for irksome mugging by the chorus, and the singing is mostly fine, with opera diva Shirley Verrett gloriously belting the score's two standards, June Is Bustin' Out All Over and You'll Never Walk Alone. The dances by Sir Kenneth MacMillan, who died during rehearsals, are bold and lively, although they bring the storytelling to a halt. The race-blind casting, if historically inaccurate, does...
...triumph should not be underestimated. At a single stroke, it has made the reputation of Chung, up until now probably best known as the younger brother of violinist Kyung-Wha Chung. Against all odds, he assembled a cast whose only prominent members were sopranos Grace Bumbry (Cassandra) and Shirley Verrett (Dido) and drew from it a sensitive reading of Berlioz's sprawling score. Bumbry was in good voice; Verrett was not; and the other singers tended to be ciphers. But Chung welded them and a surprisingly good chorus together into a splendid ensemble...
...year's season opener, Giacomo Meyerbeer's hoary grand opera L'Africaine, typifies the ills that have afflicted the company. As Vasco da Gama, Tenor Placido Domingo sounds tired and wan, Maurizio Arena's conducting is enervated and Mansouri's own stage direction merely serviceable. Only veteran Soprano Shirley Verrett, as the regal Selika, captures the fiery spirit of Meyerbeer's diffuse and improbable last opera...