Mainly Opera and Ballet
Puccini’s first opera was Le Villi, and his third the very successful Manon Lescaut. The stepping stone between them was Edgar, a work that demonstrated the composer’s budding lyricism, but suffered from a weak libretto — see my review in The Article.
One of Richard Strauss’s greatest works, with a libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, this juxtaposes a young composer’s new opera on the plight of Ariadne with a commedia dell’arte entertainment, both to be performed for guests at the house of one of the super-rich. In the opera story Ariadne has absconded with Theseus, after helping …
Stephen Barlow’s production, which already debuted earlier this month, gives us a Café Momus scene full of fun in Act II, almost as if specially designed for this Christine Collins’ Young Artists performance on 24th June. I loved the sixteenth century costumes, and the numerous small entertaining vignettes by members of the Company. This was …
