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Star Ledger by Frederick
Kaimann
Veteran soprano Reegan McKenzie of Rochelle Park must be
credited with the
greatest triumph. She didn’t sing at all on Friday at the
Patriots Theater of Trenton’s War Memorial, instead directing
her first professional opera cast. She has the knack and
intelligence to go far as a director, having clearly thought
through her characters, the production and what singers can (and
should) do. Never did any one just plant their feet and sing.
They would pace a room, pound on a desk or kneel to pray. Duets
were sung not by hand-holders but caressing lovers snuggling.
…and the mad-scene ensues. It was director McKenzie’s greatest
moment…She (Lucia) emerged from the wings with a dagger in her
hand, covered head to toe with her dead husband’s blood. Ick. To
heighten the action, McKenzie had the murdered groom’s body
brought out, covered in a shroud. Ernest unwrapped him during
her great aria, and embraced the cold, bloody corpse. She then
hopped up and mounted him, continuing singing while sitting
astride his waist. The chorus had long-since flipped out. And on
the other side of the footlights the scene left no stomach
unturned. YES.
…at this level, the 14-year old Boheme Opera NJ is starting to
approach the quality of Princeton’s Opera Festival of NJ, making
Mercer County the best place to see opera in New Jersey.
Classical New Jersey Society Journal by Olive Lynch
Debuting director Reegan McKenzie’s touch went well beyond such
a gruesome scene to explore why Lucia goes mad. Her view was
thought provoking and plausible: the three men in Luca’s life
selfishly put her in an irreconcilable situation – and madness
is the escape. The audience got the idea.
The Patriots Theater was packed and the audience made its
pleasure known.
Opera
News by DAVID SHENGOLD (online)
Reegan McKenzie's secure direction in general stressed the
culpability of all three leading men in Lucia's fate, centering
pointedly on interconnected images of bodies (including Arturo's
very bloody corpse) and weapons. A committed ensemble executed
her production with gusto.
 Asbury Park Press by Albert H. Cohen
For the mad scene, there was an important added element: The
brilliant directing of Reegan, (McKenzie). While Ernest was
staggering around the stage at the beginning of the “Mad Scene,”
the covered body of Arturo is brought out and laid on a table.
As she moves around the stage, she comes to the body, lifts the
shroud and looks at the bloody scene with absent-minded eyes.
Then she climbs on a bench and slithers over the body, coming
across and then standing in front of it….It was an operatic
tour–de-force. It’s a shame those of you who missed it couldn’t
share the moment.
Out in New Jersey by Tomaso Migliaccio
Boheme Opera staged another triumphant hit with its production
of Donizetti’s “Lucia di Lammermoor”…in this production there
was a uniformly grand look to the production, …Over all though,
“Lucia” worked it’s magic, and I was brought to tears.
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