Reviews
Master Class by Terence McNally
“Equity actress Suzan Hanson brilliantly channels Callas whose brief reign as the toast of the opera world became a Greek tragedy in later life. Her performance is marvelously complex and multifaceted.As Callas, Hanson is haughty and indifferent to the feelings of the students who endure her criticism on one hand, yet warm and humorous in asides to the audience on the other. Only when Callas temporarily retreats into stream of consciousness reveries does Hanson allow us to see the opera star’s vulnerability and anguish over a lost career and love. Regardless of which of those personas Hanson might be wearing at any given moment in “Master Class,” she still relentlessly pursues McNally’s theme of weighing the price artists are willing to pay for fame. In one of the play’s most electrifying moments, Callas asks a promising soprano if she would be willing to kill for a career or a man.” Charlie Schill, hjnews.com
Dora in THE INVENTION OF MOREL
“Similarly, an underused Suzan Hanson — who has embodied so many iconic roles in past Long Beach Opera productions, including her beguiling, heartbreaking one-woman performance as the suicidal phone caller in a 2016 presentation of Francis Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine — adds some necessary verve and personality to the otherwise vapid socialite character Dora.” LA Weekly
Colleen in FALLUJAH
“,,,played with devastating intensity by Suzan Hanson..” “…sung with a sterling radiance by LBO mainstay Suzan Hanson…”
Térèse Raquin
“Suzan Hanson brought an irresistibly irking monstrousness to Madame Lisette Raquin.” LA Times Mark Swed
MACBETH- at Chicago Opera Theater
In voice, body and dramatic movement Suzan inhabits Lady Macbeth with mesmerizing intensity. Her imperious beauty is a natural for the cameras, which miss nary a nuance crossing her expressive face.
Difficulty of Crossing A Field
“Suzan Hanson is mad again as Mrs. Williamson. Hanson’s rich and subtle soprano (and her rich and subtle dramatic chops) entrance as they disturb.”
THE DEATH OF KLINGHOFFER
“..the real star-turn performance is by Suzan Hanson as his wife, Marilyn. Her final scenes, and the ultimate “Stabat Mater–like” aria, are heartbreaking.”
MACBETH
“The powerful and dramatic Suzan Hanson as his wife and co-conspirator, was a revelation.”
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
“Soprano Suzan Hanson is chillingly effective as the mysterious Madeline, not least when she frantically tries to escape the sealed coffin in which her brother imagines he has buried her alive.”
THE PAPER NAUTILUS
“..it was a mesmerizing performance…the elevated (literally) imposing figure of Suzan Hanson in the speaking part of Madame Curie.”
THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT
“Brilliant soprano Suzan Hanson (one of the finest singing actresses anywhere on stage today) was Mrs. P, the sympathetic, coping wife who loves a man who sometimes cannot tell her from a hat.”
LA VOIX HUMAINE
“Even more than most, this is a piece that lives or dies with its performer, and Sunday’s singer, soprano Suzan Hanson, brought Poulenc’s score irresistibly to life.”
