Refreshingly unfussy: Jonathan Miller's classic La bohème revived at ENO

By Julia Savage, 03 May 2013

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Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 29 April 2013

Puccini, La bohème

English National Opera

Sir Jonathan Miller, Director

Natascha Metherell, Revival Director

Isabella Bywater, Set Designer

Gwyn Hughes Jones, Rodolfo

Kate Valentine, Mimì

Richard Burkhard, Marcello

Angel Blue, Musetta

Andrew Craig Brown, Colline

Duncan Rock, Schaunard

Simon Butteriss, Benoît

ENO’s Mahagonny: biting, bleak, brilliantly executed satire

David Karlin, 16th February

Never has Brecht and Weill’s satire on the inhumanity of man to man been render with such utter darkness; Simon O’Neill heads up a superb cast.

*****

Taken for a ride: an energetic revival of Così fan tutte at ENO

Dominic Lowe, 6th February

English National Opera's revival of Phelim McDermott’s popular production is a blend of spectacle with some first-class singing, with Lucy Crowe emphasising her Mozartian credentials.

****1

Cocteau-esque camp: Alden’s Partenope returns to ENO

Mark Valencia, 20th November

Christopher Alden’s Olivier Award-winning production of Handel’s Partenope returns to the Coliseum, but it's the singing that earns the plaudits.

****1

Dead Man Walking at English National Opera: a superb execution

David Karlin, 1st November

Anneliese Miskimmon's ENO production of Jake Heggie and Terence McNally's tale of crime, repentance, compassion and redemption compels from start to finish.

*****

Comedy falls flat in ENO's season opening Cinderella

Mark Valencia, 27th September

Julia Burbach and her designer, Herbert Murauer, are defeated by the wide canyons of the Coliseum stage in their modern-dress Cinderella.

**111

ENO gives Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots a worthy performance

Nick Boston, 15th February

Musgrave's powerful depiction of a powerful woman at the mercy of male manipulation receives a strong staging from at ENO.

****1

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Julia Savage

Julia works behind the scenes at Westminster Abbey as a PA. Outside of her job, she sings with a variety of ensembles in London and further afield, and undertakes freelance editorial and writing projects – from concert programmes to tasting notes.