Tag Archives: Cal McCrystal

HMS Pinafore, ENO, October 2021

Gilbert and Sullivan work their magic, encouraging us to laugh at pomposity and mock the system that allows inadequate fools to ascend the heights of power and respect. This production by Cal McCrystal was a lively affair, despite underwhelming singing. My review in The Article.

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Iolanthe, English National Opera, ENO, London Coliseum, February 2018

“A group of bombastic fairies going into battle with all these silly old buggers from the House of Lords” says director Cal McCrystal “… joyful and fun, with a hint of satirical steel”. McCrystal has a knack, a brilliant knack, of knowing what makes an audience laugh, never more so than in the Act II …

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Life on the Moon, English Touring Opera, ETO, October 2014

This is all huge fun and the packed audience at London’s Hackney Empire clearly loved the staging of this Haydn opera by comedy specialist Cal McCrystal. The plot is simple; a wealthy but miserly widower named Buonafede (good faith), superbly sung by Andrew Slater, is tricked into giving dowries to his daughter and his maid …

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