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Over the top: revamped Tosca returns to the Theatre in the Woods

By Mark Pullinger, 10 June 2023

Stephen Medcalf gingers up Grange Park Opera’s staging with some deft directorial touches… even if Tosca is denied her final leap.

***11

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***11

West Horsley

10 Jun 2023

Over the top: revamped Tosca returns to the Theatre in the Woods

By Mark Pullinger

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Into the lion's mouth: Ponchielli's La Gioconda at Grange Park Opera

By Mark Pullinger, 11 June 2022

No hippos in tutus for The Dance of the Hours, but panto frolics abound in Stephen Madcalf's staging in the idyllic Theatre in the Woods.

***11

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***11

West Horsley

11 Jun 2022

Into the lion's mouth: Ponchielli's La Gioconda at Grange Park Opera

By Mark Pullinger

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Dublin

A resonant Fidelio from Irish National Opera

By Andrew Larkin, 07 November 2021

Under director Annabelle Comyn’s modern setting, we have a moving, convincing Fidelio to resonate with our current age.

****1

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****1

Dublin

07 Nov 2021

A resonant Fidelio from Irish National Opera

By Andrew Larkin

Ivan not quite so Terrible: a Rimsky-Korsakov double bill at Grange Park Opera

By Mark Pullinger, 19 June 2021

First marketed as Ivan the Terrible by Serge Diaghilev, Rimsky-Korsakov's first opera The Maid of Pskov makes a rare appearance outside of Russia, in leafy Surrey.

***11

***11

West Horsley

19 Jun 2021

Ivan not quite so Terrible at Grange Park Opera

By Mark Pullinger

Leeds

Opera North's thrilling Street Scene brings Golden Age Broadway to Leeds

By Richard Wilcocks, 18 January 2020

Opera North brings Kurt Weill's “Broadway opera” Street Scene to the Leeds Grand Theatre in a thrilling production directed by Matthew Eberhardt and conducted by James Holmes.

****1

****1

Leeds

18 Jan 2020

Opera North's Street Scene brings Golden Age Broadway to Leeds

By Richard Wilcocks

Clown court: Offenbach's Fantasio at Garsington

By Matthew Rye, 14 June 2019

The UK stage debut of Offenbach’s neglected Fantasio reveals a musical sizzler, but directorially it needs a more sympathetic touch than Garsington musters.

***11

***11

High Wycombe

14 Jun 2019

Clown court: Offenbach's Fantasio at Garsington

By Matthew Rye

Polished Porgy: Gershwin triumphs in Surrey

By Matthew Rye, 08 June 2019

Grange Park Opera’s new production of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess makes for a searingly effective evening of music and drama.

****1

****1

West Horsley

08 Jun 2019

Polished Porgy: Gershwin triumphs in Surrey

By Matthew Rye

Bonn

A superbly entertaining Kiss Me, Kate at the Theater Bonn

By Cristina Burack, 10 November 2018

Theater Bonn successfully tackles Kiss Me, Kate in an appropriately light production.

****1

****1

Bonn

10 Nov 2018

A superbly entertaining Kiss Me, Kate at the Theater Bonn

By Cristina Burack

Romantic love blooms in the lost garden of West Horsley

By John Johnston, 26 June 2018

Olena Tokar's assured coloratura made an immediate success of the waltz with her convincingly adolescent appearance, rhythmic verve and stylish phrasing.

***11

***11

West Horsley

26 Jun 2018

Romantic love blooms in the lost garden of West Horsley

By John Johnston

Dublin

Fun and frolics at Irish National Opera's Figaro

By Andrew Larkin, 17 April 2018

A wonderful ful-filled caper by the Irish National Opera of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro with Erraught as Susanna and Miskelly as Cherubino really impressing.

****1

****1

Dublin

17 Apr 2018

Fun and frolics at Irish National Opera's Figaro

By Andrew Larkin

London

Dove's Flight takes off superbly to launch Royal Academy's new theatre

By Mark Pullinger, 12 March 2018

Dove's infectious score nods to Copland, Bernstein and Britten and its tongue-twisting ensembles and high-wire vocal writing were wonderfully performed.

*****

*****

London

12 Mar 2018

Dove's Flight takes off superbly

By Mark Pullinger

Personenregie perfection: Martin Duncan's Il turco in Italia at Garsington

By David Karlin, 26 June 2017

Garsington's latest Rossini buffa is on the nail orchestrally, mixed vocally and one of the best pieces of acting and stage movement you'll see in opera.

