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Welcome Year of the Rat

REV. 23 Prototype
From left to right: Mezzo-Soprano Melanie Long as Fury #3, Soprano Naomi Louisa O’Connell as Fury #2, Soprano Colleen Daly as Persephone, Bass Paul An as Sun Tze, Soprano Anna Schubert as Fury #1, Tenor Kyle van Schoonhoven as Hades, and Baritone Alexander Elliott as Lucifer Photo by Maria Baranova

Happy Lunar New Year, dear Friends of White Snake Projects!

It’s the Year of the Rat, the symbol of intelligence, energy, and optimism. The Rat is the first animal in the Chinese zodiac, and not by accident. Legend has it that the Jade Emperor organized a race to determine the order of the zodiac. The quick-witted Rat hitched a ride on the back of the Ox. As the Ox neared the finish line, the little Rat leapt over its head to finish first!

Male Soprano Michael Maniaci as Michael the Archangel Photo by Maria Baranova

White Snake Projects has started off the Year of the Rat with a BANG, literally, if you believe Zachary Woolfe, classical music editor of the New York Times. REV. 23 (which we premiered in 2017 in Boston) was described as “a madcap explosion of lovable ludicrousness” and “a sustained exercise in comic energy,” at its New York premiere at the Prototype Festival in January. The show received a new production by James Darrah; in his vision, Hell is chartreuse. Woolfe describes Julian Wachner‘s music as “an explosively, virtuosically eclectic score, with the pummeling perpetual motion of John Adams, the burbling angularity and dark comedy of Stephen Sondheim, the arpeggios of Philip Glass, and the coloratura of Handel – all thrown into a blender with some amphetamines.” I know many of you came to see REV. 23 again – thank you for coming!

Elliott and Maniaci Photo by Maria Baranova

Another one of our shows which will be touring is last year’s I Am A Dreamer Who No Longer Dreams. Stay tuned for more information; we’ll be announcing details soon!

Tenor Brian Giebler as Adam Photo by Maria Baranova

What a wonderful year this promises to be. We, at White Snake Projects, wish you good health, long life, prosperity, and happiness. Eat good Chinese food and celebrate the new year!

Warmly,

Cerise

Left to right: Elliott, Long, Schubert, and O’Connell Photo by Maria Baranova
Sophia Byrd as Eve Photo by Maria Baranova
From left to right: Elliott, Daly, Long, Schubert, and O’Connell Photo by Maria Baranova
From left to right: Byrd, Daly, van Schoonhoven, Giebler, An, Long, O’Connell, and Schubert Photo by Maria Baranova

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REV. 23—New York 2020