![\"ThereseRaquin\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/ThereseRaquin.jpg\")
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In case you missed the Long Beach Opera (LBO) and Art Theatre\u2019s boozy screening<\/a> of Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Raquin: The Adultress<\/em>, Marcel Carn\u00e9’s 1953 adaptation of \u00c9mile Zola’s realist novel, now you have two more chances to see Tobias Picker\u2019s operatic interpretation of the steamy drama.<\/p>\n LBO’s 2015 Season of \u201cDesire. Passion. Corruption.\u201d opens with Picker\u2019s adaptation of Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Raquin<\/em> on Saturday, January 24 at 8:00PM and Sunday, February 1 at 2:30PM at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro.<\/p>\n Called putrid and pornographic when it was first published in 1867, Zola\u2019s novel brought the 27-year-old a kind of twisted fame for going beyond the bounds of what was considered acceptable behavior at the time. In an uninhibited tale of adultery, madness and revenge, the story is a devastating exploration of the darkest and most animalistic facets of our sometimes tumultuous human existence.<\/p>\n Trapped in a loveless marriage, Th\u00e9r\u00e8se escapes into a passionate love affair, a coupling that becomes the catalyst for the demise of her hindering husband. After the husband\u2019s death, her and her lover\u2019s guilt drive them toward madness and despair.<\/p>\n \u201cThe novel exudes opera from every page,\u201d explained Picker in a statement. \u201cEverything about it is operatic. I felt myself becoming involved in the characters\u2019 intense emotions. I view them as real people with extremely serious conflicts. For me, the \u2018animal side\u2019 of the characters is what makes them so deeply human.\u201d<\/p>\n Dubbed by the Washington Post<\/em> as a \u201cmajor operatic talent,\u201d Mary Ann Stewart debuts her talent at LBO with the title role. Ed Parks, praised by Opera News for his \u201cwarm, velvety baritone\u201d at the Metropolitan Opera, also makes his LBO debut as the fateful lover. Matthew DiBattista, recently heard at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, returns to LBO as the betrayed husband. Th\u00e9r\u00e8se Raquin<\/em> marks LBO\u2019s third co-production with Chicago Opera Theater (COT), also under the directorship of Andreas Mitisek. The first, Glass\u2019 The Fall of the House of Usher, opened LBO\u2019s 2013 season and Ellington\u2019s Queenie Pie, kicked off the 2014 season.<\/p>\n Andreas Mitisek, Artistic and General Director of LBO and General Director of COT, who will be conducting the performances, said in a statement, \u201c\u201cPicker\u2019s music elevates the story into a passionate, soaring music drama of the best kind, always close to the emotional state of the protagonists.\u201d<\/p>\n Director Ken Cazan returns to LBO, where he previously staged LBO’s acclaimed production of Jan\u00e1\u010dek’s The Cunning Little Vixen and Glass\u2019 The Fall of the House of Usher. Cazan said in a statement, \u201cThis, almost more than any opera I have ever worked on, feels like a play with music. There is not one character in the novel who is defensible as a human being…the ensuing guilt that both lovers feel and their sham of a marriage makes for great and sad drama.\u201d<\/p>\n Upcoming productions in LBO\u2019s 2015 Season \u201cDesire. Passion. Corruption\u201d will include Marilyn Forever<\/em> by Gavin Bryars, on March 21 and Hydrogen Jukebox<\/em> by Phillip Glass, on May 30 and June 6 and 7.<\/p>\n For more information and to purchase tickets to the opera, click here<\/a> or call (562) 432-5934.<\/p>\n The Warner Grand Theatre is located at 478 W. 6th St., in San Pedro.<\/p>\n {FG_GEOMAP [33.7390456,-118.28711900000002] FG_GEOMAP}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"