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      ‘The New Look’ Cast Reflects on Chanel and Dior’s History at Premiere

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      Juliette Binoche, Ben Mendelsohn and John Malkovich, stars of a new series set in World War II Paris, discussed French fashion history at the show’s premiere in New York.On Monday evening along Madison Avenue in Manhattan, while fashionistas on the Upper East Side finished their shopping rounds at Dior and Chanel, a crowd headed to the French Institute Alliance Française to attend the premiere of an Apple TV+ series that recounts the origin story of those two fashion houses through the tale of Coco Chanel and Christian Dior’s lives in war-torn Paris during the 1940s.“The New Look,” which starts streaming today, is a period drama that portrays the rivalry between Chanel, who is played by Juliette Binoche, and Dior, who is played by Ben Mendelsohn. The show chronicles how these two figures were shaped by the moral challenges of life in Nazi-occupied Paris and how they managed survival and self-preservation. The war’s effect on Cristóbal Balenciaga, Pierre Balmain and Pierre Cardin is also explored.The series depicts portrays Chanel’s well-documented collaboration with the Nazi party: her use of Aryan laws to try and oust her Jewish business partners, her romance with a high-ranking German officer, and her participation as a secret agent assigned to a covert operation, Modellhut (“model hat”), that tasked her with delivering a message to Winston Churchill. Her younger and striving rival, Dior, resentfully makes evening gowns for the wives of Nazis, while his sister, Catherine, is sent to a concentration camp after her arrest as a resistance fighter.During red-carpet interviews inside the French Institute, the show’s cast reflected on the challenges of playing the characters.Juliette Binoche plays Coco Chanel in the series. “My job as an actor is to show the reality of her life during a dark and dehumanizing time in history,” Ms. Binoche said.A guest at the party wears a Christian Dior hairclip.Darina Al Joundi, the actress.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Remembering Chita Rivera’s Unique Voice

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      Chita Rivera died on Jan. 30, at age 91. Over her seven decades performing onstage and onscreen, Rivera established herself as one of the 20th century’s great dancers. “But to think of her only as a dancer,” says our chief theater critic, Jesse Green, “is to miss a really important part of what made her one of the most compelling stage performers of the last 70 years. And that is her voice.” Listen in as he presents some of Rivera’s great vocal performances.On today’s episodeJesse Green, chief theater critic for The Times.Photo illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Ted Streshinsky/Corbis, via Getty ImagesFurther reading Read Jesse’s appraisal of Chita Rivera’s gifts as a singerThe New York Times Audio app is home to journalism and storytelling, and provides news, depth and serendipity. If you haven’t already, download it here — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter. More

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      The Queer Kids Are All Right. And Now They’re Making Me Better.

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      Here’s a list of every openly queer person I knew when I was 15:That’s it. None. Not even myself.Oh sure, Paul Lynde and Liberace were flouncing on television; closer to home, a boy I kept my distance from decoupaged his notebooks. But even if they really were what people whispered or snarled about them, it was not then an identity they would dare to acknowledge.Nor would I. Unable to see through their closet doors to the truth of what their lives might be, I did not have the benefit of their stories, which meant not having the benefit of my own.Cut to today, 50 years later. Another 15-year-old boy — like me intense, unathletic and bullied — is the lead character on “Heartstopper,” a hit teen romance. But this boy, Charlie, knows all about queerness. He is, after all, growing up in the 2020s and, more to the point, in 2020s pop culture. In that magical land, also known as Netflix, adolescence for people like him is not only survivable but often a lovefest, all closet doors blown off their hinges.And I do mean all. Charlie (adorkable Joe Locke) is happy to be gay, and why not: When he crushes on a dreamy and apparently straight rugby player, the rugby player promptly comes out as bisexual. Their romance is supported by a cute teenage lesbian couple they hang out with. Also in the group is a bookish nerd who realizes he’s asexual — or “ace,” as he explains, pinning a fun new name on that identity. Even the straight boy, vastly outnumbered, gets a queer love story when he falls for his best friend, a beautiful trans girl.Welcome to the classic lifeboat plot, checking boxes on a diversity agenda. But this time it’s mostly calm seas and clear sailing.Do I sound envious? I am. Also slightly embarrassed.Don’t get me wrong: My husband and I devoured the first two seasons. (The third is expected in the fall.) I’ve also been watching, with or without him — for these are guilty pleasures — a slew of other queer youth stories, all the while trying to sort out my feelings.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      If It Isn’t Perfect, Is It Still K-Pop?

