ETO opens spring tour with an off-the-wall Manon Lescaut

Jenny Stafford (Manon) and Aiden Edwards (Lescaut)

Manon Lescaut, Act 1

Jenny Stafford (Manon) and Gareth Dafydd Morris (Des Grieux)

Jenny Stafford (Manon), Edward Hawkins (Geronte) and ensemble

By Mark Valencia, 25 February 2024

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“as it was, there was only one librettist credited in the programme, Jude Christian herself”

Reviewed at Hackney Empire, London on 24 February 2024

Puccini, Manon Lescaut (Sung in English)

English Touring Opera

Gerry Cornelius, Conductor

Jude Christian, Director

Charlotte Henery, Set Designer, Costume Designer

Ben Ormerod, Lighting Designer

English Touring Opera Orchestra

Jenny Stafford, Manon Lescaut

Gareth Dafydd Morris, Chevalier des Grieux

Aidan Edwards, Lescaut

Edward Hawkins, Geronte di Ravoir

Brenton Spiteri, Edmondo

Cicely Hé, Musician

David Horton, Dancing master

Amy J Payne, Naval commander

Edward Jowle, Innkeeper

Philip Wilcox, Sergeant of archers

Julia Mariko, Lamplighter

Art imitates art in ETO’s bracing new Pagliacci

Dominic Lowe, 10th April

Divorced from Cavalleria rusticana, English Touring Opera’s contemporary take on Leoncavallo’s masterpiece ticks all the boxes.

****1

English Touring Opera transfers Donizetti to the English coast

Dominic Lowe, 27th September

L'elisir d'amore may not immediately bring Skegness or Romney to mind, but ETO's new production works quite well there... just look out for the seagulls!

***11

Blissful and hard-boiled: I Capuleti e i Montecchi at ETO

David Karlin, 22nd February

Eloise Lally shifts the Romeo and Juliet love story into New York mafia families. Jessica Cale and Samantha Price provide blissful bel canto as the star-crossed lovers.

****1

A tender Shakespeare-inspired curio from English Touring Opera

Susannah Moody, 15th February

ETO kicks off its spring season with What Dreams May Come, a strange and moving staging of songs inspired by William Shakespeare.

***11

Theatrically poverty-stricken: ETO's Blond Eckbert

Mark Valencia, 18th October

Judith Weir's cryptic folk opera lacks the narrative propulsion necessary to enthral an audience, and without resolution there is no catharsis.

**111

ETO's The Snowmaiden melts the heart and gladdens the ears

Dominic Lowe, 28th September

Olivia Fuchs' production of Rimsky-Korsakov's charming fable for ETO begins its tour in Hackney and is worth travelling to see. Catch this thoughtful production in a town near you.

****1

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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.

English Touring Opera opens spring tour with an off-the-wall Manon Lescaut