Die Fledermaus
Welsh National Opera, Cardiff 20th May to 28th June
Johann Strauss’s gorgeous operetta is like a combination of a Viennese chocolate cake and the Marx Brothers. Both Ernst Lubitsch and Michael Powell have filmed the story under different titles and last year’s production at Opera Holland Park successfully relocated the plot from 19th-century Vienna to 1930s London. But John Copley’s 2011 version for WNO was one of the most authentic and amusing versions available. This welcome revival includes Mary Elizabeth Williams as Rosalinde, Mark Stone as Eisenstein and Emma Carrington en travesti as Orlovsky. Release the bat!
Hamlet
Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Lewes 11th June to 6th July
Brett Dean’s Hamlet, with a libretto by Matthew Jocelyn, is Glyndebourne’s boldest commission to date and will be one of the season’s hottest tickets. Of the few extant Hamlet operas, Ambroise Thomas’s 1868 Grand French version was the best known until the rediscovery of Franco Faccio’s Amleto of 1865, performed to great acclaim at last year’s Bregenz Festival in Austria. But I suspect Dean’s Hamlet might be closer to Charles Marowitz’s 1968 cut-up theatrical version.
Tosca
Grange Park Opera Festival, Alresford 8th June to 2nd July
Grange Park marks its first season in its new home at West Horsley Place in grand style with Puccini’s masterpiece. Not only have they gathered a sterling set of designers but they have lured some serious talent to throw down the gauntlet to Glyndebourne. Roland Wood is Scarpia, Ekaterina Metlova is Tosca and the celebrated Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja is Cavaradossi, in what promises to be a sensational opening to a stellar season.
Welsh National Opera, Cardiff 20th May to 28th June
Johann Strauss’s gorgeous operetta is like a combination of a Viennese chocolate cake and the Marx Brothers. Both Ernst Lubitsch and Michael Powell have filmed the story under different titles and last year’s production at Opera Holland Park successfully relocated the plot from 19th-century Vienna to 1930s London. But John Copley’s 2011 version for WNO was one of the most authentic and amusing versions available. This welcome revival includes Mary Elizabeth Williams as Rosalinde, Mark Stone as Eisenstein and Emma Carrington en travesti as Orlovsky. Release the bat!
Hamlet
Glyndebourne Opera Festival, Lewes 11th June to 6th July
Brett Dean’s Hamlet, with a libretto by Matthew Jocelyn, is Glyndebourne’s boldest commission to date and will be one of the season’s hottest tickets. Of the few extant Hamlet operas, Ambroise Thomas’s 1868 Grand French version was the best known until the rediscovery of Franco Faccio’s Amleto of 1865, performed to great acclaim at last year’s Bregenz Festival in Austria. But I suspect Dean’s Hamlet might be closer to Charles Marowitz’s 1968 cut-up theatrical version.
Tosca
Grange Park Opera Festival, Alresford 8th June to 2nd July
Grange Park marks its first season in its new home at West Horsley Place in grand style with Puccini’s masterpiece. Not only have they gathered a sterling set of designers but they have lured some serious talent to throw down the gauntlet to Glyndebourne. Roland Wood is Scarpia, Ekaterina Metlova is Tosca and the celebrated Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja is Cavaradossi, in what promises to be a sensational opening to a stellar season.
