Winnipeg Free Press, July 18, 2022

Naomi Forman Productions

WAG — Muriel Richardson Auditorium (Venue 12) to Sunday

The fringe can be a dog’s breakfast: a mix of the caviar stirred in with Cheetos and popcorn. It’s all tasty but sometimes you want something rich and just a tad rarefied — and what could be better than a one-act opera at the WAG?

This 45-minute [opera] elongates an early Eugene O’Neill monologue, perhaps an early attempt at Mary Tyrone in Long Day’s Journey into Night. The singing from Brandon soprano Naomi Forman is supreme, every word and gesture coherent and note-perfect.

The usual O’Neill gloom — alcoholism, unfulfilled dreams and unhappiness — are rolled out, but the music is so dynamic and interesting, it is understandable that after the composer and librettist (Thomas Pasatieri and Frank Corsaro) retooled the piece, it enjoyed an uptick in new performances. 

This is a high-octane injection of high art into our lives for much less than the price of eight chicken wings in the fringe park. ★★★★★

— Lara Rae 

This one woman opera is exciting to hear, poignant to contemplate. Naomi Forman gives a thrilling performance of a vividly created, complex character. Composer Thomas Pasatieri and librettist Frank Corsaro based their story on a Eugene O’Neill play; they expanded the main character and gave her a joy-filled backstory. In what is set as the opera’s present-day, in 1916, Charlotte is a depressed and enraged wife, hollering at her off-stage husband who is still lying in bed, and sneaking her first gin of the day. She is devastated by the way her marriage, which began as a romance between a grocer’s daughter and a well-born, Harvard-educated man, has turned out. But throughout, Charlotte revels in sweet memories of her childhood and thoughts of the high point of her life, the days she danced in a marathon. 

Naomi Forman’s beautiful voice brings power to the intense build of the music; equally impressive is her command of the quietest moments.

Direct[ed by Mariam Bernstein, Forman is] accompanied by onstage pianist Danielle Guina, handling the dramatic score with flair. 

Highly recommended. 

Fringe Best Bets for the Weekend 

by Louis Hobson 3/7/2022

Naomi Forman's BEFORE BREAKFAST, an opera based on Eugene O'Neills's heart wrenching, one-act play, marks the first time any performer has brought an opera to the Calgary Fringe.  Its a first-class production from a classically trained singer. 

Preview: Female solo shows reveal personal truths about men, women, marriage and dating

by Louis Hobson 2/7/2022

in what is a rarity, almost 60 per cent of the artists in the 2022 Calgary Fringe Festival are women and their voices are as distinct and diverse as the journeys that brought them here.

Naomi Forman, who hails form Brandon, Man., stumbled into the fringe world in 2001.  She had completed her master's in music and decided to take a six-week opera training program with Opera Nuova in Edmonton where she was cast in Amalia Goes to the Ball.  it was popular and the actors were invited to perform it that year at the Winnipeg Fringe where it was an instant hit.  Audiences like the idea of seeing a short opera. 

"No sooner did I get exciting about performing than I had my two daughters and began teaching [at Brandon University] so I had to put the fringe idea on hold," says Forman, who revived the dream in 2010 when she produced and starred in [J.S. Bach's comic three-hander] THE COFFEE CANTATA. 

"We updated it from the 1700's to contemporary times and called it STARBACH'S: THE COFFEE CANTATA.  Our shows sold out at the Winnipeg Fringe.  Then I produced The Telephone and it was met with equal excitement but I still couldn't travel the fringe circuit because I had two small children." 

Around the time, Forman has also found a score for a one-woman opera, BEFORE BREAKFAST. "It sat on a shelf all those years because it is a dark tragedy and I was best known for playing comedic roles.  I decided to challenge myself by playing this broken wife.  Thankfully, audiences and critics are liking it as much as I do."

Forman says that this is a show she can do for a long time because she is playing a woman her age. "This is a new start for me.  I did BEFORE BREAKFAST in Winnipeg and Calgary this year and am looking forward to doing it next year in Vancouver and Edmonton and my dream is to be able to take it to the Dublin an Edinburgh fringes."