Stage Director

Set Designer

A Hungarian countess, a Russian prince, a magically attractive watch, and a bat costume make for a strange recipe of plot in any setting, except perhaps in a time not that long ago when anything was possible... the Golden Age of Hollywood! A time when an actress has access to a Hungarian Princess costume, a maid is an aspiring chorus girl, a mysterious Russian playboy comes to town to throw around some money, and a matinee idol with panache for the ladies is in a little hot water with the local police.

EPSG:4326

Die Fledermaus

Occidental College

Hailed as “a dream come true” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), a “perfect … jewel” (Opera Today) and a “buoyant show with a deeply serious core” (Süddeutsche Zeitung), Derrick Wang’s comedic “opinion” causes no “dissents”! Put this Alaska premiere production on your entire family’s “docket”. Inspired by the late justices’ own words and by the “operatic precedent” of Händel, Mozart, Rossini, Bellini, Verdi, Offenbach, Bizet, Sullivan, Puccini, Strauss, et al. A delightful look at the notorious RBG, and her fierce judicial opponent Antonin Scalia, through the lens of their great friendship, setting forth the case…”We are different. We are one.”

Scalia/Ginsburg

Alaska Center for the Performing Arts

Premiered in Barcelona in 1948, and rarely performed, this age-old children’s story tells of the wealth-seeking, match-making cat who, in return for a hat, a sword and a pair of boots, secures for his young master (a lowly miller) a kingdom and a royal marriage to a princess, tricking a slow-witted ogre out of his castle along the way.

From its opening Montsalvatge’s music is energetic, tuneful and full of catchy rhythms, lush melodies and feline musical effects!

El Gato con Botas

Center Stage Theatre

Wang's Scalia/Ginsburg! Hailed as “a dream come true” (Ruth Bader Ginsburg), a “perfect…jewel” (Opera Today), and “the kind of opera that should be everywhere” (OperaWire), Scalia/Ginsburg is a one-act operatic comedy about the unlikely friendship between U.S. Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia — and the pivotal moment that would change the Supreme Court for years to come. This juristic double bill will also feature Gilbert & Sullivan’s one act gem, Trial by Jury. Artistic Director Josh Shaw’s and Kelsey N. Johnson's new libretto updates the setting from 1880s England to a 1980s divorce court.

Scalia/Ginsburg & Trial by Jury

Highland Park Ebell Club

Opera Orlando presents Puccini’s tragically grand Tosca to kick off its 2023-24 All for Art MainStage series. As war and rebellion ravage the city of Rome, the celebrated and passionate opera diva Floria Tosca finds herself caught in a web of religious and political intrigue, betrayal, and jealousy as she tries to save her lover the painter and firebrand Mario Cavadorossi, while being coveted by the villainous and corrupt Baron Scarpia, who holds all the power. It is an utterly untenable situation that proves dire for all involved, but Tosca isn’t one to back down from a fight.

TOSCA

Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts

Tosca

Set in current-day Hollywood, pop princess Rosina is fresh out of rehab after a messy breakup and public meltdown. She’s moved in with her overbearing producer and manager, Dr. Bartolo, who has more than her career on his mind. With the assistance of aging rock legend, turned celebrity voice coach, Don Basilio, Bartolo hopes to marry the young Rosina. However, Hollywood heartthrob Count Almaviva also has his eye on Rosina but wants to win her heart the old-fashioned way, not because of his fame, so he disguises himself as a humble student to approach her. Figaro, a stylist to the stars, and a man-about-town is on the scene to aid with the love connection. A host of personal assistants, housekeepers, out-of-work actors, and even the LAPD show up in this laugh-a-minute comedy.

The production is sung in Italian with English supertitles and an orchestra.

The Barber of Seville

The John Anson Ford Theatre

Set in current-day Hollywood, pop princess Rosina is fresh out of rehab after a messy breakup and public meltdown. She’s moved in with her overbearing producer and manager, Dr. Bartolo, who has more than her career on his mind. With the assistance of aging rock legend, turned celebrity voice coach, Don Basilio, Bartolo hopes to marry the young Rosina. However, Hollywood heartthrob Count Almaviva also has his eye on Rosina but wants to win her heart the old-fashioned way, not because of his fame, so he disguises himself as a humble student to approach her. Figaro, a stylist to the stars, and a man-about-town is on the scene to aid with the love connection. A host of personal assistants, housekeepers, out-of-work actors, and even the LAPD show up in this laugh-a-minute comedy.This production is sung in Italian with English supertitles and accompanied by a live orchestra.

