ENO's new Flying Dutchman : a terrific show despite a lead role better suited...
I'm not sure if it's possible to have a great Flying Dutchman without a great baritone in the title role and a great Senta alongside – but if it is, then ENO's new Dutchman qualifies, with a terrific...
View ArticleENO's new production of Billy Budd hasn't mastered the ship – or the characters
One of the problems with Billy Budd – which in my book ranks among the greatest achievements of opera – is that of Billy's ship, the Indomitable. It's such a hellish place, it's hard to understand why...
View ArticleOnce more on to the stage, dear friends, once more
Earlier this year BBC Radio 4 asked me to take part in a series they were putting together for the Olympic year called 'My Own Shakespeare'. Two to three minutes long, each programme was meant to focus...
View ArticleGood reasons to give Jesus Christ Superstar a miss
I've never got on with Andrew Lloyd-Webber: not that we've ever had direct dealings (though I did once get a lawyer's letter) but I have from time to time sat through his musicals (or to be honest,...
View ArticleDancing and dead animals don't save a dreary Julius Caesar at the Coliseum
Here's a potential rule for staging opera: animals – dead or alive – and dance routines don't compensate for lack of ideas. And they particularly don't in ENO's new Julius Caesar, which is musically...
View ArticleMerry Wives of Windsor is Shakespeare's sitcom. Take your children to see it
Merry Wives of Windsor is Shakespeare’s sitcom. In fact, it’s his sitcom spin-off. Legend tell us that Elizabeth I was so amused by the character of Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV Parts I and II that...
View ArticleBlood, gore and sponge-cake mark John Tomlinson's resumption of his chest-wig...
If I was receiving a presentation onstage at Covent Garden for 35 years of loyal service, I'm not sure I'd want to be wearing a chest wig and priapic leggings at the time (think of the archive photos)....
View ArticleLaurence Olivier was a really bad film actor
Even one of his greatest fans, Simon Callow, admits it in today's Telegraph, where he says, “Sir Laurence was a terrible film actor because he tried to dictate to the camera. He had to impose himself...
View ArticleThere is no reason to be afraid of the Bard
An actor friend of mine tells the story of doing Hamlet on the radio with an eminent vintage actor. Reading his lines from a script, the distinguished actor delivered one of the soliloquies in perfect...
View ArticleIt's not just Lenny Henry; most comedians turn to tragedy in time
According to one obituary notice, Charlie Chaplin once said that “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot”. I suppose that Lenny Henry, who has graduated from being a...
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