Mainly Opera and Ballet
A brilliant performance of one of Verdi’s greatest operas, suitably reduced to the size of the GPO stage. Very fine choral singing too, and a cast that did the opera full justice, conveying the huge power that Verdi gave to this story of love, betrayal, and conflict between Church and State — see my review …
This Yeomen of the Guard was huge fun. Gone are the days when the English National Opera wanted to be at the vanguard of companies creating new and sometimes absurd twists on much loved operas. That has disappeared, at least for now, and sensible stagings are the order of the day. See my review in The …
In her new production for Welsh National Opera, director Jo Davies has grasped the essence of this work, setting it in a Brazilian favela, and under the baton of Tomáš Hanus with Virginie Verrez in the title role this was a compelling performance. My review in The Article.
For a large opera house Verdi’s Don Carlo is quite a challenge, even in the four (rather than five) act version seen here. The great auto-da-fé scene at the end of Act II, where Carlo leads in a deputation from Flanders, threatens his father Philip II and is disarmed by Rodrigo, before the burning of …
W. S. Gilbert, the librettist for this work, was a master of wit, not just on paper but spontaneously in conversation. When a neighbour referred admiringly to Ruddigore calling it Bloodygore, Gilbert objected, so the neighbour said: “Same thing isn’t it?” WSG was swift as a rapier, “If I admire your ruddy countenance, it doesn’t mean I …
