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Upcycled and recycled, a green production of Verdi's final opera is directed by Olivia Fuchs. 

Michael Volle headlines a deluxe revival of Verdi's Falstaff in this revival of Robert Carsen's popular production. 

A dearth of nuance affects this new production of Verdi's late masterpiece in Berlin, set in Sir John's gourmet kitchen. 

The world could use a laugh... and Brian Garman and his team deliver belly laughs aplenty at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. 

The Jette Parker Young Artists take on their most ambitious programme yet, showcasing some of the most promising Verdian voices of the future.

A highly successful Falstaff at the Archevêché in Aix-en-Provence, for our greater pleasure: a true lesson in joy in a world where, we are told, all is but a joke.

The Bayerische Staatsoper's new production of Falstaff makes the mistake of turning a comedy into a slapstick, but the fine ensemble have the last say as they stand in silence and defiance to face the empty auditorium.

Zubin Mehta leads a great cast in a revival of a successful production of Verdi's Falstaff at the Staatsoper in Berlin

The young singers spin any raw material into opera gold, sending the audience home as uplifted as if they’d just glugged a bellyful of Pimm’s.

Comic opera can fall flat, but if The Grange Festival's new production of Verdi's final masterpiece is a total delight, with a strong concept and a strong cast. This is country-house opera at its best.

Comedy fails to spark in Laurent Pelly's new production of Falstaff at the Teatro Real. 

A welcome revival at the Met of Robert Carsen's witty production of Verdi's final opera. 

Opera Bohemia provides a fun-filled showcase for Conservatoire graduates in a finely sung Falstaff heading for the Edinburgh Fringe with a small orchestra.

Sir Bryn Terfel’s Falstaff is still a cherishable rogue as he takes on the title role in Robert Carsen’s joyous staging at the Royal Opera. 

Bruno Ravella's fast-paced Falstaff for Garsington still has crucial space for pathos amid the comedy, with a notably subtle central performance from Henry Waddington.  

Michael Volle makes his debut as Verdi's not-so-Fat Knight in Mario Martone's new production at the Staatsoper. 

The Iván Fischer Opera Company makes a triumphant foray into Verdi's oeuvre.

Renzetti's traditional rendition does not reveal yet unprecedented details of a score that is the summation of Verdi's mastery and his last work – his third based on Shakespeare.

Not a particularly revealing Falstaff, but a pleasing performance though. Maybe one would have expected something of greater impact from a festival like this one, but that goal had already accomplished by Graham Vick with his Stiffelio the night before...

The 2013 Salzburg production of Damiano Michieletto's Falstaff finally arrives in Milan where the director sets the opera in “Casa Verdi”, the Milanese residence for elderly singers and musicians.

The Staatsoper's new Falstaff is a production that is attractive not only visually, but also in terms of the varied musical color.

Laughter is indeed the best medicine. As we try and make sense of the continuing political fallout post EU referendum, the CBSO offered the perfect prescription in the ample form of Verdi's Falstaff.

A huge revolving grey monolith centre stage dominated a grey floor, grey props and men in grey costumes, all detracting from the gaiety Verdi envisaged as the essence of Falstaff.

The big man in the fat suit rules the show, briging vigour and joie de vivre to Hungarian State Opera's Falstaff.

The Chicago Symphony and Riccardo Muti celebrate Shakespeare's Anniversary.

“If music be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it.” There was certainly plenty of Shakespeare-inspired music on the bill for the London Philharmonic Orchestra's celebration of The Bard. 

Good overall singing, but the Steinberg's conducting was completely subordinate to the stage directions.

Jonathan Miller may not be directing new productions of operas any more, but his productions are still being revived in many countries; in Tokyo’s New National Theatre, his Falstaff has just been revived.

Daniele Gatti illuminates Robert Carsen's blithe Falstaff narrative

If “all the world’s a jest”, as Sir John Falstaff claims at the end of Verdi’s final operatic masterpiece, then we need players – and directors – with a sense of frivolity. Robert Carsen truly delivers. 

The Merry Wives of Windsor – relocated to Scotland – sing beautifully, as does their wooer, Falstaff. But it's not clear why they're in Scotland in the first place, or how the rest of the staging fits the opera.

Opera Australia’s Falstaff in Melbourne brings freshness to this almost 20-year-old production. Contributing to its success is an outstanding Falstaff...

After his final opera, Falstaff (1893), Verdi founded a home for retired musicians. Director Christof Loy related these two achievements by setting the opera in the nursing home...

The magnificent Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires welcomed a full house to the production of Falstaff starring Ambrogio Maestri, the world’s primary portrayer of the pompous knight. Unfortunately, one singer does not an opera make.

Ambrogio Maestri reprises his star turn as a vocally and theatrically complete Falstaff in Robert Carsen’s lavish, food-fuelled situational comedy at the Holland Festival.

Like Falstaff, I found myself attempting to gobble up as much as I could: the amusing story, Robert Carsen's resourceful directing, and the brilliant music. In addition to the strong instrumental performing, the singing was, on the whole, delightful.

Christof Loy’s new production of Falstaff for the Deutsche Oper Berlin is a conundrum. While the opera itself tells a story of comeuppance, Loy’s production seemed to be about the positive physical effects of playing pranks on your neighbors.

In the bicentenary anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi, tributes are aplenty. On Saturday evening, Los Angeles Opera presented a new production of the Italian master’s final work, Falstaff, though that wasn’t all.

This November, the Opéra de Montréal celebrates Verdi’s bicentennial with a laugh, presenting his comic opera Falstaff. The revival of David Gately’s production, originally produced by Glimmerglass Opera and the recently deceased New York City Opera, received no shortage of snickers during Saturday’s première performance with Opéra de Montréal.

It may have taken Verdi’s bicentennial to bring Falstaff back to the San Francisco Opera, but at last the knight has returned to the company’s stage for the first time in over a decade...

“Of all my works, the one that pleases me most is the Casa I’ve had built in Milan to accommodate old singers who have not been favoured by fortune or who did not possess the virtue of thrift in their youth”. This is how Verdi described the retirement home for elderly musicians he founded at the time of the composition of this opera Falstaff.

Tragedy seems to age better than comedy. The works of Aeschylus have been more influential than those of Aristophanes, and Shakespeare’s darker plays are far more popular than his pure comedies. This same propensity for gloomy subjects can also be seen in the opera world.

With Verdi's centenary coming up, his last opera Falstaff has had more attention than usual, with this production at Opera Holland Park following hot on the heels of Robert Carsen's new production at Covent Garden.

In the end, the big man gets the last laugh. Come to think of it, he also gets the first laugh, but for different reasons: you sense that Verdi steadily grew to love Falstaff in the course of writing the opera, as he turns from a coarse buffoon into a maligned old man and, eventually, into the spirit of laughter itself.

Christoph Marthaler siedelt Verdis letzte Oper an einem Filmset an und produziert dabei wohl keinen Kassenschlager; immerhin rettet die musikalische Seite den Abend vor dem Flop.

Denis Podalydès offre une lecture divertissante et accessible de la dernière comédie de Verdi, sans grandes trouvailles toutefois. La direction d'Antonello Allemandi manque singulièrement de couleur et d'inventivité.

L'œuvre pleine d'humour de Verdi est bien servie par une mise en scène originale et efficace, un orchestre investi et une distribution de haute tenue.

Bei der Neuinszenierung von Verdis brillant unterhaltsamem Verwirrspiel räumt Regisseur David Hermann mit dem Bild eines liederlichen Vielfraßes auf.