Vaudeville Theatre,
Strand,
London WC2
Review of performance seen Feb 8, 2012:
There’s something slightly lurid about Terrence McNally’s Master Class. Is it a homage or a disfiguration of Maria Callas? When it was first produced in London a decade and more ago, it struck me then as a rather odious love-hate letter to the late, great opera diva. Continue reading
Almeida Theatre, London
© Marc Brenner
Inspired equally by Bizet’s opera, the lifestyle of opera singers, a German director friend and concern over the effects of social media on human relations, Simon Stephens’ Carmen Disruption turns out to be a very personal `take’ with mixed results. Continue reading
The Gospel According to The Other Mary (London Coliseum, English National Opera)
Every art form has its conventions, none more so than opera. In order to understand what is before you, there is some intense reading to be done first, particularly when the subject under consideration is the world premiere of a new work by composer John Adams and director, Peter Sellars whose past collaborations have included Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer whose revival recently in New York sparked a furore of anti-semitic protest.