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Entertainment & Arts

‘Monsters and Prodigies’ at REDCAT

Napoleon Bonaparte (Luis Fernando Villegas) arrives on horseback and encounters the castrato Il Virtuoso (Javier Medina) in Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes' "Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati" at REDCAT. The castrati were male singers whose high-pitched voices never deepened because ... well, just look at the term.

Napoleon Bonaparte (Luis Fernando Villegas) arrives on horseback and encounters the castrato Il Virtuoso (Javier Medina) in Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes’ “Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati” at REDCAT. The castrati were male singers whose high-pitched voices never deepened because ... well, just look at the term.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

Teatro de Ciertos Habitantes performs “Monsters and Prodigies” at REDCAT

'Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati'

Kaveh Parmas plays Sulaiman, who may be the prophet Solomon.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

'Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati'

Edwin Calderon, left, plays opera composer Baldessarre Galuppi, and Gaston Yanes and Raul Roman are the conjoined twins Ambroise Pare and Jean Pare in the piece, which reviewer Reed Johnson called “a sublime hybrid, neither fully opera nor fully play, a grand diva with the soul of a circus clown.”  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

'Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati'

Javier Medina sings as Il Virtuoso, adored for his voice and scorned for how he got it.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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'Monsters and Prodigies: The History of the Castrati'

The cast hurls things into the audience, though it’s unlikely anyone needed waking up.  (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times)

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