The road from Opera with a capital O to the musicals which dominate the West End goes via Jacques Offenbach (1819-1880). He injected fun, satire and transgressive innovations into musical theatre that opened up the form and broke down barriers and boundaries. His so called operettas are stepping stones on the way to the musical. For me they are liberating and joyful. The Goldilocks of the musical theatre: not too long, not too short, not too serious, just right. So any chance to see a current … [Read more...]
Reviews of Opera in London's West End and Off-West End
London puts on some fabulous opera, whether at iconic venues such as the Royal Opera House, London Coliseum or smaller, more intimate venues. Read one of the latest reviews or use the search button to find and view one of our previous reviews. We use a star rating system on our site.
Faust, Alberta – Opera by Simone Spagnolo
Faust Alberta is the second Time Zone production by Pamela Schermann at the Bridewell Theatre in the “Opera in the City” festival following the excellent Orfeo and Euridice. It is an original work by the composer Simone Spagnolo and this was its world premiere. A “Nameless Man” is in a remote cabin surrounded by frozen snowfields. He is not identified even to himself. The music is initially eerie – tonal and melodic but subtle and understated. The Man is indulging in self-analysis and a search for identity. He feels trapped and seeks an explanation. The musical rhythms strengthen to reinforce his existential dilemma and we become aware that this is to be an operatic monologue with some spoken words but mostly sung.
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The Elixir of Love at the King’s Head Theatre | Review
Opera has long been seen, rightly or wrongly, as a high brow form of theatre and this perception alone is enough to put many people off going. Cue Opera’r Ddraig, a Welsh opera company who take classic operas and adapt them to Welsh settings. Their latest adaptation sets Donizetti’s L’Elisir D’Amore on Barry Island, probably most famous for its links to Gavin and Stacey. The result is brilliant. Adina owns a café in Barry, Nicky sits in that café all day mulling over his unrequited love for … [Read more...]
Opera Holloway La Boheme – Pop Up Theatre Community Centre, Lingfield
Imagine sitting in a village Community Centre with no stage, just a flat floor, no complex lighting rig, no set to speak of and no orchestra, just one piano, watching what quickly proved to be a totally involving and ultimately very moving production of Puccini’s La Boheme. That is what I had the good fortune to be doing thanks to Opera Holloway, a small-scale touring company that specialises in presenting accessible performances, particularly to new audiences and ‘to the doorstep of smaller … [Read more...]
Vivaldi meets Werther: Four Seasons at the Bridewell Theatre
Vivaldi’s four violin concerti depicting Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, which we know collectively as ‘The Four Seasons’ are probably some of the most well-known music composed in the early eighteenth century. Pamela Schermann, the director, had the idea of performing them using five-string players and what sounded like an electric piano, breaking up the sequence of twelve descriptive movements with excerpts from Goethe’s novel ‘The Sorrows of Young Werther’ recited by an actor, and showing … [Read more...]
Review of Man of La Mancha at The London Coliseum
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the word ‘quixotic’ (derived from that most legendary man from La Mancha) two almost opposing definitions. The Don Quixote persona who is a figment of Alonso Quijana’s imagination can be lauded as ‘extremely idealistic’ or condemned as ‘unrealistic and impractical’. So too, can director Lonny Price’s and producers Michael Linnit and Michael Grade’s revival of the 1965 multi-Tony-Award-winning musical The Man of La Mancha which is making its first London … [Read more...]