What it says in the title, basically.
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I'm going on Thursday.
The Guardian reviewer liked it:
"I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever. If it did, it would prove a serious danger to the upper classes, and probably lead to acts of violence in Grosvenor Square."
Lady Bracknell The importance of Being EarnestComment
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Exceptional, luminous orchestral playing, even by the often high current standards of the ROH orchestra. It triggered the "How is it that certain conductors can do this?" thought. Bychkov clearly loves this music.
The production was visually arresting initially, but that started to wear off over the considerable length of the piece. The lighting was a noticeable exception - in a good way.
Dramatically it sagged in the middle for me - but this seems more the fault of the work. It's not a nailbiter at any point, but that's not the nature of it. It seems more a series of tableaux and set pieces.
Consistently excellent singing.
Had it been less well played and sung it might have been slightly hard work overall, straying as it does into sub-Wagner at times, but the musical excellence carried it.
PS - If you're seated (or stood as in my case) on the sides, an awful lot of the "action" takes place stage-right and some way back, so expect to not be able to see who's singing for quite a lot of the time!Comment
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A comment worthy of the Stage design thread: we don't all sit in the stalls.Originally posted by Simon B View Post
Mind you, the architect of the swimming/diving arena (or whatever it is) at the London Olympics won awards, but several people there couldn't see what was going on either!Comment
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A real problem in Italian Opera houses . I once sat Balcony right for a performance of Tristan . With few tickets left my companions were lower slips left. The entire Act 2 love duet was set stage left . They saw none of it.Originally posted by Pulcinella View PostComment
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Thanks for the reviews. One of those ROH productions which is squeezed into such a small gap in the calendar that I probably won't have time to go anyway. Maybe just as well, as I'm not sure I fancy standing for 4 hours - 3 hours of Sleeping Beauty was more than enough for me.Comment
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