Egg-crackingly good fun: Pop Up Opera's touring production of Bizet's Le docteur Miracle

By Charlotte Valori, 11 March 2014

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Reviewed at Drink, Shop and Do, London on 10 March 2014

Bizet, Le Docteur Miracle

Pop-Up Opera

Darren Royston, Director

Aurelia Jonvaux, Laurette

Sarah Champion, Veronique

Rob Lomax, Silvio/Pasquin

Benjamin Seifert, Mayor

Elizabeth Challenger, Piano

Donizetti as you've never seen him before: Pop-Up Opera at Blacks in Soho

Sarah Reid, 16th April

The tiny room at the top of Soho members’ club Blacks is not the first venue most directors would choose to stage an opera, but Pop-Up Opera is not an ordinary production company.

*****

Send in the Clowns: Garsington's Bartered Bride returns

Roy Westbrook, 30th June

Paul Curran’s 2019 production is revived with some flair by Rosie Purdie, with a fine cast led by Pumeza Matshikiza.

****1

Irish National Opera’s new Rusalka intrigues more than it convinces

Andrew Larkin, 22nd March

Netia Jones’ modern reimagining intrigues more than it convinces, but still makes a strong case for Dvořák’s dark fairy tale.

***11

Billy Budd, or the Triumph of Beauty at the Opéra de Lyon

Stéphane Lelièvre, 21st March

The Opéra de Lyon presents Britten’s masterpiece for the first time: a triumph, both visually and musically, which is received with great enthusiasm by the audience.

****1

Magnifying Glass: a magnificent Les Enfants terribles in Lille

Elena Luporini, 20th March

A new production of Les Enfants terribles at the Opéra de Lille drags the audience into a terribly marvelous labyrinth, courtesy of conductor Virginie Déjos and directors Matthias Piro and Lisa Moro.

*****

Siegfried at the RBO: Kosky and Pappano surprise and delight

David Karlin, 17th March

A revelatory orchestral performance and a cast led by Andreas Schager, Christopher Maltman and Elisabeth Strid make this a Siegfried for the record books.

*****

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Charlotte Valori

Charlotte Valori read Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. As a classicist, her main interest is Greek tragedy and its reception by later cultures, which has led to a continuing passion for theatre and opera. Charlotte reviews for several online magazines, and won the Bachtrack Opera Award 2015 for Best Written English Review. Follow her on Twitter @operissima.