We left at the interval...

ONP Garnier, Wednesday March 16 2002 Conductor: Kent Nagano. Production: Krzysztof Warlikowski. Sets and costumes: Małgorzata Szczęśniak. Lighting: Felice Ross. Video: Kamil Polak. Dede: Claudia Boyle. François: Frédéric Antoun. Junior: Gordon Bintner. Sam: Russell Braun. Funeral director: Colin Judson. Bill: Régis Mengus. Susie: Hélène Schneiderman. Analyst: Loïc Félix. Doc: Jean-Luc Ballestra. Mrs Doc: Emanuela Pascu. Mourners: Marianne Croux, Ramya Roy, Kiup Lee, Niall Anderson. Dinah: Johanna Wokalek. Orchestra and Chorus of the Opéra National de Paris. Photos: Bernd Uhlig, ONP Apparently Alexander Neef, director of the ONP, has decided to schedule more American operas, which is fine by me, and the first result is this crystalline production of A Quiet Place . Bernstein's 1983 sequel to Trouble in Tahiti seems, like many works in opera history, to have been dogged unfairly by its reputation of being a flop (it wasn't well received, initially), and as a result, tinkered wit...

Châtelet, Paris, Tuesday December 30 2008 Conductor: Samuel Jean. Production: Jude Kelly. Choreography: Stephen Mear. Sets & costumes: Robert Jones. Lighting: Mark Henderson. Ozzie: Tim Howar. Chip: Adam Garcia. Gabey: Joshua Dallas. Ivy Smith: Sarah Soetart. Hildy Esterhazy: Caroline O’Connor. Claire de Loone: Lucy Schaufer. Madame Maude P. Dilly: Sheila Reid. Juge Pitkin W. Bridgework: Jonathan Best. Diana Dream/Dolores Dolores: Alison Jiear. Chorus of the Châtelet. Orchestre Pasdeloup. Our last show of the 2007-2008 season was a musical: Bernstein's On The Town , in the English National Opera's Jude Kelly production. I hope I've got the cast and conductor right above, as bizarrely I couldn't find any information of the kind on the theatre's web site, nor could a friend with access to their press releases. As we've all agreed I'm not the best-placed person to write up musicals, I'll be brief. Stephen Mear's skeletal sets of rust-red struts and ...

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...

Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris, Thursday December 28, 2006 Conductor: John Axelrod. Production, lighting: Robert Carsen. Costumes: Buki Shiff. Voltaire, Pangloss, Martin: Lambert Wilson. Candide: William Burden. Cunegonde: Anna Christy. Old Lady: Kim Criswell. Grand Inquisitor, Captain, Governor, Vanderdendur, Ragotski: John Daszak. Paquette: Jeni Bern. Maximilien: David Adam Moore. Cacambo: Ferlyn Brass. Ensemble Orchestral de Paris. Chorus of the Théâtre du Châtelet. It must be hard to know what to with Candide . Though it’s supposed to be a “comic operetta” it isn’t really clear what sort of voices it requires: operatic or Broadway. The extreme wordiness of the libretto (or should I say lyrics?) is in inverse proportion to the dramatic coherence and drive of the plot. And the piece has had such a chequered history it now seems unclear which version might be called “right”. To give some semblance of coherence to the whole, Robert Carsen’s characteristically box-fresh, bright-as-a-button ...