Performer: Giles Havergal

WNO finally emerges from the pandemic with a performance of The Barber of Seville full of emotion and elation.

Giles Havergal directs and Martin André conducts an energetic production of Franz Léhar's The Merry Widow at the Grand Theatre, Leeds.

Opera North's The Barber of Seville directed by Giles Havergal at the Grand Theatre Leeds is supremely theatrical and a classic in all senses of the word.

Operettas are not supposed to have plausible plots, yet the seemingly implausible plot of Franz Léhar’s Merry Widow cuts to the quick in the current environment of possible sovereign bankruptcy. A “merry” widow would be rather callous in any case. The saccharine-soaked melodies, however, are enough to keep me still. Long an admirer of the Gold and Silver waltz, I am biased.