A heaven of hell, a hell of heaven

By Charlotte Valori, 11 March 2015

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

“There is a dark grain in the Las Vegas glitz of this pleasure city”

Reviewed at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on 10 March 2015

Weill, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny

The Royal Opera

Mark Wigglesworth, Conductor

John Fulljames, Director

Es Devlin, Set Designer

Christina Cunningham, Costume Designer

Anne Sofie von Otter, Leokadia Begbick

Peter Hoare, Fatty

Sir Willard White, Trinity Moses

Christine Rice, Jenny Smith

Kurt Streit, Jimmy Mahoney

Jeffrey Lloyd-Roberts, Jacky O'Brien

Darren Jeffery, Billy

Hubert Francis, Tobby Higgins

Neal Davies, Joe

Royal Opera Chorus

Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden

Siegfried at the RBO: Kosky and Pappano surprise and delight

David Karlin, 17th March

A revelatory orchestral performance and a cast led by Andreas Schager, Christopher Maltman and Elisabeth Strid make this a Siegfried for the record books.

*****

Terfel’s craggy Boris Godunov returns to Covent Garden

Mark Pullinger, 29th January

The second revival of Richard Jones' staging of Mussorgsky's original 1869 version of Boris Godunov once again stars the Welsh knight.

****1

Ermonela Jaho returns in triumph to The Royal Opera’s Traviata

Mark Valencia, 8th January

Richard Eyre’s 32-year-old production is rarely out of The Royal Opera’s repertoire for more than a few months at a time, but this particular revival proves very special.

*****

Turandot drowned in an orchestral tsunami at The Royal Opera

David Karlin, 15th December

Andrei Șerban’s 40 year old take on Puccini's tale of the ice princess largely stands the test of time, but Netrebko and Eyvazov are short of their best form.

***11

Handel’s Ariodante returns home to Covent Garden

Roy Westbrook, 9th December

Jetske Mijnssen’s house debut sees Handel’s opera transposed to a modern-day palace, with Emily D'Angelo angelic in the title role.

****1

The Royal Opera stages its first Makropulos Case

Mark Valencia, 4th November

Katie Mitchell wheels out her tired old tropes in The Makropulos Case, redeemed by its musical performances.

***11

More reviews...

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 heaven of hell, a hell of heaven: Brecht and Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny