Hänsel und Gretel (Royal Opera Cast A)

This is now the third time I've seen this production and I still don't really care for it. Too adult to appeal to children but stuck with too many childlike trappings to really appeal to adults. The designs are neither terribly attractive nor in anyway meaningful. Despite repeat viewings I'm still completely at a loss as to what the aim of the directors really was. This cast however, held the edge over the the other (reviewed here).

Diana Damrau has one of the most pure, radiant voices in the world and is ideally suited to Gretel. Her light, blossoming voice sounds almost untrained (in a good way) and her acting is right on the money. Angelika Kirchschlager has a wonderful full bodied voice, is endlessly musical and gave Hansel more than just the stroppy child that Alice Coote imparted on the role. As a pair they really matched both vocally and in acting style, just through their own effervescence they imbued the show with the sense of fun that is dearly missing from the production. Thomas Allen didn't have the diction of his Cast B equivalent but he too found more humour in the piece. I can't remember laughing once during the entire first Act with Cast B but Allen found the comedy without acting like a clown. Elizabeth Connell (who managed a remarkable "Turandot") is well suited to the mother figure and made something of the small role. Anja Silja is well past it vocally, rough and forced all over her range but as with most of this cast she grabbed the piece and made it work. Her witch was horrible, murderous eyes and clawing hands, a terrifying creation which in many respects made up for her weaker vocals.

Cast A take top honours for this run virtually across the board (although Cast A weren't exactly a poor bunch). The production remains a pretty dull affair with limp ideas and clumsy execution but this cast lifted the show to a higher level, Damrau in particular an absolute star. The run is almost over now and I suspect it won't be long before the first revival, but they'd better have a similarly impressive cast, it isn't much of an evening without them.

La Cage Aux Folles

The Menier Chocolate Factory (An incredible venue that punches so far above its weight, it's insane) has produced a variety of brilliant shows but "La Cage Aux Folles" may well be the best yet. I felt curiously compelled to wait and see it with Graham Norton who takes over the role of Albin in the New Year but after catching a bit of Douglas Hodge's performance on the Royal Variety Show (thank you BBC iPlayer and then Youtube) it didn't take me long to find an opportunity to grab a ticket. It was just my luck to time it so Hodge had fallen ill. Whatsmore, to potentially make matters worse the understudy had fallen ill as well. Roll on the second cover, Robert Maskell. Sonia Friedman, the powerhouse producer, even went so far as to give a little speech apologising but there wasn't a whole lot of point. The man was brilliant (albeit maybe not as brilliant as Hodge is in the video above). There did appear to be one too few Cagelle which was a little odd, maybe I was just in a charitable mood, but somehow it didn't matter. It's a testament to the quality of this production that despite these various body blows it still emerged as one of the finest bits of theatre I've seen all year.

It isn't a musical I've come across much before, the film being perhaps more famous than the musical. "I am what I am" is suitably famous but entirely out of context (I didn't even know it was a gay anthem) and it's a shockingly downbeat moment when compared to the feel of most performances. This is a fairly streamlined production (after all it emerged from a tiny, tiny venue) but the reduced orchestration gives the music a spiky feeling I really liked, lacking epic grandeur but brisk and exciting. The chreography is superb from start to finish. I find all the transvestite cabaret stuff a little bit creepy but the manner in which it's pulled off is astonishing, it's hard to believe all the incredibly flexible moves are being done by men. The designs are simple but hugely effective, the hysterically overdone cabaret sets nail the feel of the piece. All in all it's a pretty flawless production balancing humour with a heady dose of pathos adding up to wonderfully entertaining evening with a serious message (although that message has greatly diminished since the piece's premiere in the eighties)

I can't say I wasn't massively disappointed when I saw the replacement list but I rapidly realised it wasn't actually so awful. Maskell might be new at this role but he's a talented performer and Albin is a gift of a part for anyone prepared to throw themselves at it with gusto. If I'd had no idea this was an understudy performance (an understudies' first performance in fact) I'd never have guessed and I can't say much better than that. Denis Lawson (the regularly billed Georges) has an easy, attractive voice and is a natural comedian. He gets most of the best songs (with the exception of "I Am What I Am" which goes to Albin) and delivers them with such musicality and charm as to make his performance irresistable. The rest of the cast were on top form throughout and it's hard to pick individuals out but Jason Pennycooke's hysterical butler/maid Jacob went down an absolute storm.

Quite simply one of the best shows I've seen this year. It has a very similar feel and message to "Hairspray" but does it all to a much higher standard. A great cast, so great even the second understudy is brilliant, and a inventive production add up to an evening that I'm struggling to find faults in. One of the last shows I'll see this year and without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best.

Lost and Found Orchestra

I never really like "Stomp". It was quite clever and, initially at least, the sounds produced were fairly appealing but over the course of a full length show I just found it dull. A good thirty minute piece stretched to too many. I approached "Lost and Found Orchestra" with relatively low expectations, it's from the same team and on paper it's pretty much the same show but with a greater variety of instruments. On stage that description holds but it's also a much more spectacular show with a much larger company and stage.

The large, scaffolding based set is impressive visually and versatile enough to stay interesting for the two hour running time. The lighting however, whilst it nails the feel the show seems to be reaching for, is far too dim. It falls under the trendy lighting vogue for low lighting that is sufficiently dark as to leave much to the imagination. This is all well and good in some circumstances but it's pretty silly when you can't really see what creation the performer is currently playing. The left and right wings of the stage had large organ like instruments made from bellows and the like but so dimly lit were they I only ascertained what they were for from the programme. The incredible glass playing is pushed right to the side of the stage and then performed in near darkness. It just felt silly when only marginally brighter lighting might have had a similar impact and allowed the audience to see what was going on.

The skill of the performers is what really keeps the show interesting. As clever as some of the instruments are it's the person playing it that keeps things vibrant. Even the timpanist seemed to be high on something. The comedy routines fell flatter than a pancake, they might be necessary to cover the orchestra's movements but I can't say I find weird little men on space hoppers particularly funny and the rest of the audience didn't seem to either. When the music really got flowing though it varied in quality hugely although not greatly in feel. Beyond switching the instruments around, each composition was of the same type, simple melody with heavy percussion backing and overall minimalist tone. Some instruments worked better, the saxophones made from piping were a treat and hearing the musical saw played is a novelty if not something I'd want to hear often. The show really flew when the huge numbers of players coordinated together to produce a tune, often with each player using a very simple tool to produce a single note (such as plastic tubing). The more complicated instruments like the bottle marimba and trash can timps looked cool but ultimately just sounded like less refined versions of the true instrument.

