Like all the great music theatre pieces you only really see and feel their greatness when the acting is honest, true, and sure. In the case of Puccini’s La Boheme youth is a factor, too, and when that youth is largely home-grown there is double the cause for celebration. Jonathan Miller’s Brassai-inspired staging casts a … [Read More]
Edward Seckerson
Reviews, Blogs, Podcasts
Reviews, Podcasts and Blogs
Classical music, Opera and Musical Theatre reviews
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Briefly… ENO’s Boheme revisited
Tagged with: angel blue, duncan rock, english national opera, gwyn hughes jones, jonathan miller, kate valentine, la boheme, puccini, richard burkhard
Posted in Asides
Posted in Asides
Puccini “La Boheme”, Glyndebourne Festival Opera
More Basildon than Bastille, David McVicar’s grungy staging of La Boheme heralded the new millennium amidst concrete and steel, fire hazards and fire escapes, chavs and chav nots, bringing our “bohemians” into the here and now with a cynical nod or two at our own struggling youth culture and the slightly surreal sensation of stepping … [Read More]
Puccini “La Boheme”, Royal Opera House
Not just another revival of a venerable old staging but its 25th showing in the 50th year of director John Copley’s work at the Royal Opera House. They served up a cake and a vintage cast for the occasion – and the snow fell once more on the Latin Quarter swelling the Christmas Eve crowds … [Read More]
Tagged with: carmen giannattasio, john copley, joseph calleja, la boheme, puccini, royal opera house, semyon bychkov
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Puccini “Il Trittico”, Royal Opera House
The accepted wisdom on Puccini’s trio of one-acters, Il Trittico, is that Gianni Schicchi is the masterpiece, Suor Angelica of very particular and questionable taste, with Il Tabarro, all shadow and melodrama, bringing up the rear. But should we now, in the light of Richard Jones’ revelatory staging of the central “altarpiece”, be … [Read More]
Tagged with: antonio pappano, ermonela jaho, eva-maria westbroek, il trittico, lucio gallo, puccini, richard jones, royal opera
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Puccini “Tosca”, Royal Opera House
Bring together three of the most intuitive talents (and biggest stars) on the planet, meld them under the baton of Antonio Pappano whose command of every caress, swoon, and dramatic impulse of Puccini’s Tosca is not learned but instinctively felt and you have a recipe for the kind of evening that gives the Royal Opera … [Read More]
Tagged with: angela gheorgiu, antonio pappano, bryn terfel, jonas kaufmann, puccini, royal opera, tosca
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Puccini “Madama Butterfly”, Royal Opera House
One can only hope that the ill wind which strips away the cherry blossom at the close of Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser’s feeble 2003 production of Madama Butterfly might soon carry off the entire staging. I’ve seen some cheesy operatic moments over the years but the sight of poor Butterfly in her death throes … [Read More]
Tagged with: andris nelsons, kristine opolais, madama butterfly, moshe leiser, patrice caurier, puccini, royal opera house
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
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