Live, Video: Find classical music concert, opera, ballet and dance reviews | English | Helmut Baumann

Thanks to Barrie Kosky's flamboyant imagination and a solid cast, the Komische Oper's new production of La Cage aux Folles glitters, but could be more gay.

Smetana wrote Prodaná nevěsta (“The Bartered Bride”) as a light Czech folk piece in a playful reply to critics who said that his music was too Wagnerian, or too German for that matter – something not compatible with the growing Czech national consciousness in the period he composed it (1863–66), even though he only showed mild interest in the Czech cause.