Barrie Kosky Archives - Chicago Reader

Steven Skybell as Tevye, an older bearded white man in gray work clothes and cap, sits in front of a large wooden cabinet with the doors open. He is holding up a bottle in his right hand. On top of the cabinet, Drake Wunderlich, a young white boy with dark hair and a green hoodie, lays on top of the cabinet holding a violin and bow, looking down at Tevye.

Tradition with a twist

by Deanna Isaacs September 21, 2022September 21, 2022

Lyric Opera introduced Chicago audiences to director Barrie Kosky last year, when it brought his production of The Magic Flute—created for Komische Oper Berlin, where he’s been music director for a decade—to the Opera House on Wacker. Kosky staged the Mozart favorite as a silent film. So the announcement that Kosky’s production of Fiddler on […]

A woman on the left in black dress with white trim and a man in brown suit and hat, both wearing vaudeville-style makeup, surrounded by projections of yellow and blue flowers

Arts & Culture

What a concept!

by Deanna Isaacs November 5, 2021November 5, 2021

Barrie Kosky’s magic take on Mozart’s The Magic Flute, which has been circling the globe for nearly a decade and seen by 700,000 people, landed on the Lyric Opera Stage this week. Concocted by original codirectors Kosky and Suzanne Andrade for Komische Oper Berlin, it’s magic in the most literal sense—a visual sleight of hand […]

Columns & Opinion

Lyric and CSO face the music

by Deanna Isaacs March 17, 2021August 18, 2021

A year after the shutdown, they’re bringing it back.