We left at the interval...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday February 3 2008 Conductor: René Jacobs. Production: Karl-Ernst & Ursel Herrmann. Sets, costumes and lighting: Karl-Ernst Herrmann. Giulio Cesare: Lawrence Zazzo. Cleopatra: Danielle de Niese. Tolomeo: Tania Kross. Cornelia: Christianne Stotijn. Sesto: Anna Bonitatibus. Achilla: Luca Pisaroni. Nireno: Dominique Visse. Curio: Lionel Lhote. Freiburger Barockorchester. Am I getting too picky in my old age? My neighbours enjoyed this production a lot; I enjoyed it a lot less. For a start, in this work the comic and serious elements are finely balanced but directors persist in overemphasising the former to the detriment of the latter. I'm getting a bit fed up with that. And then, I found the aesthetic of this production too designer-trendy and self-conscious, much as my neighbours enjoyed it. But I really wanted to start by wondering just how much better Luca Pisaroni can get. He was noticeably good in Alcina , better still in Don Giovanni , and now... It...

Opéra Comique, Paris, Saturday January 26 2008 Conductor and art direction: Vincent Dumestre. Production: Benjamin Lazar. Sets: Adeline Caron. Costumes: Alain Blanchot. Cadmus: André Morsch. Hermione: Claire Lefilliâtre. Arbas, Pan: Arnaud Marzorati. La Nourrice, Dieu Champêtre: Jean-François Lombard. Charite, Mélisse: Isabelle Druet. Draco, Mars: Arnaud Richard. L'Amour, Palès: Camille Poul. Le Soleil, 1er Prince Tyrien: David Ghilardi. Le Grand Sacrificateur, Jupiter: Geoffroy Buffière. 1er Africain, L'Envie: Romain Champion. 2nd Prince Tyrien: Vincent Vantyghem. Junon, Aglante: Luanda Siqueira. Pallas: Engénie Warnier. 2nd Africain: Anthony Lopapa. Dancers, Chorus and Orchestra of the Poème Harmonique. Most of the critics are saying the same thing: twenty years on (they're thinking of Atys ), Lully is back with a bang. Atys is seen in France as Baroque opera's first "popular" smash hit. Villégier set it, not in period scenery and stage costumes, but in...

Paris Châtelet, Thursday January 24 2008 Conductor: Jean-Christophe Spinosi. Production: Fanny Ardant. Sets: Ian Falconer. Costumes: Dominique Borg. Hélène de Solanges (Véronique): Amel Brahim-Djelloul. Florestan de Valaincourt: Dietrich Henschel. Agathe Coquenard: Ingrid Perruche. Ermerance de Champ d'Azur: Doris Lamprecht. Evariste Coquenard: Laurent Alvaro. Loustot: Gilles Ragon. Séraphin: Sébastien Guèze. Tante Benoît: Catherine Hosmalin. Esemble Matheus, Châtelet Chorus. Quite often, on French TV, we see 50s footage of neatly-dressed youngsters (some of the boys in dinner jackets) from Paris's posh western quarters jiving incongruously to rock 'n' roll in the smoky cellars of St-Germain-des-Prés. Usually Boris Vian appears with a trumpet. The current Véronique was actressy actress Fanny Ardant's first foray into directing and we all feared the worst, but in fact she managed to recreate just that atmosphere of bon-chic-bon-genre post-war Parisian gaiety. 50s ...

Opéra Comique, Paris, Wednesday December 19, 2007 Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner. Production: Macha Makeïeff and Jérôme Deschamps. Sets and Costumes: Macha Makeïeff. Lazuli: Stéphanie d’Oustrac. La Princesse Laoula: Anne-Catherine Gillet. Aloès: Blandine Staskiewicz. Le Roi Ouf 1er: Jean-Luc Viala. Hérisson de Porc Epic: Christophe Gay. Siroco: Jean-Philippe Lafont. Tapioca: François Piolino. Comic actors: Jean-Marc Bihour, Philippe Leygnac and Patrice Thibaud. The Monteverdi Choir, L’Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique. For many years, Offenbach productions in France were of two equally unsuccessful kinds: grim, humourless, black-leather “Berlin” deconstructions or, more often, a sort of amateur-British-panto style, faux-naïf and filled with clichés and hopelessly unfunny “gags” (often also sung to arrangements for a kind of Broadway ensemble) talked up – this being France, where Jerry Lewis is not only “knighted” for his services to arts and letters but also a Commander of t...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday December 16 2007 Conductor: Kazushi Ono. Production: Guy Joosten. Werther: Andrew Richards. Le Bailli : Gilles Cachemaille. Charlotte : Sophie Koch. Sophie : Hendrickje Van Kerckhove. Albert : Jean-François Lapointe. Schmidt : Yves Saelens. Johann : Lionel Lhote. Käthchen : Anneke Luyten. Brühlmann : Olivier Berten. Orchestra and children's chorus of La Monnaie. To cut a long story short, this Brussels production of Werther was a lot better in the second half than the first, possibly because that's the way Werther is, but more probably on account of the production. Now for the long story, production first. This was basically a single-set staging with a change of props per act. The permanent space was triangular, with pale grey, flat-panelled walls meeting in a point at the rear. Set into this was, in acts one to three, a basic bourgeois interior: a door and a window in walls "papered" with a romantic landscape that changed colour with t...

Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Tuesday November 27 2007 Conductor: Donald Chan. Production and choreography: Joey McKneely. Sets: Paul Gillis. Costumes: Renate Schmitzer. Lighting: Peter Halbsgut. Tony: Sean Attebury. Maria: Ann McCormack. Anita: Vivian Nixon. "West side story orchestra". I must own up to being ill-equipped to assess West Side Story . I enjoy musicals and usually try to fit one in when in New York, but I can only have seen about a dozen in all between New York and London. As far as I can remember, though I've obviously seen scenes on TV, I've never actually seen the whole film. Of course, I know the songs but am familiar with the score mainly through the symphonic dances. And I have a devil of a job "deciphering" amplified sound, not being used to it.  The current "50th anniversary" Paris show is in fact a German touring production, billed as "original" because it recreates the original Robbins choreography; but from what I...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday October 21 2007 Conductor: Mark Wigglesworth. Production: Robert Carsen. Sets: Radu Boruzescu. Costumes: Miruna Boruzescu. Mitridate: Bruce Ford. Aspasia: Mary Dunleavy. Sifare: Myrtò Papatanasiu. Farnace: Bejun Mehta. Ismene: Veronica Cangemi. Marzio: Maxim Mironov. Arbate: Jeffrey Francis. Orchestre symphonique de la Monnaie. It's always interesting to have a Robert Carsen production in your season's schedule, but Carsen is no more infallible than anyone else and this was, I thought, not one of his successes - a pity with such a strong, even cast. For this new Brussels Mitridate , he served up our old "friend" the "contemporary war update" i.e. with people in battledress and helmets, cradling machine guns. Apart from the fact that these productions all look the same (especially as opera seria plots all seem much the same as well) and we've got used to them since the 80s, I think if this had to be done to Mitridate , Peter ...