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Tagged: John Adams

Opera/Performance
5:00 am
Fri March 9, 2012

Opera Explores Tensions And Symbolism In Nixon's Visit To China

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Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Supertitles (text of the lyrics) will be provided during performances of "Nixon in China" as pictured here during the dress rehearsal.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: Cast members anticipate the beginning of the ballet.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: Director Michael Cavanagh and Richard Paul Fink (as Kissinger as brutal landlord Lao Szu) demonstrate hip thrusts.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: Richard Paul Fink (as Kissinger as brutal landlord Lao Szu) and Nadia Iozzo (as peasant Wu Ching-Hua).
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: A tableau in the revolutionary ballet.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: Richard Nixon (James Maddalena) and Pat Nixon (Maria Kanyova) try to intervene to help the peasant girl in the ballet (played by Nadia Iozzo).
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: The Nixons (Maria Kanyova and James Maddalena) and dancers in the revolutionary ballet (Logan Pachciarz and Nadia Iozzo) look to director Michael Cavanagh.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: Richard Nixon (James Maddalena) and Pat Nixon (Maria Kanyova) share a moment at a recent rehearsal at the Lyric's Opera Center.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: Artistic Directors Bill Whitener (Kansas City Ballet) and Ward Holmquist (Lyric Opera of Kansas City) observe a recent rehearsal.
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: Company dancers check in with Kansas City Ballet's Bill Whitener, dance choreographer for "Nixon in China."
Credit Laura Spencer / KCUR
Scenes from a rehearsal: Kansas City Ballet dancers rehearse the revolutionary ballet in "Nixon in China." Director Michael Cavanagh, pictured at right.
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It’s difficult today to imagine a time when the United States and China didn’t have trade relations or communicate at all. But, in 1972, President Richard Nixon’s visit to China, a once-demonized Communist regime, was heralded as “the week that changed the world.”

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