Aida, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, April 2010
Posted on 28 April 2010David McVicar’s new production strips away the Egyptian baggage and places events in an ancient time of masculine combat, female sexual energy, and human sacrifice.
Monthly Archives: April 2010
Macbeth, Globe Theatre, London, April 2010
Posted on 25 April 2010This production by Lucy Bailey presents a Dante-like vision of hell … The witches in their dark red nun-like robes are gatekeepers of hell — tall, medium and very short, they occasionally skulk around the stage ready to draw the characters to their eternal doom.
Sleeping Beauty, Birmingham Royal Ballet, BRB, London Coliseum, April 2010
Posted on 21 April 2010This production has some wonderful moments, and I particularly liked the way Carabosse reappears in Act I as a shrouded old woman, apparently willing to be arrested after giving Aurora the spindle, yet suddenly throwing off her disguise and creating havoc.
Cinderella, Royal Ballet, 17 April 2010
Posted on 18 April 2010Yuhui Choe danced Cinderella with exceptional charm and refinement. Her elegant footwork and sympathetic body language marks her out as an exceptional future performer of this role.
Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death, Minerva Theatre, Chichester, April 2010
Posted on 17 April 2010There are six scenes, each interesting enough in itself, but lacking overall momentum. The one I enjoyed most was the fourth, where Ben Johnson, entertainingly played by Richard McCabe, is the life and soul of an evening of heavy drinking with Shakespeare.
Il Turco in Italia, Royal Opera, April 2010
Posted on 4 April 2010Rossini’s music is full of fun, and this production has a sense of spontaneity, as if it were Commedia dell’arte.