EMA Review: The Mad Mind of Shakespeare

Photography and written by Arianna Perroots

Just in time for Halloween, Vegas City Opera opened its 2026-2027 season with an evening of murder, poison, and madness. The Mad Mind of Shakespeare pairs opera arias with scenes performed by actors from the Nevada Shakespeare Festival. The spoken scenes carry the story forward between the arias in Shakespeare's own words. The result is a little bit spooky, lots of fun, and a great introduction to opera for anyone unsure where to start.

This is the first time Vegas City Opera and the Nevada Shakespeare Festival have worked together. The festival's actors showed deep knowledge of the text. Their delivery was clear and drew you into each story. Over one evening, you hear Shakespeare's characters through several composers, languages, and eras.

Vegas City Opera has grown a lot over the years, but as soprano Rebecca Morris put it, “We still have the same soul.” The opera company still likes to do things that are “interesting and different, maybe a twist on something.” The Mad Mind of Shakespeare is exactly that kind of twist.

The set does much of the storytelling before a single note is sung. Red velvet curtains frame a raised platform and two towering gilded thrones. Silver candelabras and clusters of candles line the stage edge. A suit of armor keeps watch beside the grand piano. Swirls of blue light ripple across the floor like moonlight on water. The effect is dramatic yet cozy, much like the popular candlelight concert series. I would love to see Vegas City Opera make candlelit evenings a regular part of its programming.

The evening opens with the Vegas City Opera Children's Chorus singing John Williams' “Double, Double, Toil and Trouble,” a nod to Macbeth's witches. Now in its fourth year, the chorus is a valuable outreach program. Young singers get a stage next to professionals. Their families come to hear them, and many may be attending an opera concert for the first time.

The moment Eugene Richards III and Rebecca Morris took the stage for the Macbeth duet “Regna il sonno su tutti,” I was completely drawn in. Richards' voice is booming and resonant. It has the rich, buttery quality you want from a bass-baritone. The bio notes he came to opera later in life, and you would never know it. He has been training in the heavier Wagner repertoire, and I can't wait to hear that sound grow even fuller.

Morris is absolutely top tier. In “La luce langue,” she navigated registration and the passaggio expertly. That is all the more impressive because she sang as a mezzo-soprano for most of her career and only recently switched to soprano.

The first act gives us two Juliets, first in Bellini's Italian and then in Gounod's French. Genevieve Fulks sang “O quante volte” from I Capuleti e i Montecchi with a perfect balance of chiaroscuro, pairing rich, warm depth with real lightness. Kayla Wilkens followed with an exciting “Je veux vivre” from Roméo et Juliette. Fulks returned to close the act with Juliet's poison aria, “Amour, ranime mon courage.” You could watch her weigh the risks against the hope of escape, making it a compelling end to the first act.

The second act builds steadily. Bill Eissler's King Lear monologue, “I shall go mad,” stood out among the spoken scenes. Kayla Wilkens' “Pâle et blonde,” Ophelia's mad scene from Thomas' Hamlet, was one of my favorite moments of the night. Coloratura can easily feel contrived. In Wilkens' hands, it felt like Ophelia's madness itself. Each run grew naturally out of the scene, never just showing off.

Another favorite came from Marcie Ley in the “Willow Song” and “Ave Maria” from Verdi's Otello. As she sang, the rest of the theater seemed to fall away. Her floating, beautiful tone held the room in a kind of tunnel vision. That moment of prayer had an intimacy that the bolder mad scenes around it could not match.

The evening's pianist also deserves special praise. With a single instrument, he captured the full sound of an orchestra.

As Vegas City Opera continues to grow its audience, a few additions could make evenings like this even more welcoming. I attended with a companion who is newer to opera. Even with the Shakespeare monologues as a guide, he found the story hard to follow at times. The program draws on many plays, and audience members may know some well and others not at all. A short introduction from a narrator before each scene might help. A sentence or two on the play, the character, and the moment would help everyone follow the story and enjoy the singing. Translations or supertitles would help too. Projected titles can be difficult in a community theater, but a printed scene guide in the program would go a long way.

The closing sleepwalking scene from Verdi's Macbeth shows why. I'll confess something here. I have never actually seen Macbeth. (Gasp.) I am also aware that I have now typed the name of the Scottish play several times, which is probably one of the most dangerous things I could do. Theater superstition holds that saying it inside a theater brings disaster, so I'll take my chances from the safety of my keyboard. The cast stood in near darkness, holding candles beneath their faces. Without context, I read them as ghosts, perhaps the victims of the murders Lady Macbeth helped set in motion. In the opera, she is actually watched by a doctor and a lady-in-waiting. A brief word could also explain that Macbeth frames the whole evening, opening and closing the concert.

"We still like to bring opera to the people,” Morris told me after the show. With a little more context for newcomers, Vegas City Opera can bring even more people to the opera.

The final performance is Saturday, October 17 at 3 p.m. at Charleston Heights Arts Center. Tickets are $30, or $20 for seniors and veterans.