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      Musical acts like Balming Tiger are challenging the idea that K-pop is nothing but polished, perfectly synchronized boy bands and girl groups.What comes to mind when you hear the word “K-pop”? Is it the global boy band phenomenon BTS, wearing studded jackets and dancing in perfect sync? Or the girl group Blackpink, performing at Coachella in trendy fashions and perfectly curled hair?How about an “independent music collective” of casually dressed people, crowded around a mixing board in a one-room studio, across the street from a Seoul restaurant specializing in fried chicken?“Give me some more bass,” said Omega Sapien, a vocalist with electric-green hair and grills, swaying his hips and grunting to the beat. The studio was cluttered with art, vinyl records, dumbbells and other odds and ends. Another singer lay prone nearby, nursing a bad hangover.For Balming Tiger, this is daily life as an alternative K-pop band. Their music, a fusion of diverse genres from electro to hip-hop, is funky and edgy. Their look, unkempt and grungy, is far from the professional styling of the groups that most of the world associates with K-pop.“Even if we wanted to be like idols, we can’t,” said Chanhee, far left, a vocalist with Balming Tiger. Other members are, from left, Mudd the Student, Unsinkable, BJ Wnjn, Omega Sapien and Sogumm. Woohae Cho for The New York TimesBut they claim that label, too. K-pop is any music that comes out of South Korea, according to Omega Sapien. “Everything in that realm is K-pop,” he said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More

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      2024 TV, Movies and More That New York Times Critics Look Forward To

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      “Mad Max” gets a prequel, “The Wiz” returns to Broadway and Larry David gets another crack at a series finale.Holland CotterThe Met Looks to Right a Historic WrongEarly in 1969, the Metropolitan Museum sparked an uproar with an exhibition called “Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968.” Although conceived as the museum’s first big-ticket acknowledgment of African American creativity, it included no visual art beyond documentary photomurals. Black artists, many working in Harlem just blocks north of the museum, angrily picketed the show, denouncing it as evidence of art world racism writ large.As a student visiting New York in 1969 I saw, and was baffled by, that show, so I’m eager to see a new one that can only be viewed as a corrective to it, the marquee-scale survey of paintings, sculptures, photographs and films titled “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” scheduled to open at the Met in February. The announced inclusion of a wealth of African American art considered inadmissible to the Met half a century ago — some represented by rarely seen loans from the collections of some of the country’s historically Black colleges and universities — is, on its own, an exciting prospect. And so is the exhibition’s larger promise to fully position modern African American art not just as a local phenomenon, but as a generator of international modernism itself.Alissa WilkinsonFuriosa Gets an Origin StoryCharlize Theron in the 2015 movie “Mad Max: Fury Road.”Jasin Boland/Warner Bros.Next year brings a lot of sequels: “Inside Out 2,” “Beetlejuice 2,” “Joker: Folie à Deux,” “Gladiator 2,” “Dune: Part Two,” plus new films in the “Quiet Place” and “Venom” and “Paddington” and “Godzilla” and even “Despicable Me” cinematic universes. I rarely get excited for non-original films, since most of them come off as naked cash grabs capitalizing on existing I.P. and risk-averse audiences. But I’m always curious if a sequel (or prequel or side-quel or whatever) will manage to be good, and the one I’m excited for is “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” George Miller returns to direct an origin story for the character that Charlize Theron played in 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” with Anya Taylor-Joy in the Furiosa role. I love a dystopia, and few have exceeded the sheer adrenaline and dread of “Fury Road.” I’m revisiting all the “Mad Max” movies in preparation.Mike HaleTom Hollander Tackles Truman CapoteClive Owen as an aging Sam Spade on AMC’s “Monsieur Spade” (Jan. 14), Helena Bonham Carter as the 1970s soap opera star Noele Gordon (“Nolly,” PBS), Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche as Christian Dior and Coco Chanel (“The New Look,” Apple TV+, Feb. 14) — there may have never been a new TV year with so many intriguing bits of casting. But the one that has me the most curious is the wonderfully acidic British actor Tom Hollander playing Truman Capote in FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans” (Jan. 31). Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny and Calista Flockhart play some of the society women Capote befriended and then used as material for his highly unflattering roman à clef “Answered Prayers”; if the thought of Hollander channeling Capote as he calls Happy Rockefeller “that fat-ankled harridan” turns you on, then you must tune in.Salamishah Tillet‘The Wiz’ Returns to BroadwayFrom left: Christian Dante White as the Scarecrow, Ashanti as Dorothy and Joshua Henry as the Tinman in the 2009 Encores! Summer stars production of the musical “The Wiz.”Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesI tell everyone that my son Sidney is a musical theater kid. So naturally, his favorite movie is “The Wiz.” And, of course, for his eighth birthday, we went to Baltimore, where the musical version first debuted in 1975, and its current tour started this past October. My parents even saw one of its 1,672 performances during its original four-year Broadway run, when it won seven Tonys, including best musical. Because I come from a family of avid “Wiz” fans, I find myself anticipating its return to Broadway this April at the Marquis Theater with more zeal than usual.Based on L. Frank Baum’s children’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and with an all-black cast, “The Wiz” is a cultural classic, so its revivals have to come with some powerful updates. Directed by Schele Williams with additional writing by Amber Ruffin, it now features Nichelle Lewis, whose TikTok audition landed her the role as Dorothy; a stirring Melody A. Betts as Aunt Em and Evillene; Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tinman; Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow; and Deborah Cox as Glinda, with Wayne Brady returning to Broadway to play Oz. My sneak peek already has me excited about this dynamic cast, Hannah Beachler’s (“Black Panther”) kaleidoscopic set and the former Beyoncé choreographer JaQuel Knight’s dance moves, especially when Dorothy and her squad of outsiders make their way to Emerald City.Jesse GreenA Double Dose of Itamar MosesTalk about range: February brings to New York stages two exceedingly contrasting works by Itamar Moses, who previously wrote the book for “The Band’s Visit.” Feb. 15 through March 10, the Public Theater presents Lila Neugebauer’s staging of “The Ally,” starring Josh Radnor as a Jewish college professor caught in the crossfire between wokeism and free speech when asked to sign a social justice manifesto. The topicality is off the charts.Then, Feb. 28 through April 7 at the Minetta Lane Theater, Audible reunites Moses with some of his “Band’s Visit” collaborators for “Dead Outlaw.” The musical, directed by David Cromer, with a book by Moses and songs by David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, is about … a mummy. Specifically, the mummy of a failed Old West gunslinger, used as a sideshow attraction for decades before the truth is discovered in a super-gross way. Spoiler alert — I guess literally.Maya PhillipsStylish Spy Moves, Stacked Cast (and One Cat)The concept at the center of “Argylle” — a best-selling author discovers that what she writes comes true — immediately reminds me of one of my favorite films, “Stranger Than Fiction.” (I’m just a sucker for meta stories about the power of storytelling.) Starring Bryce Dallas Howard as a meek spy novelist whose words draw her into the dangerous world of espionage, “Argylle” (opening Feb. 2) is directed by Matthew Vaughn, whose devilishly stylish “Kingsman” franchise suggests he’ll know just how to play to and satirize the spy movie genre. The cast is filled with actors who have taken on action roles but have also shown impressive comedic chops (Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, John Cena and Samuel L. Jackson among them), while the cinematography looks to share the same sleek style Vaughn has made his signature. And an inconvenient, frazzled cat in a backpack? The