Fort Worth Opera is bringing a spellbinding blend of music, cinema, and imagination to the Ridglea Theater this November as part of its 80th anniversary season. The company will present Philip Glass\u2019s La Belle et la B\u00eate (Beauty and the Beast) on November 21-22, 2025, and it promises to be anything but traditional.<\/p>\n
If you’re at all familiar with Philip Glass’ work, you know that this opera will be on the, ahem, unique side. Glass’ opera will be fused with Jean Cocteau\u2019s 1946 film to create a live, immersive concert experience.<\/p>\n
The production also marks the debut of the Opera\u2019s new Pay What You Can program, an initiative sponsored by the Claytor Family Charitable Foundation to make the art form more accessible than ever. The program allows audiences to choose their own ticket price, removing cost as a barrier to experiencing one of the season\u2019s most intriguing works.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re stepping away from the traditional proscenium arch and into something completely different: a fusion of voice, music, and film,\u201d says general and artistic director Angela Turner Wilson in a release. \u201cIt\u2019s opera, it\u2019s cinema, it\u2019s romantic, it\u2019s funky, it\u2019s unique \u2014 and it\u2019s wonderful. And now, thanks to the Claytor Family Charitable Foundation, anyone can experience it for the price of an ordinary movie ticket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Composed in 1994, La Belle et la B\u00eate showcases Glass\u2019s signature minimalist style while reimagining Cocteau\u2019s surreal black-and-white film. Every line of dialogue is sung live and precisely synchronized with the on-screen action, creating what Glass once called a \u201creverse lip-sync\u201d between the performers and the film\u2019s characters.<\/p>\n
At the Ridglea Theater, this hybrid performance unfolds as a cinematic concert, with an 18-piece orchestra from the Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth sharing the stage with the singers. Under the baton of conductor David Bloom, the ensemble navigates Glass\u2019 shimmering layers of sound while staying perfectly in time with the 80-year-old film projected overhead.<\/p>\n
Making her Fort Worth Opera debut as Belle is soprano V\u00e9ronique Filloux, praised by Opera News for her \u201cdazzling coloratura.\u201d Opposite her, bass-baritone Andr\u00e9 Courville stars as La B\u00eate\/Le Prince, bringing what Opera News calls his \u201csplendid, lush\u201d voice to the role following recent appearances with Houston Grand Opera and The Dallas Opera. David Grogan joins the cast as Belle\u2019s father, alongside members of the company\u2019s 2025\u201326 Hattie Mae Lesley Resident Artist Program.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one is for lovers of classic film, opera, and Philip Glass,\u201d Turner Wilson adds. \u201cIt\u2019s a perfect date night, a great girls\u2019 night, and a wonderful introduction to opera for families with kids who grew up loving the Disney version and are now ready for something a little more sophisticated. And here\u2019s a huge spoiler: it has a happy ending!\u201d<\/p>\n
Performances of La Belle et la B\u00eate take place at 7:30 pm on Friday, November 21, and at 2 pm and 7:30 pm on Saturday, November 22, at the Ridglea Theater, 6025 Camp Bowie Blvd.<\/p>\n
Pay What You Can tickets are available online here<\/a> or by calling 817-731-0726. Regular-price tickets and season packages can also be purchased at fwopera.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Fort Worth Opera is bringing a spellbinding blend of music, cinema, and imagination to the Ridglea Theater this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[13382,1111,116,118,117],"class_list":{"0":"post-40247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-ballet","9":"tag-event-planner","10":"tag-fort-worth","11":"tag-fort-worth-headlines","12":"tag-fort-worth-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}