423 posts
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Post by dlevi on Mar 2, 2019 4:43:16 GMT
Utterly delightful from start to finish. Wittily staged and designed with this is a blissfully irreverent version with a hilarious and romantic adaptation by April de Angelis (Book) and Richard Thomas (lyrics). Bravo to all involved.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Mar 7, 2019 8:58:02 GMT
Totally agree. I wnet last night and really liked it, especially the toilet scene...
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587 posts
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Post by Polly1 on Mar 28, 2019 10:27:28 GMT
Paid £30 at the TKTS booth in Leicester Square yesterday for a £115 seat in stalls row E. What a steal! The music is so great, this really cannot fail and this was a lovely production despite having the latest topics, women's rights and Brexit, shoehorned in (to be fair most of them worked well). Fab costumes. Danilo was dashing and looked like a very young Ian MacShane. Highlights- the giant dancing beavers!! And the lovely half-Hungarian man in the seat next to me. Lowlights - despite all the feminism, she still has to give her husband her money at the end  More irritatingly, the 10+ minute delay at the start following problems with turning the set round from the Jack the Ripper rehearsal in the afternoon (meant I missed 2 trains). |
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Post by londonpostie on Mar 28, 2019 11:48:50 GMT
I went yesterday, as well. The issue with the set is unfortunate but, having now done the £10 back stage tour, I understand better the limitations of the theatre; they literally have to move the current set out every morning, put it in lorries parked at the back, move in the rehearsal set that was in the lorries, etc, etc. Covent Garden, as a contrast has I believe 2 spaces on site for rehearsal with sets. Presumably there was a particular hitch yesterday.
Having loved La Boheme and Porgy, this wasn't quite for me. I didn't mind the Brexit lines or the EU backdrop, though the dated feminism felt parachuted in and left me cold. It's intentionally coarse and edging towards trouser-dropping farce at times. Big cast, great orchestra and, of course, Sarah Tynan is wonderful.
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1,347 posts
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Post by tmesis on Apr 13, 2019 17:43:28 GMT
I didn't enjoy this at all. The conductor, Martin Fitzpatrick, had no feeling for idiomatic rubato and nearly all the singers were found wanting. Best was Andrew Shore as Zeta and Nathan Gunn as Danilo. That most sumptuous of duets by Valencienne and Camille in act 2, where Lehar nearly reaches the heady heights of R. Strauss was OK but nothing more. Biggest disappointment was Sarah Tynan - she lacked charm and her voice was thin and lacking in support. Vilja was a total let down.
The production looked quite handsome but was trying way too hard. The urinal scene (wasting one of the best numbers in the show) was embarrassingly unfunny.
The translation strove for wit, and occasionally was, but was too anachronistic for the sake of it, and in the end was just tiresome.
I have to say, I've seen many productions of 'Widow' over a 40 year plus span and can't remember many good ones. It's stuffed with fabulous music but it's difficult to bring off live. One of the best was in the 90s when the ROH decamped for renovation and the company did it at The Shaftesbury Theatre with Felicity Lott and Thomas Allen.
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4,029 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Apr 13, 2019 18:49:37 GMT
I have to say, I've seen many productions of 'Widow' over a 40 year plus span and can't remember many good ones. It's stuffed with fabulous music but it's difficult to bring off live. One of the best was in the 90s when the ROH decamped for renovation and the company did it at The Shaftesbury Theatre with Felicity Lott and Thomas Allen. I'd agree that for what should be such a great piece it often doesn't seem to really work. I wonder whether it works better in the original German? I've only seen it done in a variety of English translations. Out of the 6 productions I've seen live, 2 of which were semi-staged concerts, the best one for me was Opera North's which I saw this past October. I decided I'd rather keep the memeries of that for the moment & have skipped ENO's latest effort - and I was very glad of that decision when I read the reviews!
I've seen an off-air video of the ROH production and, much as I love Dame Felicity, I wasn't entirely convinced that Hanna is a role she was entirely suited to. She seemed too naturally aristocratic to convince as a lower-class girl who was only elevated by marrying money. My favourite video, again an off-air recording, is from the Wiener Staatsoper in 1998 with Barbara Bonney & Bo Skovhus.
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1,347 posts
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Post by tmesis on Apr 13, 2019 21:43:05 GMT
Now I think about this more, another good production was in the late 70s/early 80s done by WNO. I can't remember who the singers were but it was very enjoyable (Danilo could have been Thomas Allen again.) WNO were very good in those days when Richard Armstrong was in charge and I saw loads of their productions, travelling to Oxford, Southampton and even sometimes to Bristol and Cardiff to see virtually everything they did. That was also the period when wonderful Reggie Goodall weaved his spell in amazing performances of Tristan and Parsifal.
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