Champion NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (39)
See it if you like contemporary opera, with lush jazzy orchestrations, great performances, great singers and a top notch MET staging to be remembered.
Don't see it if you prefer more classic opera fare, or shorter evenings of music; There's deliberate repetition here, that stretches out the scenes a little Read more
See it if You like modern opera! This was fantastic from the singing to the staging to the costumes.
Don't see it if You only like classic opera.
See it if you want the best of New York, Terence Blanchard's masterpiece, great performances and staging. The Met has what Broadway's missing.
Don't see it if you think a couple of topics--violent sport, child abuse and homosexuality--and obscenities are not interesting or appropriate at the Met.
See it if An absorbing opera about a black gay boxer with outstanding voices & choreography, with beautiful sets. Bravo to the entire cast.
Don't see it if Some may not like the atonal score.
See it if you wish to see a very well written, sung and staged modern opera. Powerful drama that goes back and forth in time of the boxer's life.
Don't see it if you like traditional operas with lush setting and memorable and hummable arias. Read more
See it if The sad and intriguing story of in the closet boxer Emile Griffith and his opponent Peret and how Peret's death haunted him his entire life.
Don't see it if If you are in the mood for La Boheme.
See it if you enjoy or love opera on the grand Met stage and are open to experiencing new stories and new music
Don't see it if you're stuck in the old traditional and not open to new experiences
See it if you would like to watch an engaging, new age opera..
Don't see it if like classical opera..
Critic Reviews (6)
“...despite all the obvious drama and grab-you-by-the-lapels outpourings, the impact of ‘Champion’ is more mellow — earnestly, affably toe-tapping — than fierce or haunting. The opera shadowboxes without quite landing a punch.”
Read more
“Terence Blanchard’s ’Champion’ is a boxing opera, and his score keeps changing pace, bouncing lightly on the balls of its feet or pummeling a point when the plot demands it.”
Read more
“ ‘Champion,’ which had its premiere at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2013... is a propulsive and percussive score firmly rooted in the composer’s jazz idiom. The production has been expanded to fill the Met’s much larger stage, and the orchestra, under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, supplies some lush effects, but it’s the rhythm quartet, led by drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, that drives the evening.”
Read more
“Blanchard’s soul-stirring score captures both the excitement of live sports and Emile’s looming dread...Emile represents the majority of Americans, who spend their waking hours doing the thing that pays the bills, but not necessarily the thing they love.”
Read more
“ ‘Champion,’ while not providing a consistent musical experience, certainly packs an emotional and visual punch.”
Read more
“Although the opera felt like every minute of its three hours, the conductor’s execution and pacing were beyond reproach.”
Read more