Tag Archives: Rhian Lois

Composer: Franz Lehar English Lyrics: Richard Thomas English Book: April de Angelis Director: Max Webster Conductor: Kristiina Poska Reviewer: Maryam Philpott In a show that purposefully sets out to celebrate the resourceful and determination of women, it is in the orchestra pit that the real star of Max Webster’s new take on The Merry Widow resides. Kristiina Poska is still that ...

Music: Johann Strauss II Libretto: Carl Haffner & Richard Genee Director: John Copley Conductor: James Southall Reviewer: Kris Hallett The ball is back in fashion and never went away. Or at least so it appears at Bristol Hippodrome where Johann Strauss II Die Fledermaus is currently floating as light as meringue and as exquisite as syrup to be Welsh National ...

Music: Johann Straus II Libretto: Carl Haffner & Richard Genée Director: John Copley Reviewer: Barbara Michaels Fun and frolics in Die Fledermaus, one of the greatest of Viennese operettas. Last staged by Welsh National Opera six years ago, John Copley’s production keeps all the frills and frou-frou of the original first performed in Vienna in 1874. The plot, convoluted as ...

Composer: Elena Langer Librettist &Director: David Pountney Reviewer:Karen Bussell WNO celebrates Beaumarchais’ money-loving, conniving rogue in its episodic spring tour Figaro Forever where Rossini and Mozart’s classics are joined by the world premiere of Langer’s sequel. In a dark departure from the frothy frivolity of Rossini and Mozart’s comic canters, director and librettist David Pountney and composer Elena Langer have ...

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Librettist:Lorenzo Da Ponte English translation: Jeremy Sams Conductor:Lothar Koenigs Director: Tobias Richter Reviewer: Beth Steer   Part of the Welsh National Opera’s spring season, Figaro Forever, The Marriage of Figaro is a four act opera that sits between The Barber of Seville and Figaro Gets a Divorce to chronicle the life of one of opera’s most ...

Just ahead of returning to the West End yet again to play the Phantom of the Opera – almost for the 2000th time – John Owen-Jones talks to Paul Couch about his career,Hiraeth, ‘trial by jury’ talent shows, getting trumped by Shakin’ Stevens and playing… Judge Dredd! You graduated from Central School of Speech &Drama in 1994. What was the ...

Composer: Johann Strauss II Director: Christopher Alden Reviewer: Harry Stern Die Fledermaus isn’t a profound piece of writing. The secret of its enduring popularity must, logically, lie in its levity. It is, in fact, the lightest of light operettas. Not so in Christopher Alden’s leaden hands, which weigh this piece of fin de siècle flimsy down to the point where ...

Music: Georges Bizet Libretto: Henri Meilhac &Ludovic Halevy (translated by Christopher Cowell) Book: Prosper Merimee Director: Calixto Bieito Reviewer: Sonny Waheed [rating:4] Containing some of the most beautiful and instantly recognisable music, Carmen is arguably the most popular opera in the world. Productions and adaptations have been plentiful and varied with the action taking place everywhere from Post-war USA to ...