Performer: Rachael Wilson

Even without a gingerbread house, there’s enough wickedness in Richard Jones’ staging of Humperdinck’s opera for sweet tooths to savour.

Damiano Michieletto’s production of Janáček’s opera breaks a key tenet of high-concept opera: where it should reveal, it obfuscates. 

Questionable conducting aside, The Royal Opera's latest revival of Damiano Michieletto’s fluid production of the famous operatic double-bill is terrifically executed by two excellent casts.