****1

****1

High Wycombe

26 Jun 2017

Personenregie perfection: Garsington's Turco in Italia

By David Karlin

Grange Park Opera's inaugural Tosca

By David Karlin, 08 June 2017

Woefully stiff acting lets down an otherwise excellent production; Joseph Calleja impresses in his role début as Cavaradossi.

***11

***11

West Horsley

08 Jun 2017

Grange Park Opera's inaugural Tosca

By David Karlin

Amsterdam

A high-spirited Don Giovanni at Nederlandse Reisopera

By Nicolas Nguyen, 09 March 2017

Director Jo Davies' staging of Mozart’s dramma giocoso for Nederlandse Reisopera is a high-spirited affair packed with humour, where the emphasis is decidedly more on giocoso than on the dramma.

***11

***11

Amsterdam

09 Mar 2017

A high-spirited Don Giovanni at Nederlandse Reisopera

By Nicolas Nguyen

Buxton

“Beethoven's what?” Leonore at Buxton Festival

By Dominic Lowe, 08 July 2016

Stephen Barlow makes the case for Beethoven's earlier version of Fidelio, but doesn't quite manage to convince.

***11

***11

Buxton

08 Jul 2016

“Beethoven's what?" Leonore at Buxton Festival

By Dominic Lowe

Emotionally powerful La fanciulla del West at Grange Park Opera

By David Truslove, 04 June 2016

Using Stephen Medcalf’s 2008 staging, this opening night of love and loneliness was a feast for the eyes, a musical triumph and a dramatic tour-de-force that tugged at the heart strings.

****1

****1

Alresford

04 Jun 2016

Emotionally powerful La fanciulla del West

By David Truslove

Verismo before its time: Eugene Onegin at Grange Park

By David Karlin, 10 July 2015

Stephen Medcalf's meticulous staging of Tchaikovsky's bitter masterpiece is lit up by Jung Soo Yun's Lensky, giving a direct injection of emotions: verismo before its time.

****1

****1

Alresford

10 Jul 2015

Verismo before its time: Eugene Onegin

By David Karlin

Israelites vs Philistines: Samson et Dalila at Grange Park

By David Karlin, 20 June 2015

Grange Park’s Samson et Dalila doesn’t hit the bull’s eye, but it’s well worth the visit for a decent all-round staging of an unfamiliar work, an excellent rendering of its sumptuous score and for a thrilling piece of singing by Carl Tanner.

***11

***11

Alresford

20 Jun 2015

Israelites vs Philistines: Samson et Dalila at Grange Park

By David Karlin

Montreal

Silent Night draws strength from its all-Canadian cast in Montréal

By Richard Turp, 16 May 2015

Silent Night by Kevin Puts closes L'Opéra de Montréal's 2014-2015 season and is notable for revealing a formidable all-Canadian cast of principals.

***11

***11

Montreal

16 May 2015

Silent Night draws strength from its all-Canadian cast

By Richard Turp

Buxton

Love reigns in Buxton's Orfeo ed Euridice, but at what cost?

By Mark Pullinger, 13 July 2014

An updated Orfeo and Eurydice at Buxton sees Orpheus as an ageing rocker, too distracted by adoring groupies to notice Eurydice. However, one piece of casting was an unsolvable conundrum.

***11

***11

Buxton

13 Jul 2014

Love reigns in Buxton's Orfeo ed Euridice, but at what cost?

By Mark Pullinger

Opera's dead parrot sketch: Offenbach's Vert-Vert delights at Garsington

By David Karlin, 09 June 2014

Vert-Vert, undoubtedly the only opera named after a dead parrot, is a very, very silly opera – more a series of comic sketches than an integrated work. But in Garsington's production, everything delights.

****1

****1

High Wycombe

09 Jun 2014

Vert-Vert delights at Garsington

By David Karlin

Grimes ahoy! Suffolk's coast transplanted to the rolling Hampshire Downs

By Mark Pullinger, 30 May 2014

Bringing Peter Grimes to Grange Park a year after the Britten centenary is an enormous challenge. With ‘Grimes on the Beach’ still fresh in the memory, the task of recreating the Suffolk coast in Hampshire’s idyllic countryside might have seemed a step too far.

****1

****1

Alresford

30 May 2014

Grimes ahoy! Suffolk's coast transplanted to the rolling Hampshire Downs

By Mark Pullinger

A must-see Entführung aus dem Serail at Garsington

By Roger Smith, 07 June 2013

Those who feel that country house opera is in some way not the real thing, just an excuse to dress up and picnic on manicured lawns, should hie to Garsington’s new Die Entführung aus dem Serail with all speed.

*****

*****

High Wycombe

07 Jun 2013

A must-see Entführung aus dem Serail at Garsington

By Roger Smith