This is fun and unlike stomp almost managed to sustain itself for it's running time. That said, the big opening number after the interval when all the instruments come together for the first time is about the only bit I really needed to see. The Blue Man Group really covered a lot of this schtick awhile back and they mixed it with lengthy comedy sequences and arty interludes. This expects the central conceit to sustain the entire performance and whilst there's enough there to prevent things getting dull it's still something of a (no pun intended) one note show. There are worse ways to spend a couple of hours but at the West End prices they are charging I'd largely give this a thumbs down. If you liked stomp, this might just be the show for you. More elaborate but otherwise pretty much the same show.

Turandot (Royal Opera, Cast A)

The Royal Opera's "Turandot" is massive in just about every respect. Huge set with enormous chorus and some weighty singers powering out some massive tunes. Thankfully when called for, it can also do the smaller things as well.

The production is an old warhorse and it's holding up the best of any of the relic stagings. The imposing designs and colourful costumes paired with attractively paired down choreography and thoughtful staging mean it could have been put together yesterday. The entire piece is played out as if in an Asian gladiatorial arena, the chorus looming from the balconies, coaxing the characters to their slaughter. The costumes and masks really conjure up China (a stylised Western view at any rate), and the mammoth constructions that are wheeled around the stage are nothing short of spectacular.

The title role was filled at the last minute by Elizabeth Connell who deserves massive plaudits just for having the bravery to fill in at the last minute. She deserves further praise for doing a damn good job of the part. Strongly sung, firing out the blistering top notes and handling the quiet introverted moments with just as much skill. The problem lay in just how warmly she came across, she was far too matronly for this divine ice queen. The harshness just felt forced, an act behind which she just needed a hug, and that isn't quite true of the role. José Cura is an ideal bit of casting as Calaf, the handsome, young "Unknown Prince". A rich sounding tenor with the range to pull off "Nessun Dorma" but the good sense to try and inject drama into everything. It might be an air that is commonly song like a battle victory celebration but the words are suggesting anything but and Cura was more than good enough to make it bitter sweet. Liù was sung by the appropriately gorgeous Svetla Vassileva but she suffered from being just a little too potent for the slave girl she was meant to be playing. Her "Tu che di gel sei cinta" was absolutely heartbreaking however, a moment when real sadness took hold on precedings. Paata Burchuladze was a very strong Timur, never dominating but adding well needed experience to precedings. He has a rock solid bass and projects with real gusto whilst acting the elderly role with aplomb. Robert Tear in his final performance for the house is ideally suited to the role of the emperor, sitting above the stage in regal fashion. The three ministers were less strong, Giorgio Caoduro, as Ping, weakly voiced and underwhelmingly acted. Ji-Min Park and Alasdair Elliott fared better but none of them made much of an impact and the opening of Act II was dull as a result.

This is a stunning production and a very solid cast. Cura was on top form and whilst I have my reservations about Connell, under the circumstances it was a very fine performance. If you're feeling like an opera this Christmas you could do a great deal worse than this, the Royal Opera's "Hansel und Gretel" (the actual Christmas offering) being an example of this. Thrillingly sung in places, easy on the eye and it's not exactly a score to complain about. A great night out.

Tim Minchin

I stumbled upon Tim Minchin when I had little other choice is rural Snape sometime ago and I was completely smitten. He handled an audience of largely elderly folk who clearly weren't expecting his brand of mildly offensive but endlessly clever comedy songs. The crowd at his two night run at the Southbank Centre was still more mixed than he is perhaps used to, but for many this was clearly a repeat experience. Singing along was not uncommon.

Second time around I was slightly surprised at how unimpressive his general stand-up banter is. The insecure "is this funny?" lines worked much better in front of an audience who had no idea what to expect, here it just felt forced. Of course we find your songs funny, that's why we came. Whilst his stand-up falls some way short of top notch, if anything I left this time more impressed by his music. This time he had a backing band and a string quartet ("Raven", an attractive all-female group) and boy did some of his material fly. Ignoring his hysterical lyrics, the music is very appealing. Tack on smoke and excessive lighting and you've got a comedy gig that could easily be mistaken for a trendy rock one.

It's the lyrics that really matter though, and currently nobody I've come across does this kind of skit better. "Storm", a nine minute beat poem, is an absolute tour de force. Endlessly witty but with a deeply felt point, it's brilliant comedy. From "Canvas Bags" to "Dark Side" there literally wasn't a flop in the show. His voice is fabulously broad, pulling off pastiche rock god and camp boyband member all at the same time. He can even pull off the tender with his shockingly moving encore, an ode to Christmas.

His look reminds of Russell Brand but despite occasional barbs, he's more charming than offensive. His stand-up could do with some work, or total removal since that wouldn't hurt the show much, but his songs are near flawless. I don't think there's a comedian I prefer, and this gig did nothing but confirm that.

The Nutcracker (Royal Ballet)

Back on home territory I've quickly flitted to that most comfortable of armchairs, the Royal Ballet's "Nutcracker". Not my favourite ballet by a long shot but there's something comforting about the entire affair. The sumptuous costumes and sets, accessible character dances and pointlessly entertaining plot line.

I picked the date purely as it had several notable young performers, some of whom were a little disappointing. Elizabeth Harrod is possibly the most delightful Clara I've ever come across. Light, breezy and endlessly watchable. Her Nutcracker was the similarly charming Brian Maloney. Neither were exactly challenged by their roles but they threw themselves into everything and there was some real chemistry (which isn't exactly needed in the Nutcracker but it doesn't hurt). Alastair Marriott's Drosselmeyer was more severe than I would expect but it worked well enough and he pulled all the magic off with aplomb. Act I was stronger than II with the particularly strong pairing of Hikaru Kobayashi and Kenta Kura as two of the puppets. The various divertissements of Act II were a little inconsistant. The Arabian Dance was a highlight, Cindy Jourdain being almost too sexy for the family performance, but the rest were so so. The Russian dance was a flat affair, Kevin Emerton and James Hay managing to make the fireworks of the choreography look pretty dull (although Maloney did alright). Laura McCulloch had lovely bounce as the Rose Fairy making the most of the gorgeous choreography. Most disappointing were the two dancers I'd come to see. Sergei Polunin excels at big flashy choreography but his partnering here was fairly limp. Yuhui Choe didn't do a great deal better although punched out some lovely turns in her variation (her gargouillades were surprisingly strong as well). Seperately both did fine but as a pairing this didn't really click.

