If the scores of certain recent musical theater works express operatic pretensions—think of Evita or Phantom of the Opera—is it at all surprising that operatic productions are beginning to take on the show biz glitz of musical theater? San Diego Opera opened its new season with a rollicking production of Gaetano Donizetti’s Daughter of the Regiment Saturday (Jan. 26) that sported the broad humor of a wholesome 1940s American musical. This cleverly updated comic opera has no shortage of excellent voices and rousing choruses, but it is eager to win over even the most reluctant operagoer with an abundance of…

With the demise earlier this month of Anthology, San Diego’s premier jazz venue, local jazz fans have every right to feel blue. Tuned in aficionados, however, experienced a momentary reprieve Sunday (Jan. 20) at Space4Art when Brooklyn-based jazz pianist Erik Deutsch and his ensemble gave an electric program for Bonnie Wright’s Fresh Sound series. Centered around pieces from Deutsch’s most recent disc “Demonio Teclado,” this high-energy concert offered driving, virtuoso solos layered into taut structures that never lost their edge or momentum. From the group’s opening “Funky Digits,” it was clear that Deutsch’s keyboard panache found a stylistic soulmate in…