A disappointing Cunning Little Vixen in Prague

By Frank Kuznik, 01 May 2014

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Reviewed at National Theatre (Národní divadlo), Prague on 29 April 2014

Janáček, The Cunning Little Vixen

Czech National Opera and Chorus

Zbyněk Müller, Conductor

Ondřej Havelka, Director

Martin Černý, Set Designer

Kateřina Štefková, Costume Designer

Kateřina Jalovcová, Fox

Alžběta Poláčková, Vixen

Sylva Čmugrová, Vixen

Jiří Hájek, Harašta

Jaroslav Březina, Schoolmaster

Jakub Kettner, Forester

Luděk Vele, Parson

The Czech National Ballet

Kühn Children's Choir

Twice upon a time in Prague

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A twin bill of fairy tales in Prague delights and disappoints.

***11

At Prague’s National Theatre, a witty, well-kept Smetana Secret

Frank Kuznik, 24th May

Aided by spirited singers and enthusiastic musicians, director Ondřej Havelka brings an imaginative, ironic touch to a lesser-known Smetana opera.

*****

Regents Opera’s Salome lands a knockout punch at York Hall

Mark Pullinger, 10th April

Mark Ravenhill directs a brutal, bloody Salome for Regents Opera at the spiritual home of British boxing, York Hall.

****1

Handel's Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno returns to Rome

Pia Maltri, 7th April

Robert Carsen's staging of Handel's oratorio arrives, via Salzburg, in the city where Handel composed it in 1707.

****1

Innocence: Saariaho’s final opera receives New York premiere

Kurt Gottschalk, 6th April

At the Metropolitan Opera, Innocence proves a gripping and perhaps divisive piece which feels real because it is a reflection of our reality, with no realistic hope of finding peace.

*****

Bless this house: a Passiontide Parsifal in Erl

Peter Quantrill, 2nd April

Alpine mountains and streams set the scene for an illuminating production of Wagner's 'play to consecrate a stage'.

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Frank Kuznik

Frank Kuznik is the former Editor-in-Chief and Culture Editor of The Prague Post, Central Europe’s premier English-language weekly newspaper. He currently divides his time between Prague and his hometown in the US, Cleveland, where he covers northeast Ohio's dynamic classical music scene. In Prague he is an habitué of the Rudolfinum, National Theater, State Opera and other storied classical music venues, and an unabashed fan of Czech music.