A solid performance of a charming work. "The Nutcracker" doesn't reach much beyond looking lovely but it does look utterly ravishing. The central dramatic couple of Maloney and Harrod were particularly strong at this performance livening things up a little although there were too many weaker performances to really call it great one. The corps were pretty tight overall, the children excelling as always. I've got at least one more Royal "Nutcracker" this year and possibly an ENB one (although I greatly dislike their production) so I'll probably hate the entire piece in a couple of weeks (not that that will stop me going to as many next year), but at least in my current mind frame there's little better on this christmas for sheer family entertainment.

Götterdämmerung (Vienna State Opera)

The Vienna State Opera are currently in the process of staging a new ring cycle and I managed to catch one of the performances in the first run of their new "Götterdämmerung", not an ideal place to start, but I'm not going to complain. After the really rather miserable performance of the day before this was a welcome return to form. I've never heard the orchestra play better and whilst the cast weren't brilliant across the board, there were no major failures either.

The production it must be said is on the cheap side which isn't a bad thing per se but it does mean the designs don't change much which puts a huge amount of pressure on the acting of the singers. What it did have was a clarity of staging that was so missing from last years Royal Opera production. I can't comment on the continuity of ideas throughout the cycle as this is the only part I've seen (and they haven't even staged Rheingold yet) and some images struck me as odd but might possibly tie into the previous parts. I can't say I'm much of a fan of the weird emerald city walls and slightly random Grane projections but sensibly the director has ensured none of these things get in the way of the action and music. The big immolation scene is slickly done although budget constraints are plain to see. If you'd described the use of projections for the fire and water to me before I'd seen it I would have been unimpressed but somehow it just about works. The final adam and eve image rather over eggs the pudding (not exactly original either) but it's attractive enough.

This opera is always going to be tough to cast but they've done a pretty good job here. Christian Franz wasn't the most heroic of Siegfrieds, his voice a little nasal, but he got through the role without many problems (which is impressive). He also acted the role surprisingly well, nicely balancing the fearless hero with the naive boy that he ultimately is. The Brunnhilde was Eva Johansson who I thought initially rather poor. She struggled to control the more intimate passages of the Prologue and generally lacked presence. Act II saw a massive shift though as she unleashed volleys of high notes with real gusto. Subtle this wasn't but all of a sudden she simply dominated the action. By the immolation scene she'd totally won the audience over and the final redemption was deeply moving. The only completely stunning performance came from Eric Halfvarson whose Hagen was seriously unpleasant and sumptuously voiced. He threw real emphasis behind everything he did, my only complaint being largely at what he was presumably directed to do which was leap around the stage after the death of Siegfried. It just looked silly. The smaller roles were well sung. Everything that made Boaz Daniel a bad Marcello yesterday made him a very impressive Gunther here (fair play to the man for singing both roles in parallel, can't be easy). Caroline Wenborne sung a strong Gutrune although stayed largely in the background. Mihoko Fujimura is a flawless Waltraute desperately impassioned and weightily sung.

The production may not be the most interesting, spectacular or thought provoking ever but it's solidly put together and dramatically clear. With the Vienna Staatsoper orchestra under Franz Welser-Most, the music sounded absolutely incredible. Siegfried's Funeral March simply filled the auditorium with radiant sound. The singing wasn't perfect but for such a hard piece it was impressive none the less. This trip has had it's ups and downs, but this was certainly a big up. It's a work I'm never going to tire of and I hope I'll hear again soon. If my next hearing is with this cast in this production, I certainly won't have anything to complain about.

La bohème (Vienna State Opera)

This "La bohème" was one of the major reasons I'd picked this period to be in Vienna, the Wagner the following day being the other. Somehow it turned out to be one of the most disappointing evenings I've ever had at the theatre. I can tell you exactly why, Constantinos Carydis. I'd never come across him before and frankly I won't be sorry if I don't again. He's supposed to be some kind of wunderkind, but he delivered probably the most inept bit of conducting I've ever come across.

The production is a Zeffirelli masterpiece. Not quite as ostentatiously detailed as the Copley Royal Opera production but it offers a similarly refined look at one of the loveliest scores in the repertory. The sets are to my mind less attractive than they could be, especially Act III (which also has rather restricted space for staging), but it's wonderfully atmospheric, the gritty world of Bohemia evoked far more so than in the too clean London production. The crowd scenes of Act II are well managed, bringing the piece to life without distracting from the central performances.

The performers were top notch across the board but none managed their best thanks to the hopeless beating in the pit. Rolando Villazón didn't quite hit the incredible level he managed in Hoffmann last week but he survived Carydis far better than any other singer. Vienna loves this man and he was quite happy to sing right over the conductor, the orchestra more than happy to have someone to follow. It was clear he wasn't giving it all although his acting remains easily the most intense of any current tenor. His Mimi was new to me, one Kristine Opolais, and she too held up pretty well under the difficult circumstances. She comfortably matched Villazón's soaring notes but struggled to control some of the softer passages, withdrawing into herself which made her difficult to hear and diminished her otherwise decent acting. She fell out of time with the orchestra and entered late but, where this might have been her fault on another night, here most of the cast did at least once so I know who I'm blaming. Boaz Daniel has a rock solid voice but it lacked the warmth that Marcello really needs. He was just too rigid to really allow for the romantic tumbling the piece requires. His Musetta, Laura Tatulescu, I rather disliked. She has the looks and curves to carry off this flirtacious, sexy role but when she opened her voice out it was of the overblown, wobbly variety that I find unpleasant. Her pitch went and she ended up sounding dangerously like one of the untrained pop-opera stars (unfortunately Musetta's Waltz is a commonly knocked off tune which didn't help the comparison). The smaller roles of the friends were very well filled by Ain Anger and Adrian Erod, Anger's parting with his jacket particularly poignant in an otherwise flat show.

I could go on about Carydis for some time with ease so I'll try and keep this brief. Making the Vienna Staatsoper orchestra sound poor takes real effort, in fact if he hadn't been beating at all they would have probably done better. This is one of the finest opera orchestras in the world (better than Covent Garden by a margin) and they sounded positively amateur. I could see the double basses rolling their eyes. To rub salt into his inability to keep things together, Carydis is also an obnoxiously extravagant arm-waver, swirling his arms in the air to zero effect (or perhaps a negative one). This is a great production with an extremely impressive cast and yet the entire performance sank under this dismal conducting. I haven't been more put out by a performance in a long time, incredible on paper but fatally wounded by the man who should have brought it all together.

