"Carmen" Electrifying

My wife, Karen, and I used to sing in a Bergen County chamber chorus called Canta Lyrica. In our performances, we were usually joined by a couple of professional soloists.

In one concert, we performed a medly of songs from "Porgy and Bess." Our female soloist was a lovely young lady named Kirsten Chavez. Not only did she have a glorious voice and delightful stage presence, she looked great too. We heard that she had sung the title role in "Carmen" for the New York City Opera, among other companies.

Opera New Jersey and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra are now mounting their own production of "Carmen," and they had lined up Metropolitan Opera diva Denyce Graves to sing the title role. Unfortunately, Ms. Graves came down with a bad case of bronchitis and had to bow out. Luckily, Kirsten Chavez was available to step in for her, and opera fans should have no reason to be disappointed.

"Carmen" will be performed at the McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton Friday night and at the State Theatre in New Brunswick on Sunday, and classical music columnist Anita Donovan gives us a preview in this week's Good Times cover story.

Anita also writes about a sneak preview of "Warsaw," a Broadway-bound musical drama about a young Jewish man forced into the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II, which is taking place at the Trenton War Memorial's Patriots Theatre Saturday night. The one-night-only performance is a benefit for the Boheme Opera.

Elsewhere in Good Times this week, "Fine Arts" columnist Janet Purcell reviews Paul Rickert's exhibition "Industrial Visions," opening at the Rider University Art Gallery in Lawrence. Rickert's colorful paintings actually find beauty in industrial scenes that most people would consider commonplace or even ugly.

Theater columnist Ted Otten tells us about the Ritz Theatre's production of the classic Broadway musical "A Chorus Line" in Oakland.

In Backbeat, Lisa Rose tells us about Keith Monacchio's concert at the Robeson Center for the Arts in Princeton tonight to celebrate the release of his new CD.

Dining critic Susan Yeske offers her review of Santino’s Pizza & Restaurant in
Robbinsville.

And Talking Pictures reviews "From Paris With Love," "Dear John," "Frozen" and "The last Station."

Pray that the snowstorm doesn't throw a wrench in any of these great events.