The Graham Vicks production of FALSTAFF opened the new Covent Garden Royal Opera House, and was not to everybody's taste; the garish primary colours of the costumes. The staging is effective--the complicated counterpoint of the ensembles is reflected in unobtrusive blocking that keeps the vocal lines clear and separate, especially in the final fugue. Bryn Terfel's Falstaff is a memorable creation, self-mocking and self-aggrandising at the same time--so much so, in fact, that he almost does not need the vast prosthetic body he has to wear for the part. Desiree Rancatore is an admirably sweet-toned Nanetta; Bernadette Manca di Nissa an appropriately sardonic Mistress Quickly; Roberto Frontali as Ford, in his Act 2 scena, perfectly distils and parodies every jealousy aria ever written, including Verdi's own. Haitink's conducting is exemplary in the lyrical passages, gets almost everything out of the fast and furious comic sections.

There are elements of Eurotrash in this outdoor Aix-en-Provence summer opera production. Nevertheles...

Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the...

Bridget Jones is an average woman struggling against expectations. As a New Year's resolution, Bridg...

A weekend at a marquis’ country château lays bare some ugly truths about a group of haut bourgeois a...

Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulga...

An aging, decadent landlord’s passion for music becomes the undoing of his legacy as he sacrifices h...

A celebration of love and creative inspiration takes place in the infamous, gaudy and glamorous Pari...

Originally commissioned to celebrate the completion of the Suez Canal and the opening of Cairos new ...

Carlos Álvarez takes the title role in the first of Verdi's Shakespearean operas, with Maria Guleghi...

The Biblical story of Belshazzar's hubristic arrogance, set against the valour of the young warrrior...

At the racetrack, cleaner, Willy Joy is tricked into buying Lindy Lou, a useless greyhound, who's no...

An American girl, Daphne, heads to Europe in search of the father she's never met. But instead of fi...

The sequel to The Visitors reunites us with those lovable ruffians from the French Medieval ages who...

Based on the 1973 rock opera album of the same name by The Who, this is the story of 60s teenager Ji...

Con artist Lawrence Jamieson is a longtime resident of a luxurious coastal resort, where he enjoys t...

The life and career of Italian opera singer Farinelli, considered one of the greatest castrato singe...

A successful actress accepts the role of Lady Macbeth at a small New England theater, where she begi...

Richard Wagner called Die Walküre the “first evening” of the Ring of the Nibelung; he called Das Rhe...

A group of high-powered, middle-aged white men go to this place to take refuge from the stresses of ...

2014 marks a year of celebration recognizing the 150th birthday year of the German late-Romantic orc...