Die Zauberflöte (Vienna State Opera)

The Vienna State Opera production of "The Magic Flute" is both overdesigned and underdirected. The sets and costumes are visually interesting but overly dominant whilst the singers pretty much stand and deliver too much of the material. It's not a bad production but I couldn't help but wish the director had restrained the designer a little more.

The central design is a broken cube with odd dimensions that throw off the perspective. This works well and many of the images conjured are hugely effective. The left side of the stage is dominated by a big curving flat that serves no real purpose and above the cube is an angled walkway that merely distracts. The production does lipservice to Masonry but where the production succeeds most is in demonstrating a more ambiguous picture of Sarastro, his cult and the Queen of the Night's "villainy". A black and white attitude usually reigns but here the Queen and her Ladies are portrayed as far more liberally free than the stifled and regulated world that Sarastro leads. There's a wonderful moment during the trials when Pamina approaches Tamino and recoils as she sees he has been given one of the masks associated with Sarastro's "cult". The conclusion is disappointing slipping from this intriguing stance to a rather terrible song and dance, everyone's happy monent (even the Queen). The production has some real merits but you've got to wade through silly animals, which keep reappearing, and other extraneous directorial impositions to reach the meat of the show.

The casting was fairly variable. Matthias Klink stayed the course but managed little more. He wasn't bad, it was just all disappointingly nondescript. At the time I didn't have any major complaints but now I can hardly remember him at all which is never a good sign. Ildiko Raimondi was a fairly charming Pamina, not an overly large voice but used effectively. Her "Ach, ich fühl's, es ist verschwunden" was genuinely heartwrenching. Wolfgang Bankl wasn't particularly strong at the early physical comedy, his larger build preventing him really leaping around, but as the piece rolled on he became difficult to dislike. An enchanting grin and merry singing voice overcoming the lack of humour elsewhere. Teodora Gheorghiu made a great deal from the small part of Papagena, both her earlier semi-creepy old hag and later as her utterly delightful younger self. Walter Fink made all the right sounds as Sarastro and effectively offered the ambiguity of morals that worked so well in this production. Big failure was Jennifer O'Loughlin's Queen of the Night. She survived the coloratura, but only just. She wasn't nearly comfortable enough with the notes and you could see the desperation on her face.

This is a really interesting production that becomes a victim to its own wealth of ideas. Somewhere beneath the naff animals, excessive snake/dragon creature and endless screens and props there are some intelligent ideas. The singers weren't of the highest order but there was plenty to enjoy especially the charming performance of Bankl. Another pleasant night at the opera but nothing special.

Don Carlo (Vienna State Opera)

I'm just back from another brief jaunt to Vienna, a very chilly city this time of year, for a bit of heavy opera going, and I'll now be writing for a couple of days just to catch up. First show up was "Don Carlo", a work that the Royal Opera rather hit for six not all that long ago with a rather stunning production. Luckily the centrepiece of that production, Ferruccio Furlanetto, was in this run as well and offered up a similarly incredible performance. The remaining singers were hugely different in style to that lighter production although similar in quality.

The production is very old-school (it's pretty old in age as well) and on the whole entirely remains in the background. The imposing gates give the impression of a prison and the focus is pushed to the character conflicts more than the broader political interest. The Flemish Deputies are sidelined giving greater importance to Carlo's impact on the situation which I thought rather intelligent and effective. Only in the famous Auto-De-Fe does the production really open out, with an enormously excessive scene, the stage filled with a massive staircase and hundreds of performers. I cannot entirely understand why the four Act version is used rather than the five. Robbed of the opening act, the relationship between Carlo and his "mother" feels far more unsavoury than it really is. Crucially then I found the doomed love almost nasty which is both wrong and totally jarring with the piece. The continuous mid-act curtain calls are just obnoxious. It completely detracts from the flow of the piece and halts whatever dramatic impact has been building, a foolish and outdated practice that could easily be excised without any real effort. Broadly speaking then it's not a production to set the heart aflame, but it doesn't get in the way either.

The singing was very strong across the board. Johan Botha has all the weight and power to easily make it through the long tough title role but he was just a little Wagnerian for my tastes. Grand Opera this might be but it's not Wagner and some of the romanticism was lost on his hard edged singing, there was no warmth, it just felt a little loveless. His acting suffered from this overdominating seriousness, his love for Elizabetta hardly the overpowering force that is should have been. George Petean made for a magnificently voiced Rodrigo but I've seen wooden boards give more believable performances. Stiff as a plank, it was lucky he sounded so radiant as it more or less covered his almost fatally terrible acting. Alexandru Moisiuc lacked menace and bite as the Grand Inquisitor although he sang solidly enough. Neither woman really caught me emotionally but neither could be said to have failed vocally. Norma Fantini sounds great in places and she conjured some marvellously controlled soft moments but the big expressive passages had a vibrato heavy delivery that didn't conceal some thinness and gave rise to some minor intonation issues. Nadia Krasteva pressed all the right buttons but somehow failed to really make much impact. Neither her early flirtatious Veil aria nor the potent "O don fatale" quite flew despite some very decent singing. I suspect some found her more affecting but she failed to capture me beyond her accurate singing. Top of the pile was Ferruccio Furlanetto who vocally ruled the roost and managed a deeply ambiguous acting performance to rival anything I've ever seen. His "Ella giammai m'amò" received a rapturous reception, and it was a truly astonishing performance.

Aside from Furlanetto this was dramatically rather flat but the singing was fairly potent across the board. The orchestra under Renato Palumbo was under par, especially in the brass, but this is by Vienna Staatsoper standards which are incredibly high. The production doesn't really do anyone any favours but it does little harm, although the missing act is a huge mistake, and it's not unattractive to look at. A decent start to my trip then, not exactly riveting but not a bad night either.

Imagine This

"Imagine This" the latest musical trainwreck on the West End scene. To be brutally honest, I'm not exactly surprised. Trying to open a new musical, from an unknown writing team, an almost completely unknown cast and subject matter that would test even the most hardened marketing team, this was never going to work (especially with the current economic climate). I got my ticket on the cheap (very cheap) but the theatre was still about twenty percent full (no exaggeration) and talking to an usher this was pretty much par for the course. I'm astonished the show has lasted as long as it has, whoever is funding this had deep pockets that are now much shallower. All this doesn't actually mean it's a bad show and to my mind it isn't. Not a great one by any stretch but certainly not the terrible evening several critics seem to suggest. Nor is it an ethical minefield it's painted to be. It's not even a first, "Ghetto" was staged at the National well before my time, but not before several current critics who had no qualms about the content then (the music for that show was authentic to the Jewish ghettos but I'm not sure how that effects the end product ethically). It's a potentially offensive topic and some would say that by its nature it's manipulative (no more so to my mind than Vietnam or the French Revolution to name but two) but it's handled tastefully and the piece is about so much more than just Jewish specific events, it's about every human struggle globally, performance transcending situation and ultimately standing up for what you believe in. That last line might suggest this is a deeply meaningful, thought provoking work and it isn't really that either but the show's heart is in the right place.

