Category: Theatre

  • La Clemenza di Tito – Opera North

    La Clemenza di Tito – Opera North

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    Neal
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    A week of four operas came to a close last night with Mozart’s final opera La Clemenza di Tito. This is a a delve into the Roman world, which gladly had received an update in setting from people wandering around in togas! I had read a number of reviews of this work before we went,…

  • La Voix Humaine/Dido and Aeneas – Opera North

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    A Sunday afternoon treat today with a double-bill of operas. Both of these I’d never listened to or seen so they were a bit of a mystery.  La Voix Humaine by Poulenc was first performed in 1959 and is a 40 minute ‘tragedy lyrique’ for a single voice. Lesley Garrett returned to Opera North, a…

  • Verdi: Otello – Opera North

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    Neal
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    After a pretty long break since the autumn, we had the first of four operas in a week last Wednesday; a new production of Verdi’s Otello. Based on Shakepeare’s play (not unusual for Verdi) it was set in a naval base in the 40s-50s. The set really worked! To summarise the plot, taken from the…

  • Murder on the Nile

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    Last night we went to our annual production by the Agatha Christie Theatre Company, “Murder on the Nile”. Dame Agatha wrote the scripts for her plays and often altered books to suit the stage, often with subtle changes to the plot. “Murder on the Nile” is obviously a version of the famous Poirot novel “Death…

  • Die Walküre – Opera North

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    We had been waiting a year with great anticipation since the first of the Ring Cycle operas, Das Rheingold, last year at Leeds Town Hall. The success of last year’s ‘preliminary evening’ to the three main operas, as Richard Mantle the Director General of Opera North put it, was a success in ways they’d not…

  • Giulio Cesare – Opera North, 10th February 2012

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    Giulio Cesare is our first Handel opera we’ve seen, and it won’t be our last. This review could be very short; Handel is brilliant!! The synopsis courtesy of Opera North goes as follows: Egypt, ancient times. Cleopatra uses all her considerable wiles to persuade Caesar to join her in an alliance against her brutish brother…

  • Norma – Opera North – 28th January 2011

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    Neal
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    Our latest opera at the Grand Theatre in Leeds was Bellini’s Norma. This has probably one of the most popular arias in opera (Casta Diva) and was the role Maria Callas sang the most, and who gave us arguably the best recording off the opera. It is Bellini bel canto at it’s height, with wonderful…

  • Top Hat, Leeds Grand Theatre

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    Not got much time for a big blog post but just had to mention the superb Top Hat musical we saw this evening. It is the first time the famous Fred and Ginger film has been presented on stage, and it is currently touring before going to the West End. Starring was Tom Chambers, who…

  • Tchaikovsky, The Queen of Spades, Opera North

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    Neal
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    Last night was a real treat. Never seen a Tchaikovsky opera live before and Opera North has been very bold this season in taking on The Queen of Spades. The scale in terms of production, cast and orchestra is huge and we were not disappointed! The Queen of Spades is based on a story by…

  • Ruddigore

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    Just got around to posting a review of Opera North’s 2011 revival of last year’s production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore. This was actually the first Gilbert and Sullivan I’d seen, and I must say I was much impressed! The story is pretty complicated but involves a cursed family whose Baron at the time has…