Corsaro, Frank
(Andrew
)
- Frank Merkling
- , revised by Stephanie Jensen-Moulton
Extract
(Andrew )
(b New York, NY, Dec 22, 1924). American opera director. He was trained at the City College of New York, the Yale University School of Drama, and the Actors Studio, and worked for several years as a theater director in New York. He made his operatic debut in 1958 at the New York City Opera with Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, beginning what would be a 50-year association with the company. This is a naturalistic work and it set the tone for many of Corsaro’s subsequent productions at City Opera, which included Verdi’s Rigoletto and La traviata, Borodin’s Prince Igor, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, and Gounod’s Faust. His bold and innovative direction of these works provoked considerable controversy for the introduction of sex, violence, and psychological drama into operatic staging. He has made novel use of projections and film clips in his productions of such 20th-century operas as Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair...
