New Criterion, December 1st, 1998
Andre Previn's operatic treatment of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire received its world premiere at the San Francisco Opera on Sep 19, 1998. Although Prevein is an accomplished musician, jazz pianist, and director of orchestras, and this was his first opera, the lack of confidence portrayed was very apparent.
Derailed in San Francisco
Experience tells us that great plays don't always make great operas. Indeed, precisely the inverse seems to hold true: first-rate operas are often born of second-rate source material. The melodramas of Belasco and Sardou, for instance, are barely ...
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