A fabulous Figaro at ENO

By Charlotte Valori, 20 October 2014

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“Bevan’s Susanna is fiery, clear-eyed and practical, with plenty of resourcefulness of her own”

Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 16 October 2014

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

English National Opera

Jaime Martín, Conductor

Fiona Shaw, Director

Peter McKintosh, Set Designer

Benedict Nelson, Count Almaviva

Sarah-Jane Brandon, Countess Almaviva

David Stout, Figaro

Mary Bevan, Susanna

Samantha Price, Cherubino

Jonathan Best, Doctor Bartolo

Lucy Schaufer, Marcellina

Colin Judson, Don Basilio

Alun Rhys-Jenkins, Don Curzio

Martin Lamb, Antonio

Ellie Laugharne, Barbarina

Kim Brandstrup, Choreography

English National Opera Orchestra

English National Opera Chorus

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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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.

A fabulous Figaro from Fiona Shaw for English National Opera