"…compelling… full of strength and beauty…a searing journeys through death and grief."
David Hendricks San Antonio Express News
La Périchole Amarillo Opera
"Stage director Cynthia Stokes took a middle-of-the-road approach, not leaning to slapstick nor playing it overly serious … nothing went for the easy laughs…she was dead on. …a delightful and engaging production of a rarely produced comic opera."
Gregory Sullivan Issacs
Hound of the Baskervilles North Coast Rep World Premier
"I saw a preview of Phil Johnson and Cynthia Stokes' work-in-progress. Johnson plays all 21 characters in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's dark and stormy — and precisely literate — tale of mayhem on the foggy moors of Devonshire… hilarious homage to every performer eager for their close-up, Mr. DeMille — and yet sincere as well…. director Stokes, who conceived the project, keeps the suspense alive…Call it a gentle madness… bulls-eye."
Jeff Smith, San Diego Reader
Don Pasquale Opera Piccola
"Director Cynthia Stokes’ take on Donizetti’s Don Pasquale is unique and shows the fledging company’s affinity for breaking the mold…the innovative take on this classic comedy is fun and refreshing."
Isis Madrid, San Antonio Current
Pagliacci Opera San Jose
"Pagliacci, directed by Cynthia Stokes, was both funny and moving…The depiction of love and infidelity amid a troupe of traveling players was nimbly done, as was the fatal confluence of illusion and reality."
Joshua Kosman San Francisco Chronicle Music Critic
Roméo et Juliette San Antonio Opera
"American stage director Cynthia Stokes, responsible for a soundly crafted Marriage of Figaro, last February, brought uncommon poetry and insight to her staging of Roméo et Juliette. When the two lovers meet for the first time at the Capulets’ masked ball, they dance on a stage emptied of other dancers, as it must seem to two young people in love. The bedroom scene was fully erotic without inviting a leer. The tomb scene was gorgeous. I’ve ever seen two people die more beautifully on stage."
Mike Greenberg, Incident Light
Madama Butterfly Opera Company of Philadelphia
"…there is ceremonial formality in Cynthia Stokes' stage direction…As in Greek tragedy, the restrained windup made the finale more devastating…Then came one of the best touches of all: As Butterfly bleeds to death by her own hand, does Lt. Pinkerton see her dying seconds? Does Butterfly get to glimpse him just before she expires? Director Stokes did neither. I won't spoil it for audiences who have yet to see it, but with the clean starkness of the sets, her choice has existential depths. Ultimately, the production made you see Butterfly's point of view: Suicide was her sole option."
David Patrick Stearn Philadelphia Inquirer
Madama Butterfly Opera Company of Philadelphia
"Director Cynthia Stokes evokes mythic resonances in the Opera Company’s Madame Butterfly…The costumes are part of the scene, not a separate element, and the whole ensemble displays a unity of effect that moves the drama onto the archetypal plane where director Stokes clearly wants it. The result is a production that works with the deeper resonances of the drama, while elevating its more conventional elements. Stokes’s staging ends, however, with a forceful reassertion of heritage and tradition. When Cio-Cio San faces the choice of suicide, she does so not with the thought of vengeance, but of honor. This is very Japanese. At the last, then, the cultural identity Madame Butterfly has despised and rejected returns to claim her, but also to give her a final assertion of dignity. Cio-Cio San, the geisha and would-be American housewife, dies a daughter of her native country."
Robert Zaller, Broad Street Review
Dooley Diversionary Theatre World Premiere
"Cynthia Stokes directed. A veteran of the opera stage, her experience shows in the facility with which she marshals her nine-member cast playing twice as many roles in scenes veering from narration to confrontation, dance to mime, and even a little folk play within the play…lovingly produced and well directed."
Ann Marie Welsh San Diego Union Tribune
Le nozze di Figaro San Antonio Opera
"Stage director Cynthia Stokes found a good balance -- activity without frenzy, comedy without resort to burlesque, sensible detail without fussiness."
Mike Greenberg, Incident Light
The Crucible Piedmont Opera Masterpiece Triumphs Again
"The big question now is whether the opening-night performance on Friday would live up to all the excitement. I am happy to report that it did — and then some…sterling direction… all the right stuff … gripping portrayals…
After the Piedmont Opera production, staged insightfully by Cynthia Stokes, (Robert) Ward rightly praised the cast for bringing out the humanity of the characters to a degree he hadn't seen.
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