Opera News

The Dallas Opera drops curtain on 2020 performances due to COVID-19

Orfeo ed Euridice has been cut from the 2020-21 season.

Photo by Cory Weaver

There will be no performances in 2020, The Dallas Opera has decided. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation of nine performances — or 38 percent of the season — one replacement title, and one cut to the previously announced 2020-21 roster of operas.

Ian Derrer, the Kern Wildenthal general director and CEO of The Dallas Opera, has said that the entire season will be consolidated into the spring of 2021, with four opera productions presented instead of the original five. Verdi's Don Carlo will replace Wagner's Lohengrin, and Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice will be eliminated.

"This virus is a serious threat to all the hallmarks of grand opera, which include amassing huge forces on stage and in the pit, bringing large crowds together in our theaters, assembling casts from all over the world, and listening to singers, sometimes in passionate embrace, filling the hall with powerful voices and glorious sound without the use of microphones," Derrer says in a release.

"Our mission at The Dallas Opera has always been to give our audiences thrilling, world-class opera, but the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to re-position our operations, at least for the near future. Safety concerns for our audiences, artists, and staff; travel restrictions for artists; new social distancing needs both onstage and in the theater — the myriad uncertainties and restrictions caused by this pandemic have led us to the difficult decision that we cannot open in October 2020 as originally scheduled," he continues.

The 2020/2021 season, which was to have opened on October 9, 2020, will now begin on March 5, 2021, with the world premiere of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Composed by Joby Talbot with libretto by Gene Scheer, the opera will perform two additional performances: March 13 and a matinee on March 7.

Verdi's Don Carlo is next, with performances March 27 (matinee), March 31, and April 3 (matinee).

The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart, which was originally planned to be the season opener, continues on April 9, April 11 (matinee), April 14, and April 17.

As planned, Tosca's Puccini will close the season with performances on April 16, April 18 (matinee), April 21, April 24, and May 2 (matinee).

The traditional fall concert and gala dinner, this season titled Viva Diva! and featuring Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, has been moved from November 6, 2020, to May 10, 2021.

Full series subscribers will have the opportunity to replace their fifth opera with seats to Viva Diva!, donate the prorated value of their fifth-opera tickets to TDO's fundraising efforts (an emergency relief fund has a goal of raising $4 million by September 30, 2020), apply the credit to their 2021/2022 season tickets, or receive a refund.

The productions of the family performance series are also affected. Instead of two performances each, one in the fall and one in the spring, Doctor Miracle and Jack and the Beanstalk will each perform once in March. Bizet's Doctor Miracle is scheduled for March 6, 2021, and John Davies and Sir Arthur Sullivan's Jack on March 14, 2021.

Regarding repertoire changes, Derrer said that both he and music director Emmanuel Villaume were committed to bringing Wagner's rarely performed Lohengrin to Dallas audiences.

"But given the large number of forces required to produce this monumental masterpiece and unpredictable travel restrictions for our international artists, we are postponing its presentation until we can assure our audiences of the highest artistic experience," Derrer explains. "Also, with so much of Verdi's magnificent Don Carlo already rehearsed, a cost saving for TDO — and with many original cast members — it seemed appropriate to give Don Carlo a second chance, knowing that Orfeo ed Euridice can easily be programmed in a future season."

The company has also been forced to introduce layoffs and make further staff cutbacks. Five administrative staff members will be laid off, six full-time positions will become part-time or seasonal, and two positions will be furloughed. TDO’s full-time administrative and artistic staff has been reduced from 40 to 26, with previously announced salary reductions remaining in place.

TDO has already suffered the loss of $1.6 million in projected revenue from canceled performances in the 2019/2020 season, and ticket revenue for the 2021 season will be reduced because of the constriction of the season.

The company is in contract negotiations with two of its major unions: the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), which represents the orchestra; and the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), which represents principal artists, chorus, dancers, and production staff.

A new fundraising initiative will follow in October 2020. An extension of the current DOER campaign, it will be "a three-year effort to solidify TDO's financial foundation for stable and continued growth, and will position the company to weather future unexpected events."

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Season Announcement

Echo Theatre introduces Dallas audiences to a season of strangers in 2026

Photo by Julieta Cervantes

'The Roommate' was recently on Broadway.

It's a "Season of Strangers" for Echo Theatre this year, as the Southwest's premier company for promoting dramatic works by women+ focuses on how someone different than you can change your life.

The 28th season begins with the new musical Silhouettes by Jordan Ealey and Ari Afsar. This score-in-hand workshop was developed in the aftermath of the fall of Roe v. Wade, and examines a pivotal moment in American history through the intersecting lives of two women navigating the decision to have an abortion. Echo's managing and artistic director Kateri Cale directs, with Vonda K. Bowling as musical director.

In a joint statement, Ealey and Afsar say that Silhouettes was born from their need to process the emotional and political aftermath of Roe’s fall. “We continue to see that history is cyclical and equity is fleeting,” they say. “But when policy fails, art has the opportunity to step in. Silhouettes is a musical about choice, sisterhood, and intergenerational courage.”

They add that presenting the work in Dallas reflects their commitment to community-building in states like Texas, where bans and restrictions have made women and gender minorities particularly vulnerable. “We want this musical to be a safe and brave haven amid attempts to create a culture of fear and a reminder that people are not alone.”

It runs January 16-17, 2026, and admission is free, though a $20 donation is suggested.

The world premiere of You Must Wear A Hat by C. Meaker is next, and plugged-in Dallas theater fans might recognize the play from its reading at Kitchen Dog Theater in 2019.

Tuesday and Weeks make hats on the Great Barrier Reef, waiting for the world to end. It's described as "A play for two. And a rabbit."

C. “Meaks” Meaker (they/them) is a playwright, essayist, and teacher whose work often explores queerness, monstrosity, and the end of the world. Their plays have been performed and developed across the United States, including the Kennedy Center, Seattle Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Annex Theatre (Seattle), Hub Theater (D.C.), Fat Theater Project (Chicago), and About Face (Chicago). They’re a two-year finalist for the Dramatist Guild National Fellows program and a recent finalist for the Jerome Hill Theater Arts Fellow.

You Must Wear a Hat runs February 27-March 14, 2026.

The season closes with The Roommate by Jen Silverman. The play was on Broadway in 2024 starring marquee names Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone.

In it, a divorced Midwesterner takes a roommate from The Bronx. A relationship evolves and secrets unfold into a darkly comedic exploration of life choices. It runs June 19-July 4, 2026.

All shows this season will be performed at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Dr., in White Rock Lake Park.

Tickets range from Pay-What-You-Can to $40, with discounts available for students and seniors.

Additional events this season include Cake by the Lake on April 21, Echo's free birthday party fundraiser that also launches its reading series, Echo Reads.

Echo Reads runs April through September, presenting six plays in six month. All plays will be performed on Tuesdays at 7:30 pm, and then read the next day at different venues around the city.

Echo Offstage Podcasts is going monthly. The free podcast series interviews women+ who are making art and making a difference.

And Echo is already teasing its 29th season, which will begin in the fall of 2026 and run the more traditional September through August instead of the calendar year.

The season 29 opener is a co-production, the company mysteriously hints, involving three Dallas theaters, two shows, and an internationally known writer. We'll all just have to wait and see what this intriguing production might be.

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