Opera can often seem stuffy and boring, which is an unfair characterization especially this time, as Austin Opera presents a political thriller that leapt from the page to the screen way back in the Sixties before a 2004 remake starring Denzel Washington and Liev Schreiber, and then a 2015 reimagining as an opera by composer Kevin Puts and librettist Mark Campbell. After winning multiple Austin Critics Table awards back in 2016, it returns to the stage for the first time, coinciding with another turbocharged election season. Mark Diamond, last seen locally in Sweeney Todd, plays the veteran Raymond Shaw, while Grammy winner Frederick Ballentine makes his AO debut as Capt. Ben Marco in this riveting production. – Kat McNevins
Nov. 9-11
