Here’s Johnny! ‘The Shining’ to haunt Kansas City opera, with ‘Carmen,’ Sondheim, more

Are we getting back to normal? Just a little bit of normal would be nice.

The Lyric Opera of Kansas City is making great strides toward normalcy with its newly announced 2022-2023 season. Operas that were put on hold for two years are finally coming back to life.

The season opens with “Carmen” and then “La Traviata,” two cornerstones of the opera house; Amahl hitches a ride back to Kansas City, and Stephen Sondheim gets his due. But the highlight of the season has to be “The Shining.” Stephen King thought the opera was better than the movie version of his horror classic.

Deborah Sandler, general director and CEO of the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, says that the company had been planning to do “Carmen,” “La Traviata” and “The Shining” before you-know-what disrupted everything.

“One of the guiding influences for next season was to maintain our integrity with all of the artists that had been contracted for shows during COVID, which had to be postponed,” she said. “We had told our artists we are postponing them, we are not canceling them. So we wanted to make good on the contracts we had with people.”

And, indeed, Sandler is making good on her word.

The seasons opens in September with Ginger Costa-Jackson starring as Carmen, the ultimate femme fatale. Costa-Jackson is a regular at the Metropolitan Opera. Sandler calls her “one of the preeminent Carmens today.” Sandler is hoping “Carmen” will open the season with a jolt to ticket sales.

“‘Carmen’ is a popular favorite.” Sandler said. “Even now when I talk with my colleagues around the country about the fact that we had not returned to pre-COVID-sized audiences, we knew that ‘Carmen’ is doing well every place. We’re very excited about it.”

Asked to explain the opera’s enduring popularity, Sandler says it’s pretty simple.

“It’s very tuneful,” Sandler said. “I think that people know the music because it’s been excerpted and stolen so much by Madison Avenue for advertising. It’s got great melodies, which, at the end of the day, people love. It’s an exotic little opera that’s extremely accessible.”

Vanessa Vasquez, who, according to the Chicago Tribune, is known “for melting our hearts,” will star in Verdi’s heart-melting “La Traviata.” This ultimate tear-jerker about the tubercular courtesan who … well, I’m not going to spoil it for you.

“’Carmen’ is probably the number one opera of all time,” Sandler said. “‘La Traviata’ is a little bit lower down on the list. This is a beautiful ‘Traviata,’ though. It is done with sets by the Washington National Opera, and it’s directed by Francesca Zambello. It is absolutely a stunning production.”

Like a sparkly blown-glass ornament that is a cherished family heirloom, the Lyric will bring out its jewel-like production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors” this December at the Michael and Ginger Frost Production Building. The Lyric’s “Amahl” features life-size puppets designed in collaboration with beloved Kansas City puppeteer Paul Mesner.

Sandler says one of the puppets has established something of a fan base, so the Lyric has decided to expand the role of this breakout star.

“There is a cat puppet, and the cat puppet is beloved by everybody who sees the show,” Sandler said. “We expect that Snowball the Cat will have an increasingly large role. And we can say that this production was done without the mistreatment of any animals.”

I have not seen “The Shining” on stage, but I can imagine how Stephen King’s 1977 horror novel could make a gripping opera. Mark Campbell, the librettist for “The Shining,” was also the librettist for “Silent Night,” about the famous World War I truce, which the Lyric performed a few years ago.

Sandler describes the Lyric’s production of “The Shining” as “pretty creepy.”

“It’s just what you’d expect,” she said “It was put together by a wonderful creative team of people that we have used before. I have a lot of confidence in this piece.”

Concluding the season is “Sondheim on Sondheim,” a tribute to a musical theater composer whom many people think deserves to be in the pantheon of opera composers.

“It’s a fascinating show,” Sandler said. “It opened on Broadway and contains all of his best hits and perhaps his less well-known ones. But it also has projections that include interviews where Stephen talks about his life and some of his motivations.”

Sondheim, the composer of legendary musical classics like “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “Sweeney Todd,” and “A Little Night Music,” died in November at the age of 91, so “Sondheim on Sondheim” is a timely tribute.

Count Sandler with those who think Sondheim deserves consideration from opera fans.

“There’s pretty virtuosic singing involved,” she said. “I think Stephen Sondheim has been a major force in the late 20th and early 21st centuries in terms of his writing. People think Lin-Manuel Miranda changed things in terms of the style, but I would say that Stephen Sondheim did, as well. The guy was a genius. I think his work needs to be listened to more.”

All performances are at Muriel Kauffman Theatre, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, except “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” at the Michael and Ginger Frost Production Building, 1725 Holmes St. For tickets and more information, 816-471-7344 or kcopera.org

Sept. 24, 30 and Oct. 2: Georges Bizet’s “Carmen”

Nov. 5, 11 and 13: Giuseppe Verdi’s “La Traviata”

Dec 2, 3, 4, 9, 10 and 11: Gian Carlo Menotti’s “Amahl and the Night Visitors”

March 11, 17 and 19, 2023: “The Shining”

May 6 and 7, 2023: ”Sondheim on Sondheim”

Stanislav & Friends 2022

Kansas City’s classical all-star team, headed up by Van Cliburn gold medalist Stanislav Ioudenitch, will take the field March 19 at Helzberg Hall. Ioudenitch will be joined by a spectacular roster of talent for “Stanislav and Friends.” The world-class faculty and students of Park University’s International Center for Music will perform music by Liszt, Dvořák, Rachmaninoff and Florence Price.

Stanislav’s friends are the best in the business. Consider some of the artists appearing on the concert: Kenny Broberg, winner of the bronze medal at the XVI International Tchaikovsky Competition and the 2021 American Pianists Association; Behzod Abduraimov, winner of the 2009 London International Piano Competition, and violinist Maria Ioudenitch, winner of the notoriously difficult 2021 Joachim Competition

I mean, where else in the world are you going to hear that kind of talent in one concert and not have to take out a second mortgage to buy tickets?

After a first half featuring solo and chamber music, the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra conducted by Bruce Sorrell will join Stanislav Ioudenitch on the second half for Ravel’s Concerto for Left Hand. Hats off to Ioudenitch for performing a work that often gets overlooked in concert halls. It should be a memorable performance in Ioudenitch’s capable hand.

8 p.m. March 19. Helzberg Hall, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. $10.50-$58.50. icm.park.edu.

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.

This story was originally published March 13, 2022 at 5:00 AM.