On Opera
Musical Lessons
Could the jazz-hands pizzaz of musical theatre be just what opera needs?
Into the mystic
Contemporary debates over the “suitability” of many operas leaves us with only English productions
Ring of fire
The ENO’s production of The Valkyrie may lack flames, but it is convincing nonetheless
Hot Valks live!
While belly-laughs are not frequent, there’s terrific fun to be had in this massive soap-opera-style family melodrama
To the bitter end
Why on earth would we want to see the same tawdry old stories endlessly re-enacted?
The G&S divide
A large proportion of the English drive themselves mad with a baroque cocktail of fury, snobbery and self-hatred over Gilbert and Sullivan
Original sin
Robert Thicknesse on the woes of modern, British opera
Odes to joy
Robert Thicknesse on Rossini’s extraordinary de-cluttering of the musical atmosphere
Foreign frivolity
Robert Thicknesse on how the idea that foreign poetry was better than local soon became established dogma
Losing the plot
Robert Thicknesse reveals how in searching for meaning, opera adaptations are becoming more obscure