Opera Reviews
Orphée, English National Opera review – through a screen darklySaturday, 16 November 2019
Like almost everything that it touches these days, English National Opera’s autumn season of shows rooted in the Orpheus myth has enjoyed a fairly mixed reception. The company’s programme of visits to the Underworld concludes with another high-risk journey: Philip Glass’s 1993 opera Orphée, inspired by the 1950 film that Jean Cocteau spun from his own earlier drama on this theme. Read more... |
Mrs Peachum's Guide to Love and Marriage, Mid Wales Opera review - scaled down seediness, with a swingFriday, 15 November 2019
The Beggar’s Opera: does any piece of music theatre promise more fun and deliver more tedium? Yes, it was the satirical smash of 1728; yes, it inspired Brecht and Weill; yes, with its combination of popular melodies and a topical script it was effectively the world’s first jukebox musical. I get all that. Read more... |
Der Freischütz, Barbican review - Gothic chills rooted in flesh and earthTuesday, 05 November 2019
It’s hard to believe that in 1824 there were no fewer than six productions of Weber’s Der Freischütz in London alone. Since then this colourful piece of German Romanticism hasn’t fared nearly so well, disappearing from the UK’s opera houses not just for years but decades at a time. Read more... |
The Mask of Orpheus, English National Opera review - amorphous excessSaturday, 19 October 2019
Advance publicity overstated the case for The Mask of Orpheus. "Iconic"? Only to academics and acolytes, for British audiences haven't had a chance to see a production since ENO's world premiere run in 1986. "Masterpiece"? Read more... |
The Cunning Little Vixen, Welsh National Opera review - family night in the forestSaturday, 12 October 2019
Considering that Janáček’s Vixen is, among other things, an allegory of the passing and returning years, it’s appropriate that WNO continue to recycle David Pountney’s now nearly 40-year-old production, and that it comes up each time refreshed, with this or that altered or added detail, but quantum-like the same general image. Read more... |
Orpheus in the Underworld, English National Opera review – ENO goes to hellMonday, 07 October 2019
Maybe some British opera houses just don’t get operetta. Without wit, lightness and snappy pace, cudgelling us with desperate relevance, the frothiest works crash to earth stone cold dead. There have been disasters elsewhere, too, though ENO is the chief culprit, and (after a miserable Merry Widow and a fearful Fledermaus) this one is the nail in the coffenbach. Read more... |
The Silver Lake, English Touring Opera review - shadows of the Weimar twilightMonday, 07 October 2019
Almost exactly a century after the Weimar Republic’s constitution took effect, English Touring Opera presents a show whose birth coincided with the Republic's untimely death. Read more... |
The Seraglio, English Touring Opera review – focused and lightSaturday, 05 October 2019
No great innovations in this Seraglio – as ETO are styling Mozart’s early Singspiel (its full title in translation is The Abduction from the Seraglio – but a traditional staging that makes the most of all the work’s characters and quirks. Read more... |
Orpheus and Eurydice, English National Opera review – imaginative but underwhelmingWednesday, 02 October 2019
English National Opera chose a curiously low-key production to open their season. Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice has only three singing roles and very little action. For this production, Wayne McGregor has reimagined the work as an opera/dance hybrid. Read more... |
Rigoletto, Welsh National Opera review - same old update, fine performanceSaturday, 28 September 2019
Considering the doubtfulness of its underlying idea, James Macdonald’s production of Rigoletto has shown remarkable staying power since its Cardiff début 17 years ago. Read more... |
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