Opera Grand Rapids

It made me sad that the cast wasn't playing to a packed house - the fact that west michigan has this world-class bit of culture is of such great value. The only part I was even slightly disappointed by was the fact that the off-stage tenor part Manrico sings in Miserere was as quiet as it was - it's one of my favorite parts in opera. Wonderful cast and chorus, well-designed and lit set... an all-around class act.

Enjoyed the Marriage of Figaro immensely! Delightful and full of humor. I would recommend this everyone! I will definitely go and see it again!!

Must see! Great art in action. Our first Opera show and will look forward to many more.

Powerful music with emotional characters! I was enjoy the performance! Thank you for wonderful team work!

This was a first rate production from the singers and costumes to the settings. The tenor and baritone were especially amazing and all of us enjoyed the Friday night performance from the first "A" to the final standing ovation. Well done Opera GR!

The Barber of Seville was a delight in every aspect. Every performer was incredible to the extent that I couldn't pick a favorite if I tried! Costumes and lighting were very well-done, and the 3 people I brought with me haven't stopped talking about it a week after!

our 1st and 2nd operas and we were very impressed!

Wonderful production! Great facilities! We rarely see the opera, but this show made us wonder, "WHY?"

I was rather disappointed. It felt like I was literally watching a high school production.

Absolutely wonderful. I've seen this performed a few times in my life so far and this was definitely one of the best performances. DeVos is probably my favorite venue next to the Chicago Opera house. Guest stars were great but my favorite was the Soprano. This was my first time to see this conductor and he was marvelous. Delightful occasion!!

orchestra was super - conductor a show-stopper - singers were amazing - choir was tremendous - the best presentation and singing I can remember in a long time

very powerful voices. colorful costumes. very good performance.

Performance was amateur and disappointing. The highlighted soloists gave poor performances. The choir and symphony executed well. The ballet scene in Act 3 execution was very poor. Redeeming feature of the evening, beverages are now allowed in the performance hall.

What an excellent display of talent! It was great having the subtitles above the stage. The choreography was fantastic! I truly enjoyed this show except for one thing. I wish people would not whistle to show their approval. It's very distasteful. Clapping and shouting out "Bravo" are very both appropriate.

The performance was excellent, everybody was really good. Specially Azucena. I do believe that the sword scene should of been a bit more intense on the acting.

Beautful performance hall with good acoustics. performers were outstanding. The orchestra was very good.

Outstanding presentation by the performing members of Opera Grand Rapids and its guest artists. Was great to have a slice of Americana and an iconic, easy to understand story of challenge, hope and despair colorfully presented on the DeVos Hall stage.

This was an outstanding production. It was a joy to hear Porgy & Bess performed as an opera. Some cuts were made, but the missing parts were not significant & likely led to a faster paced production. The voices were good to great with barely an exception. The set served its purpose although it was not terribly inventive. The costumes were also fine. My only significant complaint was portraying Porgy on crutches as opposed to on his knees as originally intended. Having him more mobile & less handicapped takes away from understanding his personality & motivation, parrticularly in his relationship with Bess. Nevertheless this production affirmed the magnificence of George Gershwin's score. The surtitles also helped to capture the great libretto by Dubose & Dorothy Heyward and the additional lyrics by Ira Gershwin. Thanks to Opera Grand Rapids for bringing Porgy & Bess to DeVoss Hall.

Wonderful Voices. Very bad ushering and seating assistance

The opera was staged beautifully and the chorus and orchestra was just amazing. I felt Clara stole the show. I had never seen Porgy portrayed as a stand up cripple, he did a fantastic acting job. Jake was very exceptional as an actor and he really made the character appealing. His voice and diction were exceptional. My husband is very partial to this opera and we were very happy to have attended.

Well done but not great. Limited emotional impact from performance. No big negatives.

It was well done. I would have liked to known the names of the children and extras on the stage. I thought the music was especially good.

My wife loves the opera and I had never been to an opera before. I decide to take her to Pagliacci for Valentines day. I am not sure who enjoyed the evening more, my wife or myself. I am hooked!!!!!!!! What a great performance. BRAVO.

Not fluent in Itailian I was a little worried about the cross over even with the english subtitles. to my surprise I found the opera to be extremely easy to follow and The singing extremely wonderful. a must see performance.

My wife and I surprised our daughter with tickets to this opera for her 18th birthday. She's always wanted to see this one. I introduced her to opera when she was little and she's listened to it ever since. She loves Pavarotti so that's the voice she's used to hearing as Pagliacci. She was very impressed and so were we. This was our first opera and we'll definitely be going to more. The DeVos performance hall is a beautifull venue and I find it hard to believe there's a bad seat in the house.

Excellent casting, the music was beyond great and we had wonderful seats.

Absolutely spectacular! The performers were brilliant, it was great to be a part of Robert Lyall's 20 years of conducting and directing the opera!

With this being my first "live" opera, my husband & I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Glad that there were subtitles to aid in following the story. The actor/singers were superb and the orchestra music was beautiful. Mozart had an incredible mind.

Loved everything from the costumes, music, and script. Knowing that it was all a hoax was very entertaing to watch Dorabella and her sister, especially when the lovers dressed up as Albanians and the women didn't recognize them. A little thrown off by the long instrumental introduction of the first act. Appreciate the projected titles, but didn't like that in the second act some were skipped through very quickly and didn't get a chance to read them. It also left a lot of time in between, where there weren't any titles, just singing. Overall, I enjoyed the show, music, and acting and would reccommend it to friends!