Wagner Week at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin, February 2010
Posted on 31 January 2010I shall be in Berlin for a week of Wagner operas at the Deutsche Oper: Lohengrin, Rienzi, Der fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser, and Meistersinger.
Monthly Archives: January 2010
The Woman in Black, Richmond Theatre, January 2010
Posted on 20 January 2010This hugely successful ghost story has been running at the Fortune Theatre in London’s West End for twenty years, …
Ghosts in the Mind
Posted on 20 January 2010This is written in connection with two ghost stories I have seen on stage recently: The Turn of the Screw and The Woman in Black. In his book The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind, Julian Jaynes argues that three thousand years ago human beings had bicameral minds, meaning that one half of the …
Sleeping Beauty, Royal Ballet, January 2010
Posted on 19 January 2010…the dancing was excellent, so why was it that the applause during the performance was lukewarm?
Carmen, Metropolitan Opera live relay, January 2010
Posted on 16 January 2010At the end of this opera, Roberto Alagna as Don Jose made me think that here is the man who killed the gypsy, which says something about the success of this new production by Richard Eyre.
Elektra, in concert with Valery Gergiev and the LSO, Barbican, January 2010
Posted on 15 January 2010The name Elektra means ‘shining’ — as in the alloy electrum — and Gergiev with the LSO gave us a shining performance.
Romeo and Juliet, Royal Ballet, January 2010
Posted on 13 January 2010The cast for this first night of the present run was a strong one headed by Tamara Rojo, whose portrayal of a convincingly distraught Juliet at the end could hardly be bettered.
Der Rosenkavalier, Metropolitan Opera live relay, January 2010
Posted on 10 January 2010Renée Fleming’s … soliloquy on the passing of time in Act I was done with immense sensitivity and feeling. What a performer!
The Power of Yes, National Theatre, January 2010
Posted on 9 January 2010The powerful people who attract the most contempt are … Gordon Brown, and to a slightly lesser extent the previous Federal Reserve Chairman, Alan Greenspan,
New Year’s Day Concert from Vienna, 1st January 2010
Posted on 1 January 2010Georges Prêtre evidently enjoyed himself immensely, but I felt his attempts to insert so many tempo changes and too much drama into the concert misfired