Opera San Jose set to present bilingual production of "Zorro"
Opera San Jose is hoping to bring in a new audience with its upcoming of "Zorro," a blend of Latin-American culture and California history that will be performed in English and Spanish.
Every note reflects a story of the past and the present.
Conductor Jorge Parodi recently rehearsed the music for the production, which will be Opera San Jose's second Spanish language offering. Maestro Parodi says it will engage audiences on all levels.
"There's sword fights, and all kinds of fights and drama. It's a very meaningful piece for all of us," he said. "First of all, it happens here in California, which is very unusual. So it's very rare to have an opera that happens in California."
It's also very rare to have an opera switch between English and Spanish so frequently, but Parodi says that is what makes this production of Zorro so magical.
"It makes it very easy to understand," Parodi explained. "Maybe because I speak both languages, but I'm sure in this community, a lot of people will understand most English and most Spanish. So in that sense, it's quite genius."
And according to stage director David Radamés Toro, the local story line is a reminder of California's multicultural heritage.
"The fact that it is an American opera, that is written on a Latino-American story," said Radamés Toro. "The story itself takes place in colonial California in 1811. And a lot of times when you don't study history outside of California, you tend to forget that, west of the Mississippi mostly belonged to the Spanish. It reminds us that the Latino culture is an American culture."
As the conductor and director prepare the final details for opening night, Maestro Parodi says the Spanish lyrics, paired with the poetic text, will captivate hearts of all cultural backgrounds.
"After all, in opera, the actor is the music. And when the music changes, the drama changes," he said. "But we have the text that tells us exactly what's happening."
A text that reflects California's vibrant past, and evolving future.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
an hour ago
For Ana de Armas, Keanu Reeves' co-star 10 years ago and once again, 'Ballerina' is a pirouette
NEW YORK -- Years before Ana de Armas was using an ice skate to slice a neck in 'From the World of John Wick: Ballerina,' she co-starred with Keanu Reeves in a much different film. The erotic thriller 'Knock Knock,' released in 2015, was de Armas' first Hollywood film. De Armas, born and raised in Cuba, had just come to Los Angeles after acting in Spain. English was new to her, so she had to learn her lines phonetically. 'It was tough and I felt miserable at times and very lonely,' she says in an interview. 'But I wanted to prove myself. I remember being in meetings with producers and they would be like, 'OK, I'll see you in a year when you learn English.' Before I left the office, I would say, 'I'll see you in two months.'' Since 'Knock Knock,' her rise to stardom has been one of the last decade's most meteoric. She was radiant even as a hologram in 'Blade Runner 2049.' She stole the show in Rian Johnson's star-studded 'Knives Out.' She breezed through the Bond movie 'No Time to Die.' She was Oscar nominated for her Marilyn Monroe in 'Blonde. ' And now, 10 years after those scenes with Reeves, de Armas is for the first time headlining a big summer action movie. In 'Ballerina,' in theaters Friday, de Armas' progressive development as an unlikely action star reaches a butt-kicking crescendo, inheriting the mantle of one of the most esteemed, high-body-count franchises. 'It's a big moment in my career, and I know that. I can see that,' she says. 'It makes me look back in many ways, just being with Keanu in another film in such a different place in my career. It definitely gives me perspective of the journey and everything since we met. Things have come far since then.' While de Armas, 37, isn't new to movie stardom, or the tabloid coverage that comes with it, many of her career highlights have been streaming releases. 'The Gray Man' and 'Blonde' were Netflix. 'Ghosted' was Apple TV+. But 'Ballerina' will rely on de Armas (and abiding 'John Wick' fandom) to put moviegoers in seats. Heading in, analysts expected an opening weekend of around $35-40 million, which would be a solid result for a spinoff that required extensive reshoots. Reviews, particularly for de Armas playing a ballerina-assassin, have been good. 'There's a lot of pressure,' says director Len Wiseman. 'It's a lot to carry all on her shoulders. But she'll be the first person to tell you: 'Put it on. Let me carry the weight. I'm totally game.'' De Armas, whose talents include the ability to be present and personable on even the most frenzied red carpets, has done the globe-trotting work to make 'Ballerina' a big deal: appearing at CinemaCon, gamely eating hot wings and cheerfully deflecting questions about her next film, 'Deeper,' with Tom Cruise. Yet for someone so comfortable in the spotlight, one of the more interesting facts about de Armas is that she lives part time in that bastion of young A-listers: Vermont. 'Yeah, it surprised many people,' she says, chuckling. 'As soon as I went up there, I knew that was going to be a place that would bring me happiness and sanity and peace. But I know for a Cuban who doesn't like cold very much, it's very strange.' Winding up in northern New England is just as unexpected as landing an action movie like 'Ballerina.' She grew up with the conviction, from age 12, that she would be an actor. But she studied theater. 'I never thought I was going to do action,' de Armas says. 