Opera Holland Park is the best opera company in London, seriously. I know I’ve moaned about their prices before but it’s worth it. I’m well gutted though, a lot of performances have sold out and some of the others only have expensive seats left so it looks like we’ll just have to sit in the park outside and listen, only we can’t all listen at the same time because it would be a bit obvious who we are and some of the others don’t want people to know who they are, it’s well crap but maybe some student tickets will come along or maybe I’ll get some sort of money reward for doing so much revision, seriously I haven’t been out for ages, no operas no cinema no clubbing no nothing for a whole week, no more than that.
NABUCCO
This one looks all sold out but it’s probably worth a listen. I’ve only heard of 1 person in the cast, Andrew Rees who sings at the ENO quite often but this is Opera Holland Park so the others should be good as well. There’s this girl called Abigaille who has more syllables in her name than you’d think but she’s like a warrior chick and she and her sister are fighting over the same bloke. And there’s a big chorus that always gets sung twice but it’s a good one so twice is okay, 3 times would be a bit much but that’s not going to happen. But if they do sing it twice you won’t end up missing the last train or anything, it’s not that long and I reckon they’ll count both goes in the running time anyway.
JENUFA
This one doesn’t seem to be sold out, might be worth going. The Kostelnicka is Anne Mason, Barry saw her do it in Wolverhampton or somewhere and he says she was brilliant. She’s a murderess but it’s kind of okay. Some people find Janacek’s music a bit much but a good performance can grab you anyway and that’s almost certainly what you’re going to get. There’s some insanity too and a stabbing and 2 brothers fighting over the same girl so it’s not exactly quiet or boring.
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA
Everyone does this one but it’s very easy to make it boring and not funny. I don’t know what Opera Holland Park’s done with it but they’ll probably be able to do it if anyone can. Cunning Little Vixen says she’s seen Toby Stafford-Allen as Fiorello and he was one of the best in the cast so he should be good as Figaro. Hairy says he’s seen Lynton Black as the other Bartolo and he was good, I think Sarah Redgewick is a bit young for Berta but she’s sexy which I reckon is a good idea. It’s mostly about this bloke called Count Almaviva who’s trying to get into this girl’s bedroom but he only seems to be after marriage, it’s a bit unrealistic but funny when it’s done well.
LAKME
This one’s a bit slushy and not my sort of thing but I don’t think it’s bad exactly, not sure why it’s hardly ever put on. Violetta likes it but it looks like they only have really expensive tickets now. It’s probably worth paying £39 to see it but Hairy McMungo says no opera is worth going into debt over and I think he’s right really. Anyway it’s about 2 soldier blokes who are hanging around with their girlfriends and 1 of them gets all obsessed with this other woman. There’s a really famous duet that you’ll know from some advert or other. Allison Bell and Antonia Sotgiu sing it, they’re quite sexy from what I remember. And there’s a really stupid death scene somewhere in the opera, I won’t tell you where but it’s quite funny really.
LA TRAVIATA
This one is sold out for some performances but not all of them. The ROH and ENO have done Traviata not that long ago but it’s probably worth going again just to see what OHP does with it. I reckon it will be something a bit different and quite interesting and none of that potato famine crap. Robert Poulton is Alfredo’s dad, should be interesting, he usually plays people like animal tamers and Don Alfonso who are nothing like Germont. Anyway this is all about a posh prostitute who’s actually really cool. There is a fight but you don’t get to see it, you might see a few punches thrown at one of the parties though. And there’s a death scene which is sometimes a bit crap but not always.
L’AMORE DEI TRE RE
This was the only one I didn’t know, not that I’m an opera geek though, I’m totally cool. Anyway don’t worry about the soppy title, this sounds wicked. It’s got affairs, it’s got strangling, it’s got poisoning and the music is cool too, a few different styles. Amanda Echalaz is Fiora, she’s not only a babe she’s brilliant at singing and acting too. Even if you didn’t like the music you could just put earplugs in and stare at her the whole time, not nessecarily in a perverted way, you’ll have a great evening.
FitCrit
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