All that said, it's a pretty uneven evening. There are a couple of powerful anthemic numbers that rival anything in Les Miserables or the various Lloyd-Webber musicals, The title song "Imagine This" being frankly superb, but there's plenty of material that's (similarly frankly) a bit rubbish. The two humorous songs given to Pompey are absolutely terrible, through no fault of Michael Matus who has a good stab at the part. The epic decision song from Daniel, the main character stunningly performed by Peter Polycarpou (the only actor who truly managed to transcend the script and create a living, breathing figure), is unintentionally hysterical which is a real pity because the situation is deeply moving. In most respects the lyrics are the weakest link with some absolutely abysmal lines but the music occasionally drifts into "Fiddler on the Roof" mode (closer perhaps to "You Won't Succeed on Broadway, If You Don't Have Any Jews" from Spamalot) which doesn't really work. The set is striking and effectively used to portray a variety of settings thanks to some very evocative lighting. No marks to the choreography that seeks to be a little bit different but ultimately looks a bit like an nineties music video (not disimilar to the macarena in places). We are thankfully spared any dancing Nazis (See Northern Ballet's "Hamlet" for that) but very camp Roman officers we do get. Thumping poles around gets dull fast and it's the central conceit of about half the dancing (plus for some curious reason my entire seat vibrated whenever they banged their poles, jumped around or turned on the revolve. Fun at first but rapidly very annoying).

The performances are very good from most although apart from Polycarpou few are exceptional. Leila Benn Harris is entirely gorgeous and largely sang well. Most of her range sounded strong and very attractive but she sounded pretty thin on some sustained notes and she tended to cover it with rather unpleasantly excessive vibrato. A strong acting performance though, especially in the testing closing moments (the strongest part of the show by a country mile). Simon Gleeson has a very impressive voice but his acting was heavily of the shouting makes me sound meaningful variety. This worked for the Roman General but less for the romance in the Ghetto. As I mentioned, Matus is given a terrible part but he was charismatic enough to almost pull it off (well not almost, but he didn't look like an idiot which felt impressive at the time). Polycarpou is superb, a wonderful singer and actor, an easy stage presence but more than enough weight to make the deathly serious moments work. Praise must go to Richard Cotton for being a genuinely effective Nazi. Too often such parts end up unitentionally amusing but Cotton nailed the horror without going overboard.

This isn't a great show and its death at the end of the week comes as no real shock (the superior and also similar "Marguerite" had a longer innings but went the same way all too soon), but that's more for economic reasons than artistic, I suspect it would have closed even if it were a much better product. Worse shows have done much better (To my mind this is vastly superior to "Wicked"). I left the theatre feeling like it was far from an evening wasted, it's uplifting and bold (especially in the last twenty minutes) theatre even with its fairly substantial flaws. Strong performances and effective staging (ignoring the terrible choreography) make for a solid show. The songs are hugely variable, running from some of the best I've heard in awhile to some of the worst I've ever heard, the lyrics consistently dodgy. What sets the show apart really is the ambition to try something a little different and in many respects it's the bravest musical to appear in the West End I can remember (bravery might have slid into outright foolhardiness). A minor loss artistically but a loss none the less.

Hänsel und Gretel (Royal Opera Cast B)

"Hänsel und Gretel" is an absolutely marvellous opera, accessibly tuneful but far from vacuous. Delightful melodies hiding a rather darker core. The Royal Opera's new production is none of these things, in fact it's pretty much just dull. Clunky and at times completely ineptly staged. A mishmash of images, the majority of which are less than magical. Thankfully musically it's fairly strong. The leads didn't exactly blow me away, but it was solidly sung and the orchestra were in very fine form.

The production starts with Act I crammed into a small bedroom with peculiar dimensions, fine in principle but in reality it looked like the product of a Communist Disney. Largely austere with palid walls but oddly conventional, rather expensive looking, fairytale beds. No marks to the costumes here either which are both far too dull and in curiously good condition. For a family surviving beneath the breadline they didn't appear to be suffering all that badly. The size of the room was, I assume, designed to emphasise their poverty, but all it really did was constrain the action and make the children look enormous. With Irmgard Vilsmaier in the role of the mother, the door was only just large enough (she's a huge woman, vertically as much as horizontally). The scene is virtually stripped of all humour (not even sure how they managed this), the sole laugh coming from the appearance of a "SPAR" shopping bag. Leaving the house we make our way to the wood which has a striking design and very intelligent lighting. Despite the opening out of the setting the staging remains bizarrely static. All the of the stage is empty yet the two children spend almost all their time in a very small space near the middle. The sliding screen is quite clever in an old fashioned sort of way but it's the only moment of any real wit in the act. The Sandman is an absolutely absurd creation. The costume could have come from a completely different production and to make matters worse it's rather ungainly with odd little flying moments that looked uncomfortable rather than magical. The Act closes with a prayer that rather sums up the entire production. The angel protectors are squirrels in white jumpsuits who awkwardly maneuver various object around the stage. Two are revealed to be the children's parents and they give them sandwiches. It's a nice idea but it's so cack handedly staged one wonders why someone didn't say something.

Act III works slightly better. Things don't start terribly well, the Dewfairy appears to have been pinched from the local pantomime. The witch then appears bare chested for no particular reason I could ascertain but thankfully soon puts on a cardigan. The gingerbread cottage is a massive disappointment as well. It's about two feet high. Enough said really but I have to commend the Royal Opera House Bakery Department who did a sterling job in creating this prop (which is eaten so they presumably have to make a new one for every performance). The transformation to the kitchen is mildly impressive and the design here actually works. The hanging children might be a touch excessive but as a whole the set conjures the kind of fantastical world that eluded the production up till now. It's both funnier than anything that has come before and also much more tense and scary. The death of the witch is again rather clumsily staged, rather than the standard push forward into the oven they push her backwards which looks odd and you can see them being careful because the risk of injury is higher. Both narratively and dramatically a forward push makes much more sense, who checks their oven by bending over backwards??? Top marks to the Bakery Department again for another stunning cake based product in the form of the cooked witch.

