ENO: Mary, Queen of Scots

[Pulcinella]

Times review here:

https://www.thetimes.com/article/8d447f44-0ed6-4b21-a73b-a89472648969?shareToken=3ad266c9c8d1ccc3ac6afec962f8727c

[bluestateprommer]

More reviews:

(1) The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/16/mary-queen-of-scots-review-thea-musgrave-english-national-opera-eno-coliseum-london

(2) The Arts Desk:

https://theartsdesk.com/opera/mary-queen-scots-english-national-opera-review-heroic-effort-overcooked-history-lesson

[Historian]

Went to see the second and final performance last night and very glad I did so. This opera hasn't been seen in London for 44 years and everyone sang and played their hearts out. I would agree that the much of the music is pretty 'full-on' but not overwritten and I could hear every word. Ideally it would be fully staged, but given ENO's huge money problems I think David Nice was being a bit harsh in places re. the decision to semi-stage the opera. Couldn't see Thea Musgrave herself but she was present again: a remarkable life and still full of energy at 96. Despite the comments under the Arts Desk review, I saw little evidence of people leaving at the interval.

Thanks to Pulcinella and bluestateprommer for posting the reviews. Last evening was another reminder of what we will be missing when ENO leaves the Coliseum.

[Maclintick]

Went to see the second and final performance last night and very glad I did so. This opera hasn't been seen in London for 44 years and everyone sang and played their hearts out. I would agree that the much of the music is pretty 'full-on' but not overwritten and I could hear every word. Ideally it would be fully staged, but given ENO's huge money problems I think David Nice was being a bit harsh in places re. the decision to semi-stage the opera. Couldn't see Thea Musgrave herself but she was present again: a remarkable life and still full of energy at 96. Despite the comments under the Arts Desk review, I saw little evidence of people leaving at the interval.

Thanks to Pulcinella and bluestateprommer for posting the reviews. Last evening was another reminder of what we will be missing when ENO leaves the Coliseum.

Exactly our reaction. Considering the missionary zeal with which Serota and the Arts Council have been intent on eviscerating “elitist” arts, culture and turning the UK into Das Land Ohne Oper, the last two nights at the Coliseum have been a massive vindication of the value of this beleaguered company. Richard Morrison is spot-on. The fact that what was initially advertised as semi-staged had been transformed into an effective staging pulled together in such a short time, with the entire cast off-book was itself a huge triumph.

And what a cast. Heidi Stober sensational, and no weak links anywhere -- the cavernous, baleful admonitions of Alastair Miles in magnificent voice as Gordon real luxury casting. The stripped back aesthetic, contemporary dress and sectarian setting was a perfectly valid updating, though surely trumped by the marvellous music -- sinuous woodwinds and glacial strings skewered by stabbing brass and ear-battering percussion. Jagged sonorities a-plenty, to be sure, but vocal lines clearly audible from where we were sitting, with Joana Carneiro holding it all together expertly. One lovely Musgrave touch, from a composer who after all had spent 5 years in Paris studying with Nadia Boulanger, was a nostalgic hommage to the vanished world of Poulenc and Ravel in an offstage choeur de femmes as Mary embarks on her journey to Scotland. Here, she gazes longingly back towards her beloved France and leans on the ship's railings, iron bars which later transform into menacing symbols of her captivity.

Again, no evidence of a half-time mass exodus from where we were sitting in the stalls, though I did hear one punter accost the composer with the observation that his rear end could’ve done with some relief before the interval arrived.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Exactly our reaction. Considering the missionary zeal with which Serota and the Arts Council have been intent on eviscerating “elitist” arts, culture and turning the UK into Das Land Ohne Oper, the last two nights at the Coliseum have been a massive vindication of the value of this beleaguered company. Richard Morrison is spot-on. The fact that what was initially advertised as semi-staged had been transformed into an effective staging pulled together in such a short time, with the entire cast off-book was itself a huge triumph.

And what a cast. Heidi Stober sensational, and no weak links anywhere -- the cavernous, baleful admonitions of Alistair Miles in magnificent voice as Gordon real luxury casting. The stripped back aesthetic, contemporary dress and sectarian setting was a perfectly valid updating, though surely trumped by the marvellous music -- sinuous woodwinds and glacial strings skewered by stabbing brass and ear-battering percussion. Jagged sonorities a-plenty, to be sure, but vocal lines clearly audible from where we were sitting, with Joana Carneiro holding it all together expertly. One lovely Musgrave touch, from a composer who after all had spent 5 years in Paris studying with Nadia Boulanger, was a nostalgic hommage to the vanished world of Poulenc and Ravel in an offstage choeur de femmes as Mary embarks on her journey to Scotland. Here, she gazes longingly back towards her beloved France and leans on the ship's railings, iron bars which later transform into menacing symbols of her captivity.

Again, no evidence of a half-time mass exodus from where we were sitting in the stalls, though I did hear one punter accost the composer with the observation that his rear end could’ve done with some relief before the interval arrived.

Excellent review Maclintink. Did an audience member really say that to Thea Musgrave? - brave and not without a touch of Frankie Howard like comic ambiguity.

The attempted ruination of ENO and WNO is being defied with admirable artistic ambition.The rear ends of the Arts Council could do with a strategically placed size 10 boot ..

[Maclintick]

Excellent review Maclintink. Did an audience member really say that to Thea Musgrave? - brave and not without a touch of Frankie Howard like comic ambiguity.

The attempted ruination of ENO and WNO is being defied with admirable artistic ambition.The rear ends of the Arts Council could do with a strategically placed size 10 boot ..

Yes, the gentleman in question was, shall we say, not exactly in the first flush of youth, or even settled middle-age, and was in the same row as the composer, so may have been a guest and not a paying punter. We were nearby, & exiting for interval refreshment...Thing is, he might have had a point in that the first half was well over an hour-and-a-half, while the second not much more than 30 mins. It did make me wonder whether there might be some way of correcting that imbalance without messing up the dramatic structure.