A highly-dramatic and first-class performance of Opera North’s Orfeo Ed Euridice was extremely well received with rapturous applause at the exquisite Grand Theatre, Leeds. This must be one of (if not the most) tragic love stories ever imagined; beautiful and disturbing.
‘Continues to relate in the 21st century’: STREET SCENE – Touring ★★★★
Street Scene is an enjoyable production with outstanding performances from the cast and its diverse and reflective music accommodating the reality of living in a tenement in the 1940s.
‘Lovely to look at’: THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA – Royal Festival Hall
The most lyrical and romantic thing about Light In The Piazza is its title. That, and the luscious vintage-style 50s costumes which evoke the American idyll of Italy as captured by Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.
‘The paring of the two is an inspired choice’: THE RITE OF SPRING & GIANNI SCHICCHI – Touring ★★★★
Opera North’s The Rite of Spring/Gianni Schicchi is an uneven pairing but a thoroughly enlightening and enjoyable evening nonetheless. Both works serve as great entry points to their respective mediums.
‘Brings out the fantastical elements’: THE MAGIC FLUTE – Touring ★★★
Opera North’s new production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute takes the composer’s final opera and brings out the fantastical and often comedic elements of what can at times be a dark story – several characters contemplate suicide on stage, but this version avoids ever feeling bogged down in these darker moments.
‘A Golden Age feast for the senses’: KISS ME, KATE – West End
In choosing to restore rather than rejuvenate, Opera North has created a genuinely fascinating and faithful window into a bygone era. In doing so, however, they’ve chosen to celebrate the show as an antiquity, rather than drawing on its more timeless qualities.
‘A Wunderbar production’: KISS ME, KATE – West End ★★★
After touring for a while, Opera North’s production of Kiss Me, Kate has slipped into the London Coliseum for a short run which showcases its glorious score and stellar cast.
‘A show of two halves’: KISS ME, KATE – West End ★★★
With the World Cup tournament currently in play, football parlance seems appropriate in describing Opera North’s Kiss Me, Kate, arriving this week for a short stay at London’s Coliseum as a show with two halves.
‘Everything for a superb night at the theatre & then some’: KISS ME, KATE – West End ★★★★★
An impeccable five-star production from Opera North in association with Welsh National Opera. Do not be put off by the word opera this is West End musical theatre at its very, very best.
‘A captivating & moving production’: MADAMA BUTTERFLY – Touring ★★★★
Madama Butterfly is a captivating and moving production, go and see it and prepare to enjoy it whether you’re an opera veteran or novice.
‘More relevant than ever’: DON GIOVANNI – Touring ★★★★
All set to Mozart’s powerful and beautiful score, Opera North’s Don Giovanni is a really entertaining night out for seasoned opera lovers or those, like me, who are new to the genre.
Diary of a Theatre Addict: Starring with a cast of 500 Supporting Actors, and Two Trips to Yorkshire (with a day in London inbetween)
You Me Bum Bum Train isn’t exactly a train journey, but it provided the ride of my life; I also made two separate train journeys to Yorkshire that provided musical and comic diversions of their own.
CAROUSEL – Touring
Opera North’s production of Rodger and Hammerstein’s Carousel is a curious combination of drama, dance and song that on occasion both hits and misses the mark.
Meant to be a story about love, loss and redemption, this version feels more like a story about anger, resentment and possibly the glorification of domestic abuse.
Opening on a busy fairground scene, we meet the protagonists of the tale: fairground barker Billy Bigelow played by Keith Higham and millworker Julie Jordon, played by Gillene Butterfield. Among the magic of the carousel – and it really is a magical and stunningly visual set designed by Anthony Ward – Billy and Julie seemingly fall in love, losing both of their jobs in the process.