Conductor

...presented at Sinai Temple in Westwood. In its parking garage! Such structures are places most of us want to get out of as quickly as possible. And that was exactly the point of presenting this opera in one, the company's general and artistic director, Andreas Mitisek, said in a pre-performance talk.

Mitisek's use of spoken text was smart. But he wanted more, and he invited Laura Hillman -- an author, poet and Holocaust survivor -- to periodically read from her own writings. Born in 1923, six years before Anne, she was like Anne today, had Anne survived. Mitisek's direction was a fairly typical application of the expressionist theatrical techniques common in contemporary German and Austrian stagings. But it worked. This production functioned on an authentically high level. Mitisek conducted with complete authority, and his nine-piece ensemble was exceptional.

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