We left at the interval...

La Monnaie, Brussels, Sunday April 23 2006 Conductor: Kazushi Ono. Production: Klaus Michael Grüber. Boris Godunov: José van Dam. Feodor: Janja Vuletic. Xenia: Irina Samoilova. Xenia’s nurse: Nina Romanova. Prince Suisky: Ian Caley. Andreï Shchelkalov: Andrej Breus. Pimen: Anatoli Kocherga. Grigori, Dimitri: Vsevolod Grivnov. Varlaam: Vladimir Matorin. Missaïl: Vjaceslav Vojnarovskij. Hostess: Ekaterina Gubanova. Nikitch / Police Officer: Jacques Does. Simpleton: Dmitri Voropaev. Orchestra and chorus of La Monnaie. What would we do without critics and their superior intellects? There are times when, like the oldest daughter in The Sound of Music , with a mental age of just 16 going on 17, we need someone older and wiser to explain to us things beyond our ken. La Monnaie is one of those theatres where subscribers all come on the same day and in the same seats, so you get to know your neighbours and chat at the interval. No-one in my vicinity seemed to find this production of Boris outs...

Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Friday December 9 2005 Conductor: Valery Gergiev. Production: Victor Kramer. Boris Godunov: Evgeny Nikitin. Fyodor, his son: Maria Matveyeva. Xenia, his daughter: Irina Mataeva. Xenia's nurse: Olga Markova-Mikhailenko. Prince Vasiliĭ Ivanovič Shuĭskiĭ: Alexei Steblianko. Andreĭ Ščelkalov, council secretary: Vassili Gerello. Pimen, chronicler, anchorite: Vladimir Vaneev. Pretender (False Dimitriĭ, Grigoriĭ): Oleg Balachov. Varlaam, itinerant monk: Vladimir Ognovenko. Misail, itinerant monk: Nikolai Gassiev. Hostess of the inn: Olga Savova. Simpleton (Yurodivyĭ): Evgeny Akimov. Nikitič, police officer: Alexei Tannovitski. Orchestra and Chorus of the Mariinski Theatre, St Petersburg. Boris (lost?) in Space An all-Russian opera performance is so different from our usual western fare you wonder (even without a sci-fi production: more of that later) if Russia is on another planet, and need a whole new language (Klingon?) to describe it. Their tenors sound like...