Dead Man Walking given a triumphant staging by Guildhall School

Michael Lafferty-Smith (Joseph), Jacob Harrison and Emyr Lloyd Jones (Guards)

Alexandra Meier (Sister Helen) and Jack Dolan (Motorcycle Cop)

Michael Lafferty-Smith (Joseph) and Nancy Holt (Mrs de Rocher)

Michael Lafferty-Smith (Joseph), Emyr Lloyd Jones (Guard) and Alexandra Meier (Sister Helen)

By Mark Valencia, 28 February 2023

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“Martin Lloyd-Evans... marshalled the company with panache and a practical eye for fluency”

Reviewed at Guildhall School of Music & Drama: Silk Street Theatre, London on 27 February 2023

Heggie, Dead Man Walking

Guildhall School of Music and Drama

Dominic Wheeler, Conductor

Martin Lloyd-Evans, Director

Anna Reid, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Anthony Doran, Lighting Designer

Alexandra Meier, Sister Helen Prejean

Lorna McLean, Sister Rose, Sister Lillianne

Michael Lafferty, Joseph De Rocher

Nancy Holt, Mrs. Patrick De Rocher

Jack Dolan, Father Grenville, Howard Boucher, First Motorcycle Cop

Louisa Stirland, Kitty Hart

Inguna Morozova, Sister Catherine

Jonathan Eyers, Owen Hart

Rachel Roper, Jade Boucher

Alaric Green, George Benton

Emyr Wyn Jones, First Prison Guard

Jacob Harrison, Second Prison Guard

Mark Bautista, Second Motorcycle Cop

Respighi’s Lucrezia compels in Guildhall School’s double bill

Dominic Lowe, 3rd November

Pleas for more Respighi operas are answered as the students of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama give the UK premiere of Lucrezia, paired with Ethel Smyth's Der Wald.

****1

Sacred and profane in Guildhall School's Respighi double bill

Susannah Moody, 6th November

From the spiritual conversion of a Medieval sex-worker, to the Sleeping Beauty tale reimagined, Guildhall stages a Respighi double-bill.

***11

Holst and Weir operas from the Guildhall School of Music

David Truslove, 5th June

Two accomplished performances bring emotional depth only intermittently, but show ample security of singing and playing.

***11

Picture perfect: a fine triple bill from the Guildhall School

Dominic Lowe, 11th November

Massenet, Smyth and Rota are unlikely bedfellows, but in the Guildhall School's Autumn production, a one-act opera by each contributed to a most convincing triple bill, all set around the La Scala Picturehouse in the 1920s.

****1

Pauline Viardot's Cendrillon outshines Bizet at Guildhall School

David Karlin, 1st November

A double bill of French operettas shows Guildhall students to advantage as well as providing an introduction to Viardot that's well worth the trip.

***11

Britten's Dream haunts Guildhall School

Roy Westbrook, 1st March

Dominic Wheeler did full justice to Britten’s brilliantly colourful and haunting score right from those first eerie glissandi.

****1

More reviews...

Mark Valencia

Mark has worked in arts journalism for four decades, both as a writer and as a French-English translator. Nowadays he focuses his energies on reviewing opera and music. Mark also writes for Opera magazine and for Musical America as a correspondent for Europe and the UK.

Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking given a triumphant staging by Guildhall School