La bohème, Lyric Opera of Kansas City
"Stage director Garnett Bruce was very successful in making the opera playful and humorous, particularly in the opening of the final act."
- Timothy McDonald, Johnson County Sun, September 27, 2002
La bohème, Lyric Opera of Kansas City
"The way to make La bohème click is to avoid overstuffing it with frills and pageantry...The Lyric Opera of Kansas city's production of Puccini's classic won the audience's heart on Saturday at the Lyric Theatre with upretentious sets and six vivacious singers who captured the eye and ear...
...Under Garnett Bruce's direction, the hyper-energized cast moved with animation when necessary, as in the deftly timed Latin Quarter scene of Act 2, which ticked along like well-oiled machinery...And they stood still at the right moments, as in the intimate third act, where we really just need to focus on the characters' anguish."
- Paul Horsley, The Kansas City Star, September 22, 2002
The Elixir of Love, Houston Grand Opera
"Director Garnett Bruce, a frequent assistant director for HGO, staged Elixir deftly. He used the music well as a guide of comedic touches and changing of scenes. His work helped make the performance a pleasurable experience."
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle, January 25, 2000
Der Rosenkavalier, San Francisco Opera
"The most joyful offering of the 2006-07 San Francisco season is a nearly flawless production of Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier set in Thierry Bosquet's re-creations of Alfred Roller's neo-Rococo box-set designs for the Prague premiere of 1911.
What makes the production so outstanding is the fact that everything works, and works together. The sets, costumes (also after Roller) and lighting seem to be created by the rich, overripe score, interpreted with alternating tenderness and gusto by Mr. Runnicles. Although the mob scenes of Act III always present a problem, I have rarely seen the complex serio-comic stage movement and personal interactions so well managed — credit here to stage director Sandra Bernhard, reinterpreting the seven-year-old concept of Lotfi Mansouri and Elisabeth Söderström."
- David Littlejohn, The Wall Street Journal, June 27, 2007
Carmen, Palm Beach Opera
"Carmen is so familiar that suspense is inconceivable. But knowing what came next didn't help Friday night; there was suspense in Palm Beach Opera's stimulating production...Dramatic vitality surged from the Kravis Center stage and pit, the result of an exceptional artistic collaboration: mezzo-soprano victoria Livengood in the title role, stage director Garnett Bruce and principal guest conductor Julius Rudel at the helm of a winning supporting cast, confident chorus and the Palm Beach Opera Orchestra...
...But then, Carmen has aged well - it's been 130 years since rehearsals first began in 1874 on Bizet's masterpiece. And Livengood and Bruce uncovered a startling level of detail to hear and see. You didn't just sit through a string of great tunes and nonstop dramatic situations; you were drawn into the action and saw in unfold in depth...Garnett Bruce skillfully maneuvered small groups on the well-populated stage so that the action continued without being chaotic."
- Sharon McDaniel, The Palm Beach Post, January 25, 2004
Jenufa, San Francisco Opera
"The moment San Francisco Opera audiences have been waiting for all season long - the moment when musical excellence and dramatic cogency combine to searing effect - finally arrived at the War Memorial Opera House on Monday night...Francesca Zambello's dexterous, intelligent production manages to underscore the piece's conflicts without ever obstructing the narrative flow."
- Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, November 21, 2001
Cenerentola, Lyric Opera of Kansas City
"The Lyric Opera took a chance when it transferred Rossini's opera Cenerentola to a world of directors, producers and starlets in 1930s Hollywood. Its never-a-dull-moment production, which opened Saturday at the Lyric Theatre, lasts more than three hours and at times chocks more invention into the tale than it can bear...But this Cinderella succeeds through the enormous creativity of director Garnett Bruce and his team, and through a world-class performance by Prairie Village native Joyce DiDonato in the title role...
...The production heroically kept the eyes busy with cinematic eye candy - a studio canteen filled with Hollywood greats from Garbo to Groucho; a big follies production number whimsically choreographed by Tyrone Aiken; and a cheesy Western being filmed upstage, take after methodical take."
- Paul Horsley, The Kansas City Star, September 20, 2004
Street Scene, Wolf Trap Opera
"...Weill's compassionate score puts flesh on these cardboard character sketches, and director Garnett Bruce wisely founded his production on the plain-spoken eloquence of poet Langston Hughes's lyrics. Bruce established, as well, a tone of heightened naturalism that accommodated the varied acting strengths in a cast of opera singers, actors and musical theater dancers, creating a detailed and believable world."
- Joe Banno, The Washington Post, August 19, 2002
Street Scene, Wolf Trap Opera
"Garnett Bruce's stage direction had a cinematic flow and...rang true all night; he was adept at getting a natural style of acting from the partipants, even the extras."
- Tim Smith, Opera, January 2003 (Volume 54 No 1) p.87
The Barber of Seville, Utah Opera
"Stage director Garnett Bruce and his cast reveled in the abundance of physical comedy provided in Cesare Sterbini's libretto, adapted from the celebrated play by Pierre de Beaumarchais."
- Catherine Reese Newton, The Salt Lake Newton, May 15, 2006
Tosca, Opera Pacific
"Garnett Bruce's direction causes no objections, and his handling of the crowded close of Act One is exemplary."
