English National Opera: Madam Butterfly

By Julia Savage, 18 October 2013

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Reviewed at The London Coliseum, London on 14 October 2013

Puccini, Madama Butterfly

English National Opera

Gianluca Marcianò, Conductor

Martin Fitzpatrick, Conductor

Anthony Minghella, Director

Sarah Tipple, Revival Director

Michael Levine, Set Designer

Mary Plazas, Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly)

Dina Kuznetsova, Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly)

Timothy Richards, Pinkerton

Gwyn Hughes Jones, Pinkerton

George von Bergen, Sharpless

Alun Rhys-Jenkins, Goro

Mark Richardson, The Bonze

Catherine Young, Kate Pinkerton

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.

ENO's Madam Butterfly is once again a must-see