Something very exciting is happening in small-scale opera. This is the third one I’ve seen in as many months, all striking in their own ways but Eugene Onegin is by far the most enjoyable.
CARMEN – Soho Theatre
There is a simplistic charm to Carmen from Opera Up Close that see’s Bizet’s classic stripped down to a talented cast of nine and an orchestra reduced to the most elegant of quartets. One of the most popular works in the classical canon, Carmen makes for a great introduction for those just dipping a toe into the opera genre. With a musical score that alone could fill a Now That’s What I Call Classics compilation, the melodies are familiar and the story offers a parable that is, sadly, as timely today as at its 1875 premiere.
Review: La Boheme (Soho Theatre, London)
A short sprint across Leicester Square, Jonathan Miller’s new and lavish production of ‘La Boheme’ is at the Coliseum, with a cast of 40 and a magnificent two-tier revolving set. When Dr Miller himself went to see OperaUpClose’s production above a ramshackle Irish pub in Kilburn, he pronounced it a ‘revolution in opera’. Now it’s migrated […]
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