cherry on top.Jason ZinomanLarry David Does Another FinaleHow in the world did Larry David do it? It’s a question I’ve been hearing a lot lately. How did he make one of the funniest episodes of television ever out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? How did he tackle race, the Holocaust, Trump without getting in trouble? How did he make us care so much about these insufferable rich Hollywood types whining during their golf game? How did he manage the impossible feat of putting on 11 seasons of a show dominated by improvised small talk? The questions are rhetorical, of course, but everyone knows the answer. Larry David is really really (dare I say “pretty preeetty”) good at what he does. So, his last season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which premieres Feb. 4, is a sad occasion. But it’s also one of the few things on television that I will not tape but watch exactly when it airs. I don’t know what the storylines of the next season will be, but here’s one idea to consider: David has already written a much-anticipated finale, the one on “Seinfeld.” I thought it was excellent. Many disagreed. Jerry Seinfeld has said onstage that he will be revisiting this finale in some form. Food for thought.Margaret Lyons‘Girls5eva’ Hit the RoadFrom left: Busy Philipps, Paula Pell, Renee Elise Goldsberry and Sara Bareilles in “Girls5eva.”Emily V Aragones/NetflixWhen Season 2 of “Girls5eva” ended in 2022, my hopes for a renewal were slim; no Peacock original show has actually made it to a third season. But now it isn’t a Peacock show anymore: There is a third season premiering March 14, but it will be on Netflix. Season 1 found the ’90s girl group reuniting, and in Season 2 they put out their album. This season, they’re heading out on tour, an experience for which they are not prepared. I am of course looking forward to the zingy jokes and warped nostalgia, but the even bigger wish is for another absolute banger that will join “Four Stars,” “B.P.E.” and “I’m Afraid” on my playlists.Zachary WoolfeChristmas in Spring at the MetFirst things first: “El Niño” isn’t an opera about weather patterns. In fact, while John Adams’s energetic, eclectic two-hour score is opera-length, it’s not exactly an opera at all. It’s an oratorio, in the tradition of Handel’s “Messiah,” that tells the Nativity story without characters or naturalistic scenes. It’s more of a reflection on the tale; the choral numbers and solos have their texts drawn from the Bible as well as from Latin American poetry, all sewn together by Adams and Peter Sellars.First performed in 2000, the piece isn’t always staged, but for its Metropolitan Opera premiere (April 23-May 17), the company is giving it a grand treatment. The production, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, boasts the conductor Marin Alsop, the soprano Julia Bullock, the bass-baritone Davóne Tines and the mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges — inspired musical forces. It’s a few months late for Christmas, but “El Niño” will be welcome nevertheless.Jon ParelesBrittany Howard Unveils Startling New SongsBrittany Howard returns with a solo album, “What Now,” this year.Rob Grabowski/Invision, via Associated PressUnbridled emotions, sonic ambitions and audacious singing have been the makings of Brittany Howard’s songs since she arrived with Alabama Shakes in 2012. She’s steeped in Southern soul and rock, and her voice has gospel-rooted power. But with Alabama Shakes and then on her 2019 solo album, “Jaime,” Howard moved far beyond revivalism, pushing toward startling new hybrids; her co-producer, Shawn Everett, has also worked with SZA and Kacey Musgraves. Howard’s second solo album, “What Now,” is due Feb. 2, and its advance singles have plunged into the turbulence of a failing relationship, leaping between the percussive and the ethereal. The full album promises even more innovative ups and downs. Howard begins a North American tour on Feb. 6, with New York City shows Feb. 16 and 17 at Webster Hall. More

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      A Pilgrimage to the Land of Giuseppe Verdi

