THERE WILL BE CAKE!
Asylum NYC
123 East Twenty-Fourth St. between Lexington & Park Aves.
December 12-14, $10-$35, 1:30
www.operapraktikos.org
asylumnyc.com
Will there be cake at There Will Be Cake! Yes indeed, there will be cake at the two afternoon mono-operas taking place December 12-14 at 1:30 at Asylum NYC, presented by Opera Praktikos (OPrak).
The pair of related works are set in the same kitchen fifty years apart; Bon Appetit!, by Lee Hoiby, Julia Child, and Mark Shulgasser, features mezzo-soprano Hailey McAvoy singing the role of the beloved host of the breakthrough cooking program The French Chef, while OPrak’s first commission, Fluffernutter, by composer-lyricist Spicer Carr and librettist-playwright Marianna Mott Newirth, features Zwisenfach Shanley Horvitz as Sarah Karmichael and piano arrangements by Patrick Tice-Carroll.
The works, which deal with memory and food, are directed by Gwynn MacDonald, with music direction by Calvin Hitchcock. The December 14 performance is already sold out, although it is also available via livestream.
As Child once said, “Drama is very important in life: You have to come on with a bang. You never want to go out with a whimper. Everything can have drama if it’s done right. Even a pancake.”
And certainly cake.
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]