Martin ThomassonAlcina’s love island casts its spell on Martin Thomasson You all, of course, know the story of Alcina. She (disguised as a he) is in love with him (who sings a bit like a she), but he (who sings a bit like a she) is bewitched by her (not her...
Carmel ThomasonCarmen is one of the most popular operas of all time, so it’s perhaps not surprising that Opera North chose to stage it for its comeback production after nearly two years of darkness during the Covid pandemic. As this bold new envisioning from...
The clown/jester Rigoletto is not well-liked, but is good at his job – essentially, to make fun of the vulnerable for the amusement of his boss, the Duke of Mantua, and the duke’s hangers-on. The Duke is a ruthless and incorrigible womaniser...
Opera North, in collaboration with Phoenix Dance, bring us a triple bill: two parts Bernstein with a new piece (“Halfway and Beyond”) based on a contemporary poem, sandwiched between. The evening opens with a revival of Matthew Eberhardt’s 2017...
The nice woman working security at the Lowry approaches me with her metal-detecting device.“Do you have a pacemaker,” she asks. “I don’t think so.” This is not to be found on anyone’s list of Sensible Answers. What was I thinking? That some rogue...
I posted a photograph on social media last night, showing the musicians starting to take their seats on stage at the Lowry’s Lyric theatre. You can also make out how thinly populated the auditorium is. “Sparse,” a friend of mine commented. Indeed...
Moses KabungaKurt Weil’s dramatic opera, Street Scene was awarded the inaugural Tony Award for Best Original Score in 1947. It’s based on a play by Elmer Rice and charts the events that take place over two days in the slums of a New York district. Trailer The...
Georgina WellsThe night of Opera North’s performance of The Turn of the Screw at The Lowry was a dark and stormy one, fitting weather conditions for the Benjamin Britten opera based on Henry James’ ghostly short story. The set up is, to an extent, familiar: a...
Lorraine Worsley-CarterIt’s Figaro’s wedding day – or is it? Poor, honest to the core, Figaro, is as a happy man, as any prospective groom would expect to be on his wedding day. That is, until he realises his master, Count Almaviva, to whom he is deeply loyal, holds...
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James is one of the most unsettling ghost stories ever written. And Benjamin Britten’s operatic version as part of Opera North’s new season at The Lowry is equally chilling. When a governess agrees to take care...
