Comedy with knobs on: English National Opera's new Figaro

By Benjamin Poore, 16 March 2020

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“Louise Alder... every phrase sculpted with intelligence and insight”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 14 March 2020

Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)

English National Opera

Kevin John Edusei, Conductor

Joe Hill-Gibbins, Director

Johannes Schultz, Set Designer

Astria Klein, Costume Designer

Božidar Smiljanić, Figaro

Louise Alder, Susanna

Johnathan McCullough, Count Almaviva

Elizabeth Watts, Countess Almaviva

Hanna Hipp, Cherubino

Andrew Shore, Doctor Bartolo

Susan Bickley, Marcellina

Colin Judson, Don Curzio, Don Basilio

Rowan Pierce, Barbarina

Jenny Ogilvie, Choreography

Bernd Velder, Lighting Designer

English National Opera Chorus

English National Opera Orchestra

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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Benjamin Poore

Benjamin Poore is a writer and critic. His book on psychoanalysis and literature is forthcoming in 2019. He has previously written about literature and culture for the Independent, the Times Literary Supplement, and Times Higher Education. In his spare time he tries to sing Schubert; he has a very patient teacher.