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      I was 15 when I went to my first Verdi opera, “Il Trovatore,” at the Met, the old Met, in 1964. I could barely figure out what was going on but didn’t care. Leontyne Price sang Leonora, and I was in awe of her plush, beautiful voice. The singing, the chorus, the orchestra, the emotional drama, the music with its mixture of soaring melody, intensity and structure (though I couldn’t have expressed this back then) all hooked me. Two months later I was back at the Met for Verdi’s “Otello” starring, no less, Renata Tebaldi as Desdemona. I still remember the poignant warmth and uncanny bloom of her voice as she sang the sighing refrain of “salce, salce” in the “Willow Song.”I would go on to hear, and eventually review, most of the Verdi operas in productions around the world. I studied the scores in music classes and on my own at the piano. I read biographies that emphasized his deep ties to the rural region of northern Italy he came from and never really left. To me, that devotion seemed of a piece both with Verdi’s character — he was a crusty, principled man with a built-in hypocrisy detector who was suspicious of urban elites — and his respect for the heritage of Italian opera. If Wagner brought a radical agenda to remaking German opera, Verdi was a reformer who worked from within the traditions and conventions of Italian opera while subtly, steadily introducing ingenious innovations that would, over time, transform it. So I wanted to see for myself where he came from, and how his roots shaped his life and art.This fall, at long last, I made my Verdi pilgrimage, retracing his steps from his birthplace in Roncole to the crypt where he is buried in Milan. More

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      Sondheim Was a Critical Darling. Since His Death, He’s a Hitmaker, Too.

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      The musicals of Stephen Sondheim often struggled at the box office during his lifetime, but since his death several have become huge hits on Broadway.Stephen Sondheim, the great musical theater composer and lyricist, was widely acclaimed as a genius, but during his lifetime he had a bumpy track record at the box office, with many of his shows losing money.In death, however, his shows have flourished.A revival of “Merrily We Roll Along” — which was so unpopular when it debuted in 1981 that it closed 12 days after opening — is now the hottest ticket on Broadway. A lavish revival of “Sweeney Todd” that opened in March is already profitable, and at a time when almost everything new on Broadway is failing.Meanwhile, Sondheim’s unfinished and existentialist final work, “Here We Are,” is now the longest-running show in the brief history of the Shed, a performing arts center in Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s West Side, where luminaries like Steven Spielberg and Lin-Manuel Miranda signed up as producers to make sure no expense was spared on the Sondheim send-off.“There just seems to be an unbounded appetite for him,” said Alex Poots, the artistic director of the Shed.The posthumous Sondheim bump appears to have resulted from a confluence of factors.The big Broadway revivals feature fan-favorite talent — the “Merrily” cast includes Daniel Radcliffe of “Harry Potter” fame, while “Sweeney” is led by the celebrated baritone Josh Groban — reflecting a desire by top-tier entertainers to champion, and tackle, Sondheim’s tricky but rewarding work.The revival of “Merrily We Roll Along,” with, from left, Lindsay Mendez, Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff, is one of the hottest tickets on Broadway.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesAlso: The outpouring of praise for Sondheim upon his death, when he was hailed as a transformational creative force, seems to have spurred new interest in his work. And his shows, some of which felt challenging when they first appeared, are now more familiar, thanks to decades of stage productions and film adaptations. Plus, according to most critics, the current revivals are good.“Sondheim went from being too avant-garde to being a sure bet, like you’re doing ‘A Christmas Carol’,” said Danny Feldman, the producing artistic director of Pasadena Playhouse, a Southern California nonprofit that won this year’s Regional Theater Tony Award. The playhouse devoted the first half of 2023 to Sondheim: A production of “Sunday in the Park With George,” a show once seen as esoteric, became one its best-selling musicals ever, and a production of “A Little Night Music” was not far behind. “The interest was shocking,” Feldman said.One side effect of his popularity: Ticket prices are high. “Merrily” is facing strong demand from Sondheim lovers and Radcliffe fans, but its capacity is limited; it is playing in a theater with just 966 seats. That has made it the most expensive ticket on Broadway, with an average ticket price of $250 and a top ticket price of $649 during the week that ended Dec. 17. “Sweeney” is also pricey, with tickets that same week averaging $175 and topping out at $399. (Both shows offer lower-priced tickets, particularly after the holidays.)