Performer: James Newby

In the first and last acts, ladies entered with a train still attached to a bolt of cloth, which was then cut to length by an attendant. Was this production brought to the stage in a great hurry, allowing no time for costume fittings? 

Lydia Steier's new production of Candide is a kaleidoscopic celebration of Leonard Bernstein's varied musical idioms. 

How do you conduct the same over-familiar work for the 200th time, and make it sound quite new?

Reminding us of the timeless relevance of myth, Joe Hill-Gibbons’s Scottish Opera production of Greek moves to Hannover with a few contemporary twists.

I wanted to hear more from Louise Alder, but that was true of each of the four singers.

Nevill Holt Opera and Royal Northern Sinfonia offer a sumptuous production, with gorgeous singing, but one unafraid to make us confront the uncomfortable aspects of the plot.