'What was relatable for me was watching Cuban actors on TV and in movies. That was my reality. That's all I knew, so the actors I looked up to were those.' De Armas also had bad asthma, which makes some of the things she does in 'Ballerina' — a movie with a flamethrower duel — all the more remarkable to her. 'I couldn't do anything,' she remembers. 'I couldn't run. I sometimes couldn't play with my friends. I had to just be home and be still so I wouldn't get an asthma attack. So I never thought of myself as someone athletic or able to run just a block. So this has been a surprise.' At 14, she auditioned and got into Havana's National Theatre of Cuba. Four years later, with Spanish citizenship through her grandparents, she moved to Madrid to pursue acting. When she arrive in LA in 2014, she had to start all over again. Now as one of the top Latina stars in Hollywood, she's watched as immigrant paths like hers have grow increasingly arduous if not impossible. The day after she spoke to The Associated Press, the Trump administration announced a travel ban on 12 countries and heavy restrictions on citizens of other countries, including Cuba. 'I got here at a time when things were definitely easier in that sense,' says de Armas, who announced her then-imminent U.S. citizenship while hosting 'Saturday Night Live' in 2023. 'So I just feel very lucky for that. But it's difficult. Everything that's going on is very difficult and very sad and really challenging for many people. I definitely wish things were different.' Chad Stahelski, director of the four 'John Wick' films and producer of 'Ballerina,' was about to start production on 'John Wick: Chapter 4' when producer Basil Iwanyk and Nathan Kahane, president of Lionsgate, called to set up a Zoom about casting de Armas. He quickly watched every scene she had been in. 'How many people would have played the Bond girl kind of goofy like that?' he says. 'I know that I can harden people up. I know I can make them the assassin, but getting the charm and the love and the humor out of someone is trickier. But she had it.' In 'Knives Out,' Stahelski saw someone who could go from scared and uncertain to a look of 'I'm going to stab you in the eye.' 'I like that in my action heroes,' he says. 'I don't want to see the stoic, superhero vibe where everything's going to be OK.' But it wasn't just her acting or her charisma that convinced Stahelski. It was her life story. ''John Wick' is all hard work — and I don't mean just in the training. You've got to love it and put yourself out there,' says Stahelski. 'When you get her story about how she came from the age of 12, got into acting, what she sacrificed, what she did, that's what got my attention. 'Oh, she's a perseverer. She doesn't just enjoy the view, she enjoys the climb.'' When that quote is read back to her, de Armas laughs, and agrees. 'Being Cuban, and my upbringing and my family and everything I've done, I've never had a plan B,' she says. 'I've never had that thing of, 'Well, if it doesn't work, my family can help.' Or, 'I can do this other career.' This was it. And I also knew, besides being the thing I loved the most, this was my survival. This is how I live. This is how I feed myself and my family. So it's also a sense of, I don't know, responsibility.' That makes her reflect back to when she was just trying to make it in Hollywood, sounding out words, trying not to disappoint directors whose instructions she could barely understand, trying not to be intimidated by the action star across from her who had just finished shooting the first 'John Wick.' 'I was so committed to do it,' she says. 'I was so invested in the trying of it, just giving it a shot. When I give something a shot, I try my best, whatever that is. Then I can actually say: I gave it a shot.'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Disney's grandchildren divided over new animatronic of Walt as one calls it 'dehumanizing'
Disney's Imagineers are working on a new animatronic of iconic American visionary Walt Disney, but some members of his family have opposing views about whether it celebrates his legacy or dehumanizes him. Disney's Main Street Opera House plans to unveil a new theme park attraction called Walt Disney – A Magical Life, featuring an audio-animatronic of the company's founder. But Joanna Miller, one of Disney's grandchildren, slammed the idea of an animatronic as "dehumanizing" in a viral Facebook post. Among her claims, she suggested that her grandfather had told early Imagineer Sam McKim he never wanted to be commemorated with an animatronic. She went on to speak to the Los Angeles Times about why she believes it goes against her grandfather's wishes. Shortly after she wrote her post, she met with Disney CEO Bob Iger and Disney Imagineers to see the animatronic in production, crediting the current company head as being "very kind" and noting he listened to what she had to say. The robot itself, however, left her cold. As 'Snow White' Struggles, Here Are Five More Disney Controversies That Rocked The Company "I think I started crying," Miller told the L.A. Times. "It didn't look like him, to me." Read On The Fox News App She wrote in a separate letter to Iger, "I strongly feel the last two minutes with the robot will do much more harm than good to Grampa's legacy," and worried people "will remember the robot, and not the man." As for claims that Disney would not have wanted to be commemorated as an animatronic, Imagineer Jeff Shaver-Moskowitz said, "In all our research, we never found any documentation of Walt saying that. We know that it's anecdotal and we can't