Performer: Lauren Segal

The COC’s revival of The Magic Flute is mostly played for laughs and makes an enjoyable, if undemanding, evening.

An impressive trio of international singers carry Opéra de Montréal's traditional new production of this Verdi tragedy.

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.

Can you set Verdi’s Rigoletto in a high-rise apartment building, in modern dress, without popping any of your credulity strings? Probably not, but that is what Opera Hamilton has done in its latest production, directed by Michael Cavanagh.