Thankfully the singers (this is the B cast, I'm hearing the A cast later in the run) largely overcome the creaky staging to create much more viable characters. Camilla Tilling is absolutely charming as Gretel, her voice is exquisitely light and youthful, although she could do with a little more volume in places. Alice Coote is similarly strong vocally, incredibly assured and robust especially in her lower register and if anything she's too loud as she often overpowers Tilling, but she over-acts like crazy. It's a hard role for a female singer to capture but this was all epic sulking and clumping about like a prize idiot. The parents were perfectly cast with Vilsmaier (who sang the role in the much stronger Glyndebourne production over the summer) powering out the part like the epic wagnerian she is but characterising well, managing to wring a little depth from the part despite the constraints the production applies. Eike Wilm Schulte looks absolute terrific as the father and gives a textbook performance, big and boistrous but entirely controlled. Ann Murray was a little disappointing, neither terribly exciting vocally nor particularly terrifying. She hit all the right notes but failed to capture the evil, creepiness of the role. Eri Nakamura didn't make much of The Sandman although just surviving the role when laboured with that costume was impressive. Simona Mihai sounded a little nervous but she looked an absolute peach in the fairy outfit she was given (very panto).

All in all this is a big dud of a production. What might have looked good on paper, looked exceptionally awkward in execution. Sapping most of the fun from the piece whilst failing to impart any particular message. The tone veers wildly without ever really achieving anything. What was the point? If the directors weren't willing commit to a bold vision of the piece a traditional production would have done fine, this half and half just doesn't work. The orchestra, under the baton of the ludicrously young Robin Ticciati, sounded in great shape, the overture a marvellously effusive affair. The performances were decent across the board but it was hard to engage when the production was such a leaden, clumsy affair. I doubt the other cast will manage much more but maybe the production will have grown on me by then (I'm really doubtful). I've had a stunning week of theatre and I'd hoped it would end on high note. Sadly this is not that note, it's a big, stodgy one several ledger lines below the stave.

Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Royal Opera)

The Royal Opera's production of "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" could be called dated but it's really more than that, it's an antique. Lavishly staged and costumed it's the product of a bygone era. To be truly honests though, I love it. Light on emotional depth maybe but it's a sumptuous feast for the eyes and with the cast of the current revival, it's nothing less than exceptional food for the ears.

Unsurprisingly it's Rolando Villazón who's top billed and he's every bit the brillant Hoffmann I'd been led to believe. Setting his voice aside for a second, it's his acting that makes an impact initially. He throws his whole body into the role, throwing himself around the stage with reckless abandon but pulling right back into himself at the crucial moments. His histrionic manner is ideally suited to the production which has little intellectual shading but a lot of fun. His voice soars throughout unflinchingly. He had the odd hiccup in "Don Carlo" not all that long ago but here he's effectively flawless. The support is in many cases, just as strong. Christine Rice, whose voice appears to be capable of anything (contrast this role with with both "Partenope" and "The Minotaur"), stuns in the role of Guillieta. She manages to make the role slightly more than a mere charicature (a major achievement) and vocally she outpowers even Villazón. She's lucky enough to get to sing the Barcarolle and paired with the equally delightful Kristine Jepson, it's a showstopping opening to Act II. Jepson isn't on quite the form she was earlier this season but it's still a remarkably assured performance, her acting beautifully balanced. Katie Van Kooten was vibrato heavy for my taste but she dominated the stage with the gorgeous bloom of her voice and drew some real pathos from the part, something largely missing from the other two acts. I've heard two performances and caught both the Olympias. Both were strong although whilst Vassiliki Karayanni was stunning across her entire range, Ekaterina Lekhina had a knack for swallowing the lower notes (although her high coloratura was superb). Gidon Saks lacked any real menace and reduced two of the villains to mere campery. His Dr Miracle was a suitably nasty piece of work however, the death of Antonia enthrallingly creepy. His singing was generally fine although he has a fairly muddy tone which crept into his diction and he managed to crack in exactly the same place in both performances (the first was one of the most disgusting notes I've ever heard). Graham Clark does very fine work as all the servants (top marks to the makeup people who have to rapidly complete several total changes on him) and there was notable support from Matthew Rose and Robin Leggate.

It's a relic of a production but it'll be a real pity when they put it out to pasture, it's easy on the eye and clearly tells the story without extra directorial impositions. With a vocal team like this though, it hardly matters what the staging's like. Villazón was built for this role and this production, his incredible stage presence and voice ideally suited. The three female parts were superbly filled with Rice giving a truly exceptional performance. I haven't enjoyed myself more in ages.

August: Osage County

"August: Osage County" arrives in London with so much hype it was almost doomed from the start to be a bit of a disappointment. Ten minutes in I couldn't quite work out what the fuss was, a slow start, well written but not terribly original. But then the piece took hold. As we watch the downward slide of the entire family over the course of more than three hours and the play crashes into darker and darker territory, it becomes beyond captivating. I don't know if this is a "great American play" (I'm not even sure what that means, do we have great British plays?) and it certainly doesn't really venture into new territory, but in this production produced by Steppenwolf, a company of seriously fine actors, it's thrilling stuff.

The set is instantly striking. Like a giant dolls house, a three story creation that rises from the stage, stable yet incredibly fragile. It's a beautiful design that provides wonderful levels for the drama to play out on yet remains unobtrusive. The lighting design is simple but effective, directing attention to the central action but allowing the life of the house to continue in the background. Scenes flow one into the next at a rapid rate and life just seems to continue there's no sense of halted time everything about the production seems so real, but heightened, imagined and somehow elevated to something worthy of spending an evening watching.

The cast are flat out brilliant. Highest praise must go to Deanna Dunagan who carries the play with a performance of absolute genius. It isn't until right near the end when I realised just how fascinating her character is, a patchwork of idiosyncracies and physical ticks that make up a full realised woman on the brink of destruction. Amy Morton's no slouch on the brink of destruction scale either and she brings an edgyness to every scene. At the end of Act II when she finally snaps, you could cut the tension with a knife. Molly Ranson, the youngest member of the cast, gives a stunningly mature performance. She commands attention in a way that many, much more experienced actors cannot. The entire ensemble are brilliant a true team piece that allows every member to shine.

With "Gethsemane" running next door, the National seem to be having a good run with newly written pieces. But where "Gethsemane" made me think, "August" slowly entranced me and then refused to let go. It might not be a "great" play on paper, but it's absolutely stunning in execution.

