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Beatrice and Benedict

To B&B or not B&B, that is the question

A A A Comments By Lee Williams Thursday, Nov 6 2008

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Sometimes we need a little trickery to let ourselves fall in love, especially if our names are Beatrice and Benedict, the silly singles at the center of Shakespeare’s charming comedy Much Ado about Nothing. Hector Berlioz translated the tale into an opera titled Beatrice and Benedict in the 1800s, infusing the Bard’s love story with music that The Independent called “a seductive hymn to feminine desire and longing expressed in a handful of scenas, duets and trios of surpassing beauty.” Berlioz captures the complex tale of the two hardheaded and fiercely independent characters, who are each fooled by friends into thinking the other is in love with them, in a score that Houston Grand Opera will bring to life with a brand new staging. Joyce Di-Donato appears as the sarcastic Beatrice and Norman Reinhardt as repellent Benedict. See Beatrice and Benedict at 7:30 p.m. today, and November 8, 12, and 14, and 2 p.m. November 2. Brown Theater, Wortham Theatre Center, 501 Texas. For information call 713-228-6737 or visit www.houston-grand-opera.org. $25 to $275.
Thu., Oct. 30, 7:30 p.m.; Sun., Nov. 2, 2 p.m.; Sat., Nov. 8, 7:30 p.m.; Wed., Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.; Fri., Nov. 14, 7:30 p.m., 2008