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Showing 9 of 9 reviews

Now the Hungry Lion Roars: a delightful wildlife soirée at the Edinburgh Fringe

By David Smythe, 07 August 2019

Mezzo Joan Busby, bass Brian Bannatyne-Scott with pianist Walter Blair and reader Joshua Manning in a delightful wildlife soirée at the Edinburgh Fringe.

***11

***11

Edinburgh

08 Aug 2019

A delightful wildlife soirée at the Edinburgh Fringe

By David Smythe

High Wycombe

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

15 Jun 2019

Clown court: Offenbach's Fantasio at Garsington

By Matthew Rye

High Wycombe

Czech mate: a hilarious and immaculately executed Bartered Bride at Garsington

By David Karlin, 29 May 2019

Natalya Romaniw is a natural as our maligned heroine: Paul Curran creates staging of bewildering comic complexity and pulls it off with panache.

****1

****1

High Wycombe

30 May 2019

An immaculately executed Bartered Bride at Garsington

By David Karlin

David Butt Philip (Hamlet) © Richard Hubert Smith

Glyndebourne

“Or not to be”: dislocated Shakespeare as Brett Dean’s Hamlet is revived for Glyndebourne’s tour

By Mark Pullinger, 21 October 2017

A restless score, a stylish modern setting and gripping central performances from David Butt Philip (trading Laertes at the festival for the title role here) and Jennifer France (Ophelia) do much to commend this new work

***11

***11

Glyndebourne

22 Oct 2017

“Or not to be”: Hamlet revived for Glyndebourne’s tour

By Mark Pullinger

Andrea Carroll (Mélisande) and Jonathan McGovern (Pelléas) © Clive Barda

High Wycombe

Light and shade: Garsington Opera’s Pelléas et Mélisande at Wormsley

By Matthew Rye, 18 June 2017

Debussy’s opera of half-lights succeeds in taming the glare of the midsummer sun in Garsington’s new staging.

****1

****1

High Wycombe

19 Jun 2017

Light and shade: Pelléas et Mélisande at Wormsley

By Matthew Rye

Sir Bryn Terfel (Hans Sachs) © ROH | Clive Barda

London

Excellent in parts: Kaspar Holten's new Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at Covent Garden

By David Karlin, 11 March 2017

Holten's masonic lodge setting of Meistersinger gets a lot right but is occasionally uneven; Terfel and Hughes Jones are constantly good to listen to.

***11

***11

London

12 Mar 2017

Excellent in parts: Meistersinger at Covent Garden

By David Karlin

Aix-en-Provence

Robert Carsen's legendary production returns to its birthplace with a Dream cast

By Mark Valencia, 04 July 2015

A trip down memory lane sends our man in Aix into raptures as Robert Carsen's production of Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream comes home to Provence.

*****

*****

Aix-en-Provence

06 Jul 2015

Robert Carsen's legendary Dream returns to Aix

By Mark Valencia

Leeds

Comedy and tragedy: Opera North's Gianni Schicchi and La Vida Breve serve up a fine double bill

By Richard Wilcocks, 18 February 2015

Tragedy giving way to comedy – a recipe which still works, as demonstrated in Opera North's fine double bill of Gianni Schicchi and La vida breve.

****1

****1

Leeds

19 Feb 2015

Comedy and tragedy: Gianni Schicchi and La Vida Breve

By Richard Wilcocks

London

Prom 29: A joyful Tannhäuser from Donald Runnicles

By Jane Shuttleworth, 04 August 2013

In Act II of Tannhäuser, Hermann, Landgrave of Thuringia, sets the theme of the singing contest that is about to take place in his hall by asking: “Can you describe love’s nature to me?” To some extent, the entire opera is an examination of two very different answers to that question.

****1

****1

London

05 Aug 2013

Prom 29: A joyful Tannhäuser from Donald Runnicles

By Jane Shuttleworth

Enjoy the Nutcracker and the Mouse King from New National Theatre Tokyo - click here