“We shouldn’t be criticized for being a hit and paying back investors who have taken a big punt in New York,” said the “Merrily” lead producer, Sonia Friedman. “Most shows right now are not working, and therefore when something comes along that does, let’s get the investors some money back.”In life, Sondheim was often seen as more of an artistic success than a commercial one — a critical darling with a passionate but finite fan base, leading to short runs for many of the shows whose scores he composed, especially during their first productions. A few shows, particularly “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” were hits from the start, but some musicals that are now viewed as masterpieces, including “Sweeney Todd” and “Sunday in the Park With George,” did not recoup their costs during their original productions.“It’s not like he fell out of favor and has been rediscovered. He’s always been revered and valued and prized by everybody who loves theater, but we also have to recognize that several of his shows, when they first premiered, were not understood and were not embraced,” said Jordan Roth, the producer who brought “Into the Woods” back to Broadway in the summer of 2022, seven months after Sondheim’s death. Now, Roth said, “The grip on our hearts seems to have tightened.”“Into the Woods,” a modestly scaled production, featured the pop singer Sara Bareilles and a troupe of Broadway stars. It recouped its costs and then had a five-month national tour.The original production of “Sweeney Todd” did not recoup its investment, but the current revival starring Josh Groban and Annaleigh Ashford is making a profit.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesIn February, seven weeks after “Into the Woods” concluded on Broadway, “Sweeney Todd” began previews. It’s a much bigger production — big cast, big orchestra — that was capitalized for up to $14.5 million. It has sold strongly from the get-go (during the week that ended Dec. 10, it grossed $1.8 million) and has already recouped its capitalization costs.“I’m sorry that I can’t call him and say look at these grosses. He definitely would have had a sarcastic statement in response, but he would have liked it secretly,” said the show’s lead producer, Jeffrey Seller. “Who doesn’t want to be affirmed by the audience?”Groban and his co-star Annaleigh Ashford are ending their runs in the show on Jan. 14; the show’s success has prompted the producers to extend the run, with Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster taking over the lead roles on Feb. 9.“It has morphed into being under the umbrella of an enormous and deserved celebration of Sondheim’s work and legacy and life,” Groban said. “All of a sudden there’s grief involved, and wanting to do him proud, and what-would-Steve-do feelings.”“Merrily,” which began previews in September, is the biggest turnabout, given that its original production is one of Broadway’s most storied flops. The current revival, capitalized for up to $13 million, has been selling out.“Of all the things he wanted, he wanted as many people as possible to be in the theater watching the shows, and he just missed it,” said Maria Friedman, the director of the “Merrily” revival and a longtime Sondheim collaborator.In November, 10 members of the company of the original ill-fated “Merrily” attended the revival and marveled at the reversal of fortunes.“It’s thrilling to see the show finally get its due,” said Gary Stevens, who was an 18-year-old in the original “Merrily” ensemble, and who is now 60 and works an executive at a chauffeuring company in Florida. “I’d be remiss if I didn’t say there was a sense of bittersweetness. We look at this revival’s success as, in some ways, our success, because the day after closing, even with how exhausted we were and how sad we were, we recorded a kick-ass album that kept that show alive, so that it became a legendary flop and cult classic that kept going and going, and now this.”Another member of the original “Merrily” cast, the actress and singer Liz Callaway, was nominated this year for a Grammy Award for a live album of Sondheim songs, one of two collections of Sondheim songs nominated in the 2024 Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category. “I think a new generation is falling in love with Sondheim now,” she said.