Updating opera settings is, of course, expected; I’d wager in most houses more often than not it’s now the norm. Still, few in my experience have the specificity and local immediacy of Don Pasquale at the Academy of Vocal Arts.

Director Richard Troxell situates the show in a few blocks of South Philadelphia’s Italian Market area, and Peter Harrison’s clever carousel set—the most effective I’ve seen here in a long time—captures the neighborhood with loving thoroughness. Stoops, doorways, plastic-covered furniture: All here, in living and lurid color…

Click here to read the full review at Parterre Box.