West Australian Opera's Il trovatore honours Neidhardt's lesson in directorial rigour

West Australian Opera's production of Sweeney Todd was an excellent, crackling performance, with everyone involved in top form, with some unexpected players showing great talent in this not-very-operatic work.

Bizet's The Pearl Fishers has its problems, but a good account of its score does have its pleasures, especially when it's all brightened up by the presence of Emma Matthews.

Simultaneously one of the most loved and most mocked operas in the canon, Il trovatore has some of Verdi’s catchiest melodies set to one of his silliest plots. Against the backdrop of a 15th-century Spanish war, a cast of nobles, gypsies, nuns and soldiers enact a drama which hinges on that hoariest of dramatic clichés: children swapped at birth.

Salome Jicia delivers a vocally impressive and emotionally committed Norma, but Orpha Phelan’s post-apocalyptic staging fatally weakens Bellini’s sacred tragedy.

As usual, Pinchgut lavishes musical excellence on an obscure Baroque work... but why stage an oratorio?