Praise for Xerxes at Connecticut Early Music Festival with Arcadia Players, Produced and Directed by Ms. Summer
"Arcadia's beautifully performed, audaciously but credibly staged SERSE compared well to the NY City Opera production from the 1990's."
"rousing" and "light-hearted"
"The humor and pathos of Handel's opera of love rivalry, crossed signals, and deception was finely conveyed...under stage director/producer Eve Summer [who] portrayed every nuance of their characters."
SERSE in New London
By John Deredita, Opera ListServ, June 2011
"A gifted director offers a version of Xerxes that's eye-poppingly contemporary."
"Irrepressible color, visual and vocal, made the piece a delight and a testament to Summer's gift for banishing stodginess from an art form too often seen as fossilized and elitist."
"Summer has a gift for translating classic symbolism into familiar detail with just enough flippancy to bring out the fun of the opera without skewing the emotional equation."
"charmingly choreographed"
Street-Smart Handel
By Stephanie Kraft, The Valley Advocate, June 2011
"Summer's work is always spot on."
"Summer set the action in our time...it ends up seeming perfectly natural."
"veritably choreographed"
"The Summer-Watson collaborations are always imaginative, fruitful, enjoyable, and satisfying in their combinations of old and new, traditional and adventuresome."
Handel's Xerses Updated for 21st Century
By Marvin J. Ward, The Boston Muscial Intelligencer, June 2011
Praise for Lucia di Lammermoor at Commonwealth Opera, Produced and Directed by Ms. Summer
"...a riveting, glorious production from beginning to end..."
"...clear singing and staging..."
"...[the mad scene] was glorious..."
"...in all, a rare delicacy..."
"The bar has simply been raised."
Commonwealth Opera stages a riveting Lucia di Lammermoor
By Larry Murray, Berkshire On Stage, May 2010
"A real joy" and "Magnificent"
Lucia di Lammermoor, By Steve Hartshorne, Armchair Travel, May 2010
"Kudos for an authentic production of Lucia!"
"Extremely well put together."
Mad scene: "The special nuances of mental instability were incredibly apparent...She twitched, pulled continuously at her clothing and acted out the scenes from her life, embracing different people at the wedding feast as she thought they were someone else. This was a true tour de force, a feast for eyes and ears!"
"The musical and visual elements of Commonwealth's 'Lucia' were splendid..."
Andrea Chenoweth shines in Donizetti's 'Lucia di Lammermoor', By Clifton Noble, Jr., The Springfield Republican, May 2010
Praise for Cosi fan tutte at Commonwealth Opera, Produced and Directed by Ms. Summer
"...[Summer's production of] Cosi fan tutte can only be described as brilliant...there was much more developed acting than in most productions of this work...it was up-to-date, but tasteful..."
"very modern and very natural"
"each [character] was individualized; none were treated as stock characters or stereotypes"
"[Summer's] extensive experience in theatre and ballet made itself vividly evident."
"...Eve [brings] her considerable skills in deft spoken-theater direction to the world of opera...this production was amazing...brilliantly staged, beautifully sung and acted, touching, intimate, and hilarious."
Regional Opera is Alive and Well, By Stephan Hammer, November 2009
"Bright" and "Delightful"
"...the verve and polish of November's Cosi fan tutte whets the appetite for the production of Lucia di Lammermoor scheduled for May..."
After the Overture: Following a sparkling debut, newly professionalized Commonwealth Opera looks to its future.
By Stephanie Kraft and Michael Cimaomo, The Valley Advocate, December 2009
Praise for 12 Angry Men with The Theatre Company of Saugus, Directed by Ms. Summer
"A unique vision of the show which featured some surprising twists." "The pacing was excellent...the first act moved so swiftly that [I was] surprised when intermission came...it felt like the show had just begun." "Eve and her cast attacked this material with fresh eyes." "Good directing...a very good production!"
Twelve Angry Jurors: EMACT ETC Review
By Gordon Ellis, April 9, 2011
Praise for Romeo and Juliet with The Hovey Players, Choreographed by Ms. Summer
"Beautifully choreographed by Eve Summer"
Love on a small stage: 'Romeo and Juliet' tackled by Hovey Players
By David Brooks Andrews, MetroWest Daily News, September 25, 2008
Praise for Ms. Summer's Surtitle Translations
" clever, witty, hip"
"The audience was often in stitches over the sexy, yet not a bit vulgar, language, which startled at first, because it was so different from what you usually get, but ultimately seemed as natural as the sense of the original, and fit the music well, the set and production to a T."
Marvin J. Ward, Classical Voice of New England, November 2009 (Cosi fan tutte)
"I should mention that the surtitles, in a translation by stage director Summer, matched her staging, with updated, occasionally scatological wording that added to audience laughter."
John Deredita, Opera ListServ, June 2011 (Xerxes)
"Summer's imagination has a long reach; you see it in the subtitles she writes for the operas she directs - including Cosi fan tutte (2009), also played at the Academy - in which street language pops like firecrackers...Since Handel himself was criticized for adding elements of comedy to Xerxes, she was on solid ground."
Stephanie Kraft, The Valley Advocate, June 2011 (Xerxes)
"The projected English surtitles, freely translated by Summer, were in modern colloquial speech, sometimes racy, sometimes profane, and occasionally elicited some chuckles from the audience... [Summer's titles] communicate the essence of the thoughts behind the words in current slang...and helped the audience buy into the spirit of the production."
Marvin Ward, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, June 2011 (Xerxes)
Profile Articles
"... making waves in the opera world... a rising star of stage directing... Ms. Summer's approach to directing refreshes hope for the future of opera...." Interview with Stage Director Eve Summer
By Melissa Wimbish, Operagasm Online Magazine, May 2010
"...if you haven't heard of her already, you will soon. Only in her twenties, Eve has already accomplished enough for several lifetimes..." People to Watch in 2009
By Rachel Shuster, Pulse Magazine, January 2009
"...Eve became a presence on campus-an extraordinary theatrical talent who shone with each opportunity..." Eve Summer - A Closer Look
By Nancy McBride, Assumption College, 2007