Lyric Opera's "Dead Man Walking" - Review by Jeffrey Leibham
****HIGHLY RECOMMENDED**** In 1989, Lyric Opera of Chicago launched an artistic initiative that came to be known as "Toward the 21st Century," wherein the company was committed to presenting at least one 20th-century opera, whether American or European, each season for an entire decade. For the most part, that trend has continued well beyond that initial period, carrying over into the new millennium. Now, as a means to attract new audience members. Lyric Opera is offering performances that are sung in English (with projected English supertitles), Lyric has also refocused that objective to bring more contemporary operas to the mainstage. Perhaps the most internationally well-known of these modern works, since it has been produced by 70 different companies worldwide, is "Dead Man Walking," which had its world premiere in 2000 at San Francisco Opera and makes its long-awaited Chicago premiere here. 4 BIG SPOTLIGHTS