Eccentric 70-year-old widow purchases the Windmill Theatre in London as a post-widowhood hobby. After starting an innovative continuous variety review, which is copied by other theaters, they begin to lose money. Mrs. Henderson suggests they add female nudity similar to the Moulin Rouge in Paris.
Renée Fleming lights up the Met stage as Hanna Glawari, the fabulously wealthy widow of the title in Lehár’s beloved operetta, set in Paris and seen in a glittering production directed and choreographed by Broadway’s Susan Stroman. Nathan Gunn is Danilo, Hanna’s former flame, who is...
Candide falls in love with the beautiful but materialistic Cunegonde. Her barron father doesn't approve of the affair so Candide wanders, meeting all the misfortunes along the way.
Glyndebourne's pulsating new production of the Waltz King's much-loved comic operetta. Its story centers on a magnificent masked ball, given by a Russian prince, that brings together all the main characters in various disguises. The three-act journey from boudoir to ballroom to jail provides...
"Manon", wrote Puccini to his publisher Giulio Ricordi in 1889, "is a heroine I believe in and therefore she cannot fail to win the heart of the public." This turned out to be a truly prophetic statement since none of Puccinis other world successes were received on their first nights as...
BBC Proms - A Celebration of Classic MGM Film Musicals
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Clive Anderson introduces this special concert celebrating 75 years of classic MGM film musicals. Performing live at London's Royal Albert Hall, John Wilson and his orchestra celebrate the golden age of Hollywood musicals with a plethora of songs from the great movies including 'The Wizard of Oz',...
James Morris leads an all-star cast including Karita Mattila, Ben Heppner, Thomas Allen and René Pape, in this production of Wagner's comic opera, recorded live at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 2001. James Levine conducts.
All-time classical favourites from the first ever public concert held in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, hosted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Broadcast live on BBC Television, 1st June 2002. Opera fans are in for a particular treat with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (singing Bizet and Gershwin), Sir...
From the "James Levine: Celebrating 40 Years at the Met" DVD box set. Jean-Pierre Ponnelle’s landmark production of Mozart’s most human comedy provides the perfect setting for this superb cast under James Levine’s ebullient leadership. The philandering and arrogant Count Almaviva (Thomas...
There are elements of Eurotrash in this outdoor Aix-en-Provence summer opera production. Nevertheless, the splendid singing and acting transform the story, normally treated as farce, into something considerably more serious. As many other critics have noted, the young lovers have not yet sorted...
Nicholas Hytner's enchanting production, sung in the original Czech, is conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras, a master of the best Janacek style. Through myriad shifts of scene, the episodic story is presented in brightly-colored sets and costumes of blissful innocence and simplicity, designed by Bob...
This production of Strauss’s most sumptuous work by director Nathaniel Merrill and designer Robert O’Hearn is almost as beloved as the opera itself. It perfectly captures the glittering never-land of rococco Vienna the way the Viennese—and the rest of the world—wish it had been, and it’s...
Staging directors Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser infuse German composer Engelbert Humperdinck's fairy-tale opera with more than a dollop of black humor in this 2008 London performance that's both enchanting and menacing. Angelika Kirchschlager and Diana Damrau play Hansel and Gretel,...
Containing some of the most beautiful arias and attractive ensembles in all opera, Così fan tutte is packed with both pathos and humour. Mozart and Da Ponte's witty, compassionate examination of young love has ensured its lasting popularity. Jonathan Miller’s original 1995 production for Covent...
Composed in 1786, Mozart's classic opera has all the ingredients of a modern rom com: love, revenge and deception. Watch courtship turn to chaos for two servants, Figaro and Susanna, as their plans to wed are thwarted by the lecherous Count Almaviva. Lose yourself in Mozart's timeless melodies and...