Gethsemane

Gethsemane had fairly enormous hopes riding on it, it sold out long before anyone really new anything about it largely on the basis that it's a new play from a hugely successful playwright. To my mind the piece actually lives up to much of the hype. It isn't a totally convincing work taken as a whole but it's beautifully written, Hare has an incredible ear for dialogue.

In theory this is a purely imaginary story, the programme tells us this, but it doesn't take a genius to jump from fiction to fact. Otto Fallon is a slimey Labour fundraiser who made his money in the music business, no prizes for linking him to the real world. The Home Secretary figure is an amalgamation of several real world figures. It doesn't matter though, this is a piece about so much more than individual people. Hare takes on the entire political system, weaves in some journalistic and family issues and ties them up in a pretty tight bow. He doesn't quite succeed, the piece sprawls a little as it tries to cover too much ground but that doesn't take away from just how impressively plotted it is. He also never loses the humanity behind the ideas. For all the grand themes about how democracy and humanity work (or could work), the human story, that of a suffering child rebelling as a result of absent parents, strings the play together.

Being a National Theatre production, every aspect of the production has been thought through impeccably. The set is like an oversized squash court that transforms into a huge variety of settings. The scene changes are covered by incredibly slick projections that nail the feel of the piece beautifully. The remixed music fits perfectly. I couldn't fault an actor in the company either. It's a real ensemble work but a few really shine. Tamsin Greig, who is rapidly proving herself one of the nation's most versatile actors, puts in a stunning turn as the Home Secretary. It's a mature role that I wouldn't have expected from her but she judges the emotions wonderfully, really showing the audience the moral tightrope she walks. Nicola Walker plays the moral pillar in the piece and at times, this is mostly a result of the script, she's a little too ethical but for the most part she's enchanting. Stanley Townsend is the shady Labour fundrasier and he stunningly embodies the callous but charismatic figure who somehow becomes Chairman of Covent Garden. There isn't a member of the company who isn't superb and I'd love to run through them all but I'd run out of superlatives long before I reached the end.

It isn't a perfect piece by any stretch of the imagination but it's hugely ambitious and ultimately succeeds far more than it fails. The snappy dialogue and superb performances make every scene simply riveting, there isn't a dull moment in the show. A big issues play that still manages to tug at the heart strings. You'll be lucky to get tickets now but if it transfers to a larger venue you'd be mad to miss it. Theatre is seldom so thought provoking.

Ondine (Royal Ballet)

"Ondine" is never going to be one of my favourites. It has an interesting premise and a few moments of real impact but you've got to meander through a fair bit of padding and two ridiculous intervals (an hour of breaks in a show of less than two and a half hours) to reach them. The designs are wonderfully otherworldly but are really showing their age. The music just isn't to my tastes. Act II shifts nicely into a nautical feel, the thunderstorm well evoked, but much just feels dull and repetitive. The dancing from the principals was strong, especially Tamara Rojo who looked perfectly in her element, that of the corps was much more variable.

Rojo gave it her all and she looked fantastic, her gorgeous rippling arms perfectly encapsulating Ondine. Her strong technique doesn't get many opportunities to really shine here but her acting is some of the best and she imbued Ondine with perhaps more personality than the character really deserves. The shadow dance was an absolute treat and her youthful confusion during the storm on the boat was heartbreaking. Federico Bonelli danced cleanly but his character never really came through, his sudden about turn from Ondine to Berta didn't make a huge amount of sense (although he wasn't helped by Berta being old enough to be his mother) and even his final return to Ondine was half hearted. There was some excellent work between the two leads but emotionally it was totally one sided. Genesia Rosato danced very well as Berta but from a dramatic standpoint she's just far too old for the role. Viacheslav Samodurov made for a fairly menacing Tirrenio, whirling about the stage with real conviction. The various smaller roles were something of a mixed bag although Ricardo Cervera really shone in Act III. The corps didn't seem to quite know what they were doing, their choreography has vast amounts of hopping, swaying and running and it can't be easy to keep a straight face but a lot of it, the legwork especially, was horribly rushed. Were they all late for the bus or something? The hunters were a pretty wet lot, their chances of actually killing anything looked slim, bringing the prey home as a pet seemed more probable.

The ballet itself belongs to a lost age of moving flats conjuring seastorms but there's something faintly magical about the whole experience. The basic theatrical effects come off superbly in some cases, mostly Act II, but some fall very flat with dancers running about portraying waves looking incredibly naff. The costumes are looking a little dated especially some of the sea creature outfits which have horrifically uncomfortable looking headpieces. Even with an updating, structurally the piece feels both padded and far too short. The Act III divertissement could be removed and the the tension of the last Act would benefit but that would make a short work even shorter.

The show has too many flaws for it ever to attain the kind of brilliance of some of Ashton's other work but it's not a complete washout either. Act II is a clever bit of old fashioned theatrical spectacle and Ondine is wonderful role for a dancer as special as Tamara Rojo but taken as a whole the piece fails to take off. There's another revival later on this year and I'll try and catch it at least once more. Hopefully the corps will have been drilled a little more and maybe the potential for drama might be fulfilled. I'm just praying they cast a younger dancer in the role of Berta, it's an easy fix but it would make such a difference.

Otello (Welsh National Opera)

After the entirely magnificent "Jenufa" only a few days ago, the Welsh National Opera's production of Verdi's masterpiece "Otello" is something of a disappointment. In fact it's a massive disappointment. Messily staged with overkill costumes and a bizarre set (what is with the rocks??) quite how they've managed to make such a potent work quite such hard work I'll never know. Thank god that some of the singing was good, I'd have been out the door at the interval otherwise.

Things start pretty badly and don't get much better. The storm scene has the entire chorus crammed onto the stage and made to sort of mill around. There's a particularly uncomfortable moment where everyone drops to their knees as they roar a nice forte note. If I'd shut my eyes it would have worked, this chorus are a very fine bunch, but the iffy choreographed movement was sufficiently distracting as to eliminate most of the aural impact. At least the rock pile vaguely makes sense at this point, by the bedroom scene...well, not so much. I'm quite sure the rocks are a symbolic talking point in the eye's of the director but to mine they exist only as a pointless distraction. The problems continue once it becomes readily apparent that basically no one can act. If they can, the silly costumes and grandiose opera gestures prevent them doing so. Iago becomes something of a pantomime villain, long black hair with white streak giving him a Captain Hook feel. Othello has curious orange skin and acts purely through his eyebrows. Dramatically this entire production is something of write off, even massive gold statues couldn't keep me interested.