“Here We Are” is a little different. It is not expected to recoup its costs, or to transfer to Broadway, but both the leadership of the Shed and the commercial producer who raised money to finance the production proclaimed it a success.“It was always about honoring Steve’s legacy,” said the producer, Tom Kirdahy. “And we hope that it has another life, in London or on the road.”In London, there are also two Sondheim shows running. “Old Friends,” a revue of Sondheim songs with a cast led by Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, is in the West End. And at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a revival of Sondheim’s rarely staged “Pacific Overtures” opened earlier this month to critical praise.“For those of us who wanted to do right by him, this is a year I’ll never forget,” Groban said. “I just hope he’s smiling down.” More

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      Musical Performances to See in Europe This Winter

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      Concert halls and opera houses in Vienna, Berlin and beyond are offering fan favorites (“Die Fledermaus”) and surprises (an operatic “Animal Farm”).The winter opera and classical music season in Central and Eastern Europe balances holiday classics with rarities and even some fresh works. Opera houses and concert halls from Vienna to Berlin to Prague are presenting a varied program of old chestnuts and new discoveries. Here is a selection.Munich“Die Fledermaus,” Bayerische Staatsoper, through Jan. 10Barrie Kosky’s new production of Johann Strauss Jr.’s most popular operetta, “Die Fledermaus,” a New Year’s Eve favorite in much of Europe, is one of the most eagerly awaited events of the season here at the Bavarian State Opera. Mr. Kosky, an Australian director with a wide-ranging résumé — his recent successes include “Das Rheingold” in London and “Chicago” in Berlin — stages Strauss’s infectiously tuneful farce with energetic panache and a dash of camp. Vladimir Jurowski, the Munich company’s general music director, leads a spirited cast headed by the German star soprano Diana Damrau. The dynamic performances, carefully controlled chaos of Mr. Kosky’s staging, and a few unpredictable touches make this 150-year-old work seem fresher than ever. The Dec. 31 performance will also be streamed on the State Opera’s online platform. For the more traditionally inclined, the company is also bringing back August Everding’s sumptuous 1978 production of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte” (through Saturday).Barrie Kosky’s staging of “The Golden Cockerel,” performed in Lyon, France. The Komische Oper in Berlin, where the production will play this winter, has a long history with Slavic repertoire.Jean Louis FernandezBerlin“The Golden Cockerel,” Komische Oper Berlin in the Schiller Theater, Jan. 28-March 20A new production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s “The Golden Cockerel” at the Komische Oper Berlin is the first premiere to be led by the company’s newly minted general music director, the American James Gaffigan. This riotous and surreal take on the fairy-tale opera by Mr. Kosky, who ran the Komische as artistic director from 2012 to 2022, has also graced stages in Aix-en-Provence and Lyon, France, and Adelaide, Australia. In Berlin, it becomes the company’s latest foray into Slavic repertoire after inventive and gripping productions of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin,” Prokofiev’s “The Fiery Angel” and Shostakovich’s “The Nose.”