- Timothy Mangan, The Orange County Registrar, November 17, 2005
Tosca, Houston Grand Opera
"It was necessary to have a production like the Ponelle for the show to work. Because it was so traditional, it allowed singers to use their standard interpretations of the roles...Thus, the staging was straightforward, relying on the ingenuity and experience of the principal singers to make everything click. Garnett Bruce effectively shaped their work into a cohesive whole."
- Charles Ward, Houston Chronicle, Oct. 27, 2003
Tosca, Houston Grand Opera
"...American director Garnett Bruce creates mythic staging, particularly in Act I, as a high mass makes for a jarring background for the principal's actions."
- Marene Gustin, Houston Press, October 30, 2003
Tosca, Houston Grand Opera
"The show is wonderfully directed in a tightly led performance..."
- Rich Arenschieldt, Houston Voice, October 31, 2003
Tosca, Houston Grand Opera
"The entire two and a half hours of Tosca kept me absolutely riveted to my seat. Not only do the musicians deliver a beautiful piece of artwork, they also express a wide variety of extremely profound emotions. Fantastic sets and lighting, a highly refined orchestra, and superb singing and acting by some of the world's leading singers make this production of Puccini's Tosca a must-see."
- Hsing-Hui Hsu, The Rice Thresher, October 31, 2003
Tosca, Houston Grand Opera
"...Houston Grand Opera's current production manages to make this most battle-scarred of operas fresh - and with thoroughly traditional sets and costumes. Both dramatically and musically, it's full of pleasant and subtle surprises."
- Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News, October 2003
Cold Sassy Tree, San Diego Opera
"Director Bruce Beresford, assisted by Garnett Bruce, provided conservative yet effective staging."
- Valerie Scher, The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 26, 2001
Cold Sassy Tree, Opera Carolina
"The staging by directors Garnett Bruce and Ellen Douglas Schlaefer...helped the action and emotions register."
- Steven Brown, The Charlotte Observer, February 2003
Susannah, Opera Columbus
"Opera Columbus' staging is a vivid realization of this time-tested American musica-drama...Garnett Bruce's dramatic direction peopled the stage with action while consistently providing focus and clarity. Acting here could easily go over the top. Bruce guided the cast to a convincing realization at just the right temperature."
- Barbara Zuck, The Columbus Dispatch, February 5, 2005
La Clemenza di Tito, Wolf Trap Opera
"Steven Mosteller conducted with a fine sense of style; the chorus and orchestra were excellent, as were the modern costumes and functional scenery of Luke Hegel-Cantarella. Stage director Garnett Bruce deserves special credit for mastery of that daunting challenge, staging a long, repetitious da capo aria."
- Joseph McLellan, June 27, 2003
Turandot, Cleveland Opera
"Garnett Bruce's staging deftly manages the crowds and interaction of characters."
- Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer, April 04, 2006
Turandot, Lyric Opera of Chicago
"Stage director Garnett Bruce and assistant Leslie Halla's reanimation of Hockney's complex and ingenious concepts work marvelously well with the proper orchestral pacing, colors and details."
- Andrew Patner, Chicago Sun-Times, January 15, 2007
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Turandot, Kentucky Opera
"Kentucky Opera opened its fifty-fifth season (Sept. 20) with a production of Turandot that proved feast for the eye and the ear. Attractive sets from Opera Cleveland were a showcase for the highly inventive staging of Garnett Bruce. A myriad of subtle touches fleshed out the characters. Turandot was in love with Calàf from her first sighting in Act I. She even expressed surprise at his post-riddle challenge to her. The trio of masks was a macabre variation on the Three Stooges. Calàf's reactions to each of Turandot's riddles were highly revealing of his character as well. Bruce's handling of the chorus was neatly efficient while keeping their scenes in constant movement. Nine acrobats added color and action to the pre-riddle procession and grand act finales. All told, it was a masterful visual show."
- Charles H. Parsons, Opera News, November 2007, Vol. 72, No.5
Turandot, Kentucky Opera
"Marshalling his considerable forces on and through various levels of the stage, Bruce suggests both monumentality and a desperate hunger for death without becoming trapped in the muck and mire of people simply occupying space. In Act Two, he places courtiers Ping, Pang and Pong (the mutually sympathetic trio of Jeremy Kelly, Jeremy Cady and Michel Corbeil) in front of the stage curtain, lending intimacy to what is a series of lightly wrought ensemble numbers."
- Andrew Adler, The Courier Journal, September 8, 2007
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Turandot, Dallas Opera
"...this is a Turandot with a difference. Instead of the familiar Franco Alfano ending, filling in what Puccini didn't live to finish, this production uses a new completion by a distinguished Italian composer of our own time, Luciano Berio.
...where Alfano composed imitation midperiod Puccini, Mr. Berio takes up where Turandot's strangest extant music seems to lead. He also dispenses with the triumphant final chorus in favor of a more extended and private reconciliation between the eponymous Chinese ice princess and the Tartar prince, Calaf, who wins her hand. Familiar themes recur, but harmonized in strange and wonderful new ways. The opera now end quietly and ambigiously.
...This may not be the definitive Turandot, but it's a beautifully wrought and emotionally gripping resolution...Stage director Garnett Bruce marshals the large forces pretty well, and he deftly underlines the awkwardness of the ending's unlikely pairing."
- Scott Cantrell, The Dallas Morning News, January 2003