The vocal redeem to an extent. Dennis O'Neill can't act on any level but he has a fine voice. He's rock solid throughout and if his physical acting is poor, he manages to convey a little emotion through his singing. His relationship with Amanda Roocroft's Desdemona doesn't really spark, the epic duet in Act I shouldn't be less than riveting and here it's pretty dull. Roocroft creates an almost three dimensional character but her relationships with the other characters are hazy at best. It always felt like she was singing to the audience and the other characters were merely props around her which wasn't ideal dramatically. On the whole she sounded good though, overly plummy for a suffering innocent perhaps but well controlled. David Kempster's Iago is hysterically overblown but when it came to the big moments he nailed the vocals. The spectacular Credo was steeped in venom and a kind of casual cruelty that was entirely appropriate, especially given the general histrionic air of the production. Wynne Evans made for a charming Cassio, pleasantly sung and acted in mannered fashion unlike anyone else in the cast.

We might be nearing Pantomime season but this really shouldn't be filling that slot. This is an overblown, messy production that succeeds only in manuvering the singers into position so they can hammer out some decent vocals. The singing is more than decent but the emotions remain trapped beneath all the ridiculous gesturing and cod acting. Maybe if they stopped skulking behind the rocks and moved the damn things, they'd find the soul of the piece there.

Jenůfa (Welsh National Opera)

The Welsh National Opera's riveting, claustraphobic production of "Jenůfa" directed by Katie Mitchell has one of the most intensely exciting final acts of any show I've ever seen. The cramped designs and superb performance crescendoing to an almighty climax that had me on the edge of my seat throughout. The lead singers were superb and the chorus well drilled. It wasn't all so brilliant, neither Act I nor II held a candle to the finale but when the curtain falls, only the triumph of tension that sustains throughout the last Act remained.

Katie Mitchell's production reduces the action to a very small postage stamp of a room which pays dividends later on in the piece but is oddly compressed initially. The mill scene was too small and it led to a slight feeling of the chorus being uncomfortably pushed around rather than organically existing. Act II reduces the stage yet further but by this point the piece is an intimate, tense affair and the staging works beautifully. I'm not quite sure about the use of the black scrim which produced a couple of clever effects but on the whole looked a little out of place in the naturalistic production. Act III is a near perfect piece of staging but the ending is perhaps a step too far. A closing image of a boy waving to the side of the stage whilst standing in a field of lilies is elegantly done but it's a director's idea not a composer's one and introduces a talking point that shouldn't really be there. Some will love it I'm sure but it struck me as unnecessary, clouding rather than adding clarity to the ending. It's a small gripe in a superbly directed production.

The singing was top draw across the board. Nuccia Focile oozed a sort of kindhearted earnestness and carefully moved from near despair to compassionate forgiveness in a totally believable manner. Her voice had great strength when required but it was the small, tentative moments that she really shone, holding the audience in the palm of her hand. Susan Bickley puts in a similiarly brilliant performance, her moral turmoil evident in her every movement. Her voice carried astonishing power, the surtitles barely required such was the emotion in her tone. Stephen Rooke gave a solid performance and his acting was decent but couldn't compete with the radiant singing of Peter Hoare whose voice soared over the orchestra. Initially he was a little shout heavy but as the piece wore on he found his niche and dominated wonderfully. The smaller roles were all similarly well sung, especially the rather maternal Susan Gorton.

I can't recall the last time I've been quite so engaged and stunned by a piece of theatre. Jenůfa isn't ever going to be a light, fluffy work but by the end this production had locked hold on my heart and wouldn't let go. The singing is superb, the orchestra in fine voice and the acting remarkably strong from all. First rate by any standards.

Riders to the Sea (English National Opera)

The English National Opera seems to have developed a less than propitious knack for presenting absolute misery on stage. After their thoroughly depressing "Boris Godunov", they've gone full steam ahead with the brief but potent "Riders to the Sea", a tale of a mother's loss of her entire male family. "Riders" has much more heart and the conclusion has an almost transcendent quality but it's hardly a barrel of laughs.

In order to lengthen the show marginally, Sibelius' "Luonnotar" is tacked in a slightly forced manner onto the start of the evening. The connection between the two works has superficial significance, mothers and water, but beyond that and the connection between the composers which the programme spells out at length, I'm not convinced of the relevance. Susan Gritton had a very fine go at Sibelius' spellbinding music, evoking all the maternal instincts you could ask for but also a very real sense of sadness. The staging, Gritton standing in a raised an upturned boat, her long dress hanging down to the ground beneath, is beautifully done and the technically impressive projections are a model of restraint. Subtly suggestive without being distracting. "Luonntar" is a masterpiece and I'll probably never see it staged like this again (a revival perhaps) but it doesn't form a cohesive whole with "Riders".

After a rather hammy bit of storm music by John Woolrich and some artful prop manuvering the main portion of the production kicked off. The designs are striking and hugely effective. The action takes place in a cottage on one of the Aran islands (I didn't think I'd be returning to the Aran Islands so soon after the "Cripple of Inishmaan") but Fiona Shaw and her designers place the action on open, rocky ground, virtually on the cliff face where the land meets the sea. The clever projections suggest the cottage, and occupants, has almost fallen into the sea. The panoramic projections around the back of the stage inspire the harsh skies and rough waters that have deprived this poor mother of her family.

The opera itself is not really to my tastes. The vocal lines were excellently sung here but they're not all that compelling with most of the interest lying in the orchestra. The swells and currents of the ocean and vividly brought to life through some magnificent playing (under the baton of Edward Gardner who does an incredible job considering the very sad circumstances in which he took over) but these abstract emotions failed to grip me for even the short running time. Not till the final moments did I really become emotionally involved and much of that was down to the stunning performance of Patricia Bardon as the mother and the terrific staging by Shaw. Bardon is flawless vocally, although I suspect she wasn't overly challenged by the material, but it's her all too real acting that really make the impact. You cannot help but be moved as her character sinks to the ground at the end of the piece. Her two daughters, sung by Kate Valentine and Claire Booth, are similarly solid but they're made to run about the stage like headless chickens and it all just felt a little histrionic at times.

Despite the stunning conclusion which conjures a tableaux of real power, little in the piece ever reaches the high that is achieved in "Luonnotar". So brief as to make any real emotional attachment difficult, "Riders" feels like a missed opportunity. The designs are gorgeously evocative and the cast do their level best to make it work but it fails to really take off. An interesting piece but not a truly successful one. I wanted to feel something, but sadly I really struggled.