Caliban Dreams -

opera/performance art work

composed by Clark Suprynowicz

libretto by Amanda Moody

co-production with Berkeley West Edge Opera, First Look Sonoma, and Cinnabar Theater

Sonoma performances were August 12-14, 2011

Person Theater SSU Campus, Rohnert Park CA.



"Caliban Dreams ... emerges as a delightful romp and major vehicle for the astounding, seemingly indefatigable tenor, John Duykers ... the music, libretto and exceptionally strong cast make their considerable mark ... a host of magical, iridescent moments ... entertaining to the core ... Translation: success. Duykers (singing Caliban) is a miracle.  It has been 45 years since his debut with Seattle Opera, and 24 years since he created the role of Chairman Mao in John Adam's Nixon in China... but his unique timber and deeply involving declamatory style, histrionic immediacy, impeccable enunciation and artistic brilliance remain undimmed.  Think 'The Placido Domingo of new music' and you're on target.  Duykers' marvelous tour-de-force is reason enough to put Caliban Dreams on your must-see list."

Jason Victor Serinus, San Francisco Classical Voice



"delightful ... With a versatile and infectiously tuneful score by composer Clark Suprynowicz and a brisk, virtuosic libretto by poet Amanda Moody, Caliban Dreams picks up the forgotten pieces of Shakespeare's final masterpiece and turns them into a beguiling, feverish fantasy of rage and reconciliation. (the staging)... directed by Melissa Weaver, echoed the piece's stylistic fluency, moving from grim ferocity to broad, comic pantomime in the blink of an eye. Duykers' Caliban was a strongly sung and appealing protagonist, by turns furious and simple-minded."

Joshua Kosman, The San Francisco Chronicle



"An evening laced with charm and sly wit, both verbal and musical.  The librettist and composer have built (Caliban Dreams) out of the raucous humor of Shakespeare's low-comedy characters and the magical ambiguousness of the fantastic - two vital aspects of Shakespeare's  play that the opera's artistic team have understood, and managed, delightfully, to turn into a contemporary work.  A work that is, finally, whimsical and inventive. Caliban is sung by John Duykers, who revels in the role, infusing the malevolently marshy moon-calf with an innocence and almost boyish lustiness ... radiating ease and enjoyment. Melissa Weaver's direction made full use of Duykers' and Bohn's dramatic talents."

Jaime Robles, Repeat Performances