Opera
You’re unlikely to see a better case made for this Bernstein double bill
It’s rare nowadays to see a new opera production that’s set in the period that the composer and librettist intended,…
Committed performances – but who was the granny? Northern Ireland Opera’s Eugene Onegin reviewed
It’s a critic’s job to pick holes in the dafter aspects of opera productions, but in truth audiences are usually…
Aggressively jaded: Edinburgh’s Marriage of Figaro reviewed
‘Boo!’ came a voice from the stalls. ‘Boo. Outrage!’ It was hard not to feel a pang of admiration. British…
Britain’s youngest summer opera festival is seriously impressive
Waterperry is one of the UK’s youngest summer opera festivals: it started up in 2018, at the northern limit of…
In defence of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Grand Duke
Artistic partnerships are elusive things. The best – where two creative personalities somehow inspire or goad each other to do…
A major operatic rediscovery: Birmingham Opera Company’s New Year reviewed
This prophecy Merlin shall make, for I live before his time. One of the most thrilling aspects of the Tippett…
Sparky and often hilarious: Garsington’s Un giorno di regno reviewed
Hang out with both trainspotters and opera buffs and you’ll soon notice that opera buffs are by far the more…
Ageing well
A classic opera production ages like wine. When David McVicar’s staging of Handel’s Giulio Cesare first opened at Glyndebourne in…
‘Zings off the stage’: My Fair Lady, at Leeds Playhouse, reviewed
If you want to kill a musical, make it into a movie. Cats, Phantom of the Opera, South Pacific… cinema…
A sugar rush for the eyes: Glyndebourne’s The Merry Widow reviewed
In 1905, shortly before the world première of The Merry Widow, the Viennese theatre manager Wilhelm Karczag got cold feet…
Shiny, raunchy, heartless spectacular: Platée, at Garsington, reviewed
Fast times on Mount Olympus. Jupiter has been shagging around again and now his wife Juno has bailed on their…
You could have built a tent city from all the red chinos: Aci by the River reviewed
The Thames cruise for which Handel composed his Water Music in 1717 famously went on until around 4 a.m. The…
Juicy solution to the Purcell problem: Opera North’s Masque of Might reviewed
Another week, another attempt to solve the Purcell problem. There’s a problem? Well, yes, if you consider that a composer…
The full English
Opera North has launched a ‘Green Season’, which means (among other things) that the sets and costumes for its new…
Tidal power
In David Alden’s production of Peter Grimes, the mob assembles before the music has even started – silhouetted at the…
Wagner rewilded
In Northern Ireland Opera’s new Tosca, the curtain rises on a big concrete dish from which a pair of eyes…
Too hot to Handel
If directors will insist on staging Handel oratorios as if they’re operas, it makes sense to pick Semele, which is…
