“I attended the final performance of "Moby-Dick" in Dallas last Sunday and experienced one of the finest nights (okay, afternoons) I''ve had in many years of working in theatre, opera and entertainment.

The many compliments heaped upon the production in all the media are well deserved. The performance truly lifted and transformed the audience; it was indeed profound, and it clearly made a difference, something we all hope to do in our lives.

Yes, I was the project manager for Theatre Projects Consultants which has worked since 1984 on the development of the Dallas Arts District and this opera house. However, my comments have nothing to do with the innovative and now named ATT Performing Arts Center, nor the much acclaimed Winspear Opera House building.

Admittedly, as consultants over the life of a project we necessarily obsess over innumerable important details regarding planning the many support spaces, designing the stage and the auditorium and their related geometries, and equipping the theatre with safe and innovative equipment.

Nonetheless, once the audience is seated and the curtain goes up, those things fade to the back, and all that matters are the life inside the auditorium and on the stage, and the energies they share.

In the auditorium Sunday was an audience anticipating what they had dreamed of for years-- great new opera in their great new home.

What brought “Moby-Dick” to life for them were the score, the libretto, the conducting and directing, the designs and their execution, the technicians, the supers and singers and musicians and their performances, and especially the courage and vision of the leadership at The Dallas Opera who attempted and, with the support of their colleagues at ATTPAC, succeeded at mounting such a superb and important new work.

The partners in this co-production include next-up San Diego, plus Calgary, South Australia and San Francisco.

Make your way to San Diego in 2012 You will be lifted and fulfilled, and happier and healthier for it.”

Jules Lauve - Senior Project Manager, TPC

Some useful links:

The Dallas Opera: http://www.dallasopera.org/the_season/091004-index.php

New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/03/arts/music/03moby.html

The Washington Post: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-classical-beat/2010/05/moby-dick_premieres_in_dallas.html

The Toronto Star: http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/809378--moby-dick-a-whale-of-an-opera

Opera Today: http://www.operatoday.com/content/2010/05/heggies_moby_di.php

Dallas Morning News: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/ent/stories/050210dngdmobyrev.4480a44.html