speak to what was told to people in private." After Miller's comments were published, The Walt Disney Family Museum shared a statement with Fox News Digital indicating other family members feel far more positively about the animatronic of the Disney family patriarch and were included in the process of its production. "Walt Disney Imagineering invited museum Board members—five of Walt Disney's grandchildren and three of his great-grandchildren—to view the progress of the attraction's development, which included a preview of the new Audio-Animatronics figure of Walt in its animated form," the statement said. "As part of their meticulous eVorts to produce a historically accurate likeness, Walt Disney Imagineering also reached out to the team at The Walt Disney Family Museum for guidance in identifying items that Walt Disney regularly wore," it added. Chris Miller, Disney's eldest grandson and a member of the museum's Board of Directors, said in the release, "I watched the show with my sisters Tammy and Jenny and the Imagineering team welcomed our feedback." He added further, "The level of innovation and technological advancement has exceeded anything that has been seen before in Audio-Animatronics. While our family has our own memories of Walt as our grampa, we left the presentation feeling confident that he will be depicted in the show as the public remembers him from his introductions on the "Disneyland and Wonderful World of Color TV" series." Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Tamara Miller, Disney's granddaughter and vice president of the museum's Board of Directors, offered similar praise. "It was an honor to be welcomed by Imagineering to preview the 'Walt Disney – A Magical Life' attraction. Having this representation at the park that grampa built is the right place for this, to educate people about who he was and introduce him to new audiences," she said in the release. "This attraction is a great opportunity for an audience to get a good representation of him. We believe that our grandfather would have been enthusiastic about the project. I look forward to having my children and grandchildren see this representation of my grandfather." Fox News Digital reached out to The Walt Disney Company for article source: Disney's grandchildren divided over new animatronic of Walt as one calls it 'dehumanizing'
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Gavin Newsom met privately with Trump's Hollywood ambassador Jon Voight
LOS ANGELES — The exodus of movie and television production from California has brought together an unlikely duo working to stem the tide: California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Jon Voight, the actor-turned-show biz emissary for President Donald Trump. The pair met privately Thursday afternoon in Century City, the sleek Los Angeles business district, to discuss their shared interest in boosting the state's iconic industry, which has increasingly moved its operations to other states and overseas. They discussed Voight's proposal to reshore the American film industry through a combination of federal tax credits and tax code changes, according to a person with knowledge of the meeting granted anonymity to discuss it. They also talked about Newsom's push to double California's film tax incentive, which is currently winding its way through state budget talks. 'They shared a commitment to working together to help to build up the film industry in the U.S. — particularly California and Los Angeles,' the person said, adding that Newsom expressed interest in working with Trump on the issue. Voight, the 'Midnight Cowboy' star who Trump designated a 'special ambassador' to Hollywood, has become an increasingly visible figure in the efforts to stanch runaway production. He was joined Thursday by his business partner, Steven Karol, and producer Scott Karol, who have been meeting with studio executives, labor leaders and Trump himself at Mar-a-Lago to pitch their draft plan to rescue the industry. Voight's proposal includes harsh tariffs on producers who could have based their productions in the states but chose instead to film abroad, though tariffs were not discussed in his sit-down with Newsom, according to the person familiar with the discussion. Tariff talk has subsided in recent weeks after Trump vowed to impose a 100 percent tariff on 'any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.' The missive immediately rocked — and confused — the industry. A Newsom aide confirmed the meeting took place and said the governor, while focused on the California tax credit now, is 'open to all good ideas.' A representative for Voight also confirmed the meeting. Also present was DeeDee Myers, Newsom's chief economic adviser and director of the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. Myers, a former executive at Warner Brothers, has been a key player in the effort to double California's film tax credit and overhaul the program to make filming in California more enticing. Local production has shriveled in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, two paralyzing industry strikes and more aggressive incentives from other jurisdictions. Newsom's office reaffirmed Thursday that the tax credit expansion was a top priority for next year's budget, which is entering its final negotiations before the June 15 deadline. 'The Governor is fully committed to this proposed $750 million investment in California's film and television industry, which will protect good-paying jobs and support the workers who power the state's creative economy,' said Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor.'
