Modern Match: Ariodante & Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Baroque opera, especially Handel opera, prioritizes beautiful melodic singing while relying on emotion to carry the plot. The convoluted schemes, mistaken identities, and star-crossed lovers of Ariodante are connected by a series of heart-wrenching arias – moments when the plot pauses to allow the audience to engage their empathy. Modern television shows like Glee and Smash also use music to express

Modern Match: La traviata & Princess Diana

In La traviata, Violetta Valéry is a contradictory, polarizing character. She’s spirited, independent, and socially savvy, but she invites others’ judgment due to her profession. She inspires admiration and scorn, pity and distaste. Some find her threatening; to others, she’s enchanting. Characters like Violetta endure due to their ability to capture the imagination of many generations.

Modern Match: Elektra & Netflix Dramas

Spend enough time watching Netflix and, sooner enough, it starts to recommend content using what can only be described as mind-reading. Television shows featuring a strong female lead? Sign me up! Political/revenge dramas? I’m hooked! But to binge-watch something – to invest time and emotions in a story – it must have the greatest actors,

Modern Match: Cendrillon and Chance the Rapper

What makes Cinderella’s story so captivating story for so many? Is it the magic and glamour of fairy godmothers and pumpkin carriages? Is it the rags-to-riches premise that everyone secretly wishes they could live themselves? Indeed the most admirable trait of Cinderella –a. k. a. Cendrillon in Massenet’s opera – is her maintenance of her

Modern Match: Il trovatore & Harry Potter

The hero of Il trovatore, Manrico, is introduced in the opera as an adult, but the mystery of his character can only be unlocked when we understand what occurred during his infancy. In this and other ways, he’s similar to another boy we know well: Harry Potter. Manrico was raised never knowing his true family, including