MMF Orchestra At Buena Vista Winery

Buena Vista Winery

MMF Orchestra At St. Marks Lutheran Church, San Francisco

St. Mark's Lutheran Church, San Francisco

MMF Orchestra At Mountain Winery

Mountain Winery

POP brings back its 2019 season-opening tour-de-force production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute AKA #Superflute, set in classic video games from the early 1990s. The “super” production transports Papageno, Tamino, and the gang to the land of video games resembling Mario Bros. and Zelda with a new English libretto by Artistic Director Josh Shaw and E. Scott Levin. Opera Magazine wrote that the new production "could bring in a new generation of opera-goers” and Opera Today raved “Pacific Opera Project’s rollicking new take on The Magic Flute is as much endearing fun as a box full of puppies. And as ingenious Artistic Director Josh Shaw has reimagined the piece (marketed as #Superflute), the staging is also just about as relentlessly and adorably rambunctious, all the while proving to be commendably musically refined… I loved it. I think Mozart would have loved it. If not, to hell with him!”

The Magic Flute AKA #Superflute

El Portal Theater

POP presents the U.S. premiere production of a rare Vivaldi opera based on the ninth Labor of Hercules, where Hercules is tasked with capturing the sword of Antiope, the queen of the Amazons. Recently rediscovered hiding in libraries in Münster, Paris, and Turino, Ercole su’l Termodonte is Vivaldi’s 16th opera, written in 1723 and premiered in Rome, during the Pope’s ban on women in opera. The original cast featured seven castrati (many en travesti) and one tenor. POP will employ a mix of countertenors, mezzos, tenors, and sopranos performing these roles with a period orchestra. The Ebell Club will be transformed into a baroque opera house, complete with box seating. This is not just an opera, but an experience not to be missed.

Ercole su’l Termodonte

The Highland Park Ebell Club

Every night beautiful Giulia lowers a silk ladder from her window for her lover to climb to her bedroom.  A series of misunderstandings turns their little love nest into a circus of relatives, suitors, and servants plotting, eavesdropping, and ultimately happily reconciling, in a blast of Rossini’s glorious vocal acrobatics.

La Scala di Seta

Lobero Theatre

A reprisal of our 2017 smash hit production, set in the 1950s, L’elisir d’amore will be sung in Italian with supertitles sourced from classic 1950s song lyrics, and set in a diner, a la Happy Days or Grease. Of the production, Stage and Cinema wrote, “It’s a shame that we don’t see this type of acting in big opera productions. This astoundingly enjoyable production easily proves why Donizetti’s opera was one of the most frequently performed of its time. This fab outing will not only cement its reputation among devotees, but will gain new admirers. This is a nifty way to introduce opera to the cats in your life” and LOL-LA raved, “Once again Josh Shaw… has a huge hit on his hands, this time set in the world of 1950s Americana.”

L'elisir d'amore

POP returns to the 800-seat Aratani Theatre in Little Tokyo for a very special production of Tchaikovsky’s fairytale opera, Iolanta. Cristina Jones, AKA “The Blind Soprano”, stars in the opera’s title role about a princess who is unaware that she is blind. The cast also includes POP favorites Andrew and Megan Potter as King René and Martha and Adam Cioffari as Ibn-Hakia. POP will partner with low-sight organizations for this production to encourage awareness and to amplify their efforts. Special arrangements will also be made for low-sighted audience members, including braille programs. Iolanta will be POP’s first opera presented in Russian and will feature a 32-piece orchestra conducted by Isaac Selya.

Josh Shaw

Stage Director, Set Designer

Events

17 - 18 Feb, 2024

Die Fledermaus · Pacific Opera Project

2 - 4 Feb, 2024

Scalia/Ginsburg · Anchorage Opera

1 - 3 Dec, 2023

El Gato con Botas · Opera Santa Barbara

17 - 26 Nov, 2023

Scalia/Ginsburg & Trial by Jury · Pacific Opera Project

27 - 29 Oct, 2023

TOSCA · Opera Orlando

About

Josh Shaw hasn't added a bio