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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Flashy ‘Remember Me’ steps into the spotlight at Fox

“Remember Me,” which arrives at the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox on Saturday, is a fusion of:

• Rock with opera.

• Parsons Dance with the East Village Opera Company.

• Flashy lighting effects with famous arias (all accompanied by electric guitars).

The result is what the Washington Post called a “guilty pleasure of a thriller.”

It will certainly be different than the typical Fox offering. Even the New York Times, whose critic dismissed it as “blatant and banal,” admitted that “it won’t be easy to forget.”

Not when you have a troupe of what the Post called “young, hot and incredibly athletic” dancers performing a classic love-triangle story to arena-rock style bombast.

Parsons Dance is the well-known New York dance company headed by David Parsons, a former lead dancer with the Paul Taylor Dance Company.

The East Village Opera Company is, despite the name, a rock band. It’s been called an “opera cover band.” It specializes in taking classic operatic arias and rearranging them in modern rock form.

Parsons teamed up with the band in 2009 to create “Remember Me” as a story told in dance, about two brothers, Marcus and Luca, in love with the same woman, Maria.

A rivalry grows between the two brothers and then tragedy strikes. It’s loaded with elements of both tragic and romantic opera.

The two lead singers of the East Village Opera Company, Tyley Ross and AnnMarie Milazzo, sing the various arias while Parsons’ dancers tell the story through movement, with help from recorded music, video projections and other lighting effects.

The Post’s Rebecca Ritzel called it “an incredibly seductive 70 minutes.”