CRITICAL ACCLAIM HIGHLIGHTS
RUDDIGORE “The ever-awesome Diane Lane plays Mad Margaret with ample glorious insanity. Lane always slays her vocals and characterizations, but her role in Ruddigore is especially fun to watch.” Kelsey Lawler for Broadway World (7 January 2020)
TALES OF HOFFMANN “Speaking of Milwaukee treasures, Ms. Lane, who can play everything from Kimberly Akimbo to being a part of the crazed Milwaukee Opera Theatre version of The Mikado. She is one of the few operatic singers who brings equal acting chops to any production. She can mug with the best of them and her voice transcends any conceptions someone might have about opera. I could watch and listen to her forever." Dave Begel On Theater (22 March 2018)
ANNIE “BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCES OF 2017: 3. Diane Lane (Grace, “Annie,” Skylight Music Theatre): Lane embodied her character’s name and sang like an angel as Warbucks’ capable assistant.” Mike Fischer for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (15 December 2017)
MIKADO (2017) “…it was a mixture of the classic with the crazy, aided and abetted by the actors — with special attention being paid to Diane Lane, either one of the funniest best singers or one of the best singing comedic actors in town.” Dave Begel for OnMilwaukee (17 March 2017)
MIKADO (2015) “Jarecki and Jason Powell do most of the heavy comedic lifting, along with a true and hilarious star turn by Diane Lane, as the biker-chick Katisha.” Paul Kosidowski for Milwaukee Magazine (24 March 2015)
PAL JOEY “However, it is the vocal prowess of the highly talented Diane Lane (high-society matron Vera Simpson) who commands the stage throughout with her stirring version of ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ and in particular a heartfelt ‘What is a Man?’” Harry Cherkinian for Shepherd Express (1 October 2014)
“Diane Lane played Vera, his married lover, with a command that made the script feel like a prop.” Elaine Schmidt for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (28 September 2014)
FORTUNA THE TIME BENDER VS. THE SCHOOLGIRLS OF DOOM! “Diane Lane sings the interjecting, interrupting narrator with the timing of an old-school comic.” Elaine Schmidt for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (9 May 2014)
THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (2009) “Diane Lane, usually seen in leads, threw herself into the character role of Frederic’s nursemaid Ruth, and proved again what a good singing actress she is.” Rick Walters for Shepherd Express (28 May 2009)
THE BARBER OF SEVILLE “No one could fail to be dazzled by Lane’s spectacular coloratura. Friday, it was exactly on pitch and even the most fiendishly difficult passages sounded as natural as giggling. And Lane is a brilliant comic actress. She makes of Rosina a petulant teenager who happens to be a bird in Bartolo’s gilded cage.” Tom Strini for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (25 September 1999)
CINDERELLA "Diane Lane has an adorable way of turning the most death-defying passages into giddy bursts of emotion. She shapes lyrical phrases with disarming radiance, and she has no difficulty traversing lines that would cross the eyes of many a mezzo. Her Cinderella is delectably gawky, poignant, and sweet. No wonder the prince falls for her.” Donald Rosenberg for The Plain Dealer (23 July 1999)
"Diane Lane is a comic treasure as the sad-sack Cinderella….the performer infuses this sweetly forlorn frump with a woebegone spunk that's irresistible. Yet even more impressively, when it comes to the composer's unnerving vocal demands, she not only handles them deftly, but somehow manages to use the most larynx-crushing coloratura flourishes to express comic or serious emotions….to bring it off effectively is a striking and singular achievement." James Damico for Cleveland Free Times (28 July 1999)
TROUBLE IN TAHITI “Lane sang with a warmth and commitment that made Dinah’s yearning for a better life strike home. And she threw herself into the half-comic hat-shop number with a frantic energy that brought out the pathos behind the humor.” Steven Brown for The Orlando Sentinel (8 October 1995)
IOLANTHE “Low voices get the prizes here:…Diane Lane a stunning, velvet-toned Iolanthe,…” Heidi Waleson for The Wall Street Journal (1 August 1994)
THE ITALIAN GIRL IN ALGIERS “Skylight Opera assembled a fine cast for it’s L’Italiana in Algeri, and a good thing too, or the outstanding performance of mezzo Diane Lane, singing her first-ever Isabella, would have overwhelmed the undertaking. Lane’s acting was saucy and exciting, her Hollywood-starlet figure brought new meaning to the expression physique du rôle, while her lush, warm tone and classy, whiplash coloratura bordered on the sensational.” Lawrence Singer for Opera News (May 1992)
“LANE’S ISABELLA TAKES OVER MODERNIZED ITALIAN GIRL….a bombshell smart and brazen enough to drop bombs to her advantage. Lane’s Isabella is such a woman, a nuclear-armed Cosmo Girl in Algiers. A whole chorus of male servants…fall down and go boom at Lane’s slightest glance. You can see why. You can also hear why; her brilliance and agility in Rossini’s wicked coloratura were thrilling.” Tom Strini for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (30 January 1992)
“BEST SINGLE PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL THEATER PIECE:…the Skylight’s Diane Lane gets the prize. As Skylight artistic director Chas Rader-Shieber said, in awestruck tones: ‘I go to do “The Italian Girl in Algiers” and there she is…The Italian Girl!’ Lane’s got it all: She’s smart, game, charismatic, gorgeous, a wonderful actress and she has a big, luscious mezzo voice.” Tom Strini honoring his favorite local artistic experiences of 1992 for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (27 December 1992)
WERTHER “Diane Lane’s exquisite poise and confidence establish Charlotte early and set her up for a terrible fall. The little Skylight stage cannot contain the burgeoning passions she builds as the opera goes on. They move like flash fires through the house, driven by her powerful mezzo voice and a smoldering sexuality." Tom Strini for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (24 October 1991)
CARMEN “…the fullness and fierce intensity of her singing and acting, the predatory, animal avidity in her every sound and move and glance, not to mention her startlingly blunt sexuality, make her not just a convincing Carmen, but an overwhelming Carmen.” Tom Strini for Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (24 January 1991)