Everyone’s excited: it’s the opening night of the ENO’s first revival of Joe Hill-Gibbins’ production of The Marriage of Figaro – a show that ran only once before its forced end at the onset of the pandemic.
The Pirates of Penzance return to ENO in style
Mike Leigh’s production of The Pirates of Penzance, with design by Alison Chitty, is a colourful and whimsical tribute to Victoriana with period costumes and a vibrant sea-side setting.
Rigoletto – English National Opera – 4 Stars
A great evening of opera from ENO at the Coliseum, with an exceptional ensemble cast. This is a fine return for this production of Rigoletto from Jonathan Miller. Get a ticket!
The Turn of the Screw, English National Opera – Review
Benjamin Britten’s Opera, The Turn of the Screw – based on the novel by Henry James at ENO – There is plenty to enjoy about this production and it is worth seeing, but it didn’t create that existential feeling of unease in me or make the emotional connection that the music demands.
Suor Angelica – English National Opera
The team of star singers for this production of Suor Angelica at ENO was first-class with staging that made me eager to see a fully realised version.
Duke Bluebeard’s Castle – English National Opera
Bluebeard and his Zombie Brides Psychic dungeons, a lake of tears, weeping walls, and to cap it all an unexpected homo-erotic subtext, what’s not to love the ENO’s semi-staged performance of Béla Bartók’s one-act symbolist psychodrama Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. With a poetic libretto by Jewish-Hungarian writer Béla Balázs, the opera was composed in 1911 but […]
Jenůfa – English National Opera
Psychological Turmoil with a Powerful Ending David Alden’s production of Jenůfa, first shown at ENO in 2006 and revived in 2016 takes the work from its original village setting to a remote industrial estate at some point in the twentieth century, with Števa (John Findon) an Elvis like character complete with bleached blond hair, leather-jacket […]
The Magic Flute ENO
A magic Magic Flute Mozart’s Magic Flute should need no introduction. One of the most performed pieces of musical theatre, a piece so sacrosanct that fascist governments were scared to tamper with it. In The Queen Of the Night’s Der Hölle Rache it has the defining coloratura aria, written to show off Mozart’s sister-in-law’s high […]
Marina Abramovic’s “7 Deaths of Maria Callas” at the English National Opera
A Visual and Musical Feast at the ENO London is having a Marina Abramovic moment right now with her ‘opera project’ “7 Deaths of Maria Callas” opening at the ENO as well as a retrospective exhibition of her work at the Royal Academy (through to January 1st). If you are unfamiliar with Abramovic, it’s well […]
Iolanthe – English National Opera at the Coliseum
The Fairies Triumphant Return to the Coliseum The ENO are staging a revival of their 2018 hit production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s Iolanthe. Director Cal McCrystal (Paddington 1 and 2, theatrical smash hit One Man, Two Guvnors. The ENO’s HMS Pinafore) is regarded as the go-to-director for comedy and as I didn’t catch it the […]