Just a quickie to let you know that I sneaked into yesterday’s dress rehearsal of Mahagonny at the Sottile. I had to leave to go back to work after the first act – but what I saw left me hungrier than ever for the whole thing. You’re in for a gripping (and disturbing) musical parable that – as usual, from Bert Brecht and Kurt Weill – skewers the seamier side of human nature with singular brutality. Direction and set design create an impressively surreal atmosphere, amplifying the piece’s inherent pessimism and nihilistic outlook. And the music sounds terrific. Just wait ‘til you hear “Oh Show Me the Way to the Next Whisky Bar” in its original version (no, it’s not an original song by the Doors).

My mission here (which I have chosen to accept), is to alert you to potential festival eargasms whenever possible (And also to gloat about the ones I had that you missed, ha-HA!) Well, a promising Piccolo preview happened just this evening in my very own classical room at Millennium Music: local soprano Mary Hubbell, with sensitive support from Italian pianist Michele Chiasserini, sang the dickens out of some ravishing arias by Bellini, Rossini and Verdi – plus a couple of well-known Menotti numbers. It seems that memorials to Gian Carlo are springing up everywhere, and in both festivals. Anyway, these worthy artists will do their entire program at 6:00 p.m. Sunday evening (May 27), at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park. If you’re into beautiful voices and bel canto, you won’t be disappointed.