Upstairs at the Gatehouse: A Very New Traviata

Mozart’s original The Magic Flute is bizarre enough. The story of a prince and a bird-catcher’s journey to save a princess they’ve never met from a sinister quasi-Freemason who turns out to be alright, it is sufficiently packed full of great songs and good humour to have become an enduring repertory favourite – but that doesn’t mean it makes any sense. It doesn’t, really. It is a daft opera.

Last night at North London’s Gatehouse theatre saw the Merry Opera Company perform La Belle Hélène, Offenbach’s Trojan War parody of Grand Opera, translated/re-worked by Kit Hesketh-Harvey and enticingly re-labelled Troy Boy. Hesketh-Harvey is best known as half of the cabaret duo Kit and the Widow, but has also been a regular translator of opera for the ENO and others.

Mozart’s original The Magic Flute is bizarre enough. The story of a prince and a bird-catcher’s journey to save a princess they’ve never met from a sinister quasi-Freemason who turns out to be alright, it is sufficiently packed full of great songs and good humour to have become an enduring repertory favourite – but that doesn’t mean it makes any sense. It doesn’t, really. It is a daft opera.

Vasily Barkhatov liefert mit seiner Inszenierung eine nüchterne Lesart von Verdis Stiffelio, aber vor allem wird es laut.

Die Internationalen Gluck Festspiele in der Metropolregion Nürnberg tragen 2026 das Motto Amor & Psyche. Mit der konzertanten Aufführung der faktisch vergessenen Reformoper Paride ed Elena gelang dem künstlerischen Leiter Michael Hofstetter ein echter Coup.

Otto Schenks Klassiker des Repertoires, Michael Spyres und Pretty Yende verzaubern des Publikum einmal mehr.