“Rusalka,” Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Feb. 4-22Antonin Dvorak’s 1901 opera “Rusalka” hovers on the edge of the standard repertoire. The lyrical and soaring aria “Song to the Moon” is better known than the rest of this dark and symbolically rich adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid.” The Hungarian filmmaker Kornel Mundruczo directs the first new production of “Rusalka” at the Berlin Staatsoper in over half a century. The British maestro Robin Ticciati, music director of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducts the lush and frequently melancholy score.Vienna“Animal Farm,” Wiener Staatsoper, Feb. 28-March 10The Russian composer Alexander Raskatov’s “Animal Farm” arrives at the Vienna State Opera in late February, in a production by the Italian director Damiano Michieletto. Reviewing the work’s world premiere in Amsterdam earlier this year, Shirley Apthorp, the Financial Times’s opera critic, praised Raskatov’s “violent, compelling sound-world, percussive and angular, full of unpleasant truths” in this operatic setting of Orwell’s famed allegory of the Russian Revolution. The British conductor Alexander Soddy leads the work’s Viennese premiere.Franz Welser-Möst and the Wiener Philharmoniker, Feb. 22-26In the first of five February concerts with the Vienna Philharmonic, Franz Welser-Möst, the former general music director of the Wiener Staatsoper and longtime leader of the Cleveland Orchestra, tackles Mahler’s towering and elegiac Ninth Symphony at the Wiener Konzerthaus. On subsequent programs, performed in the Musikverein, the Austrian maestro leads the Viennese in works by Ravel, Hindemith, Schoenberg, Berg, Bruckner and Richard Strauss.West Side Story, Volksoper Wien, Jan. 27-March 24In late January, music by Leonard Bernstein will resound through Vienna’s opera houses. Shortly after the American director Lydia Steier unveils her “Candide” at the MusikTheater an der Wien, a new “West Side Story” arrives at the Volksoper, the city’s traditional operetta and musical stage on the other side of town. (The house’s other productions this season include “Die Fledermaus” and “Aristocats.”) For the director Lotte de Beer’s rendition of the quintessential American boy-meets-girl musical, performed in a mix of German and English, the Puerto Rico-born, New York-raised choreographer Bryan Arias updates Jerome Robbins’s classic dance moves.“Katya Kabanova” at the National Theater in Prague, featuring, from left, Jaroslav Brezina, Eva Urbanova and Alzbeta Polackova. Zdeněk SokolPrague“Katya Kabanova,” The National Theater, March 22-27Leos Janacek’s searing 1921 opera about the emotional unraveling of an adulterous wife in 19th-century Russia returns to the National Theater in Prague in a production by the provocative Catalan director Calixto Bieito, who is famous for his unorthodox interpretations of classic operas. Jaroslav Kyzlink, a Janacek specialist, leads the psychologically raw score and Alzbeta Polackova, a much-loved soprano with the company, tackles the vocally and emotionally punishing title role.Bratislava, Slovakia“Hubicka (The Kiss),” Slovak National Theater, March 1-June 8In honor of the 200th anniversary of the great Czech composer Bedrich Smetana’s birth, the Slovak National Theater presents his 1876 opera “The Kiss.” Once among the composer’s most popular works, “The Kiss” has long been eclipsed by Smetana’s earlier comic opera “The Bartered Bride,” and is remembered mostly for its lilting lullaby. With Andrea Hlinkova’s new production, the Slovak National Theater, which, coincidentally, was opened in 1920 with a performance of “The Kiss,” hopes to change that.Budapest“Bartok DanceTriptych,” Hungarian State Opera, Feb. 1-24Three works by Hungary’s great modernist composer Bela Bartok comprise this new ballet, choreographed by a trio of creatives. Laszlo Velekei, the director of the Ballet Company of Gyor, in northwestern Hungary, tackles “The Wooden Prince,” a pantomime ballet (a work half-danced, half-mimed) that premiered at the Hungarian State Opera House in 1917. Bartok’s second (and last) ballet, “The Miraculous Mandarin,” caused a scandal when it was first performed in 1926 in Cologne, Germany, because it depicted a girl forced into prostitution in a seething modern metropolis. In her production, Marianna Venekei, a longtime member of the Hungarian State Opera, explores the psychology of the work’s motley crew of city dwellers. Rounding out the program is the “Dance Suite” (1923), originally a concert piece and here choreographed by Kristof Varnagy, whose varied résumé includes projects with classical ballet companies, contemporary dance troupes and even Cirque du Soleil. Writing about the short movements that make up the “Dance Suite,” Bartok said his aim was to “present some idealized peasant music.” More