United Kingdom Ballet Icons Gala 2025: Soloists, English National Ballet Philharmonic / Maria Seletskaja (conductor). London Coliseum, 9.3.2024. (JPr)
Ballet Icons Gala 2025 had much to enjoy from its enterprising blend of classics and new works
Jim Pritchard
LPO at the Royal Festival Hall: Fleming’s artistry in Richard Strauss and Guggeis’s propulsive Wagner
United Kingdom Wagner, R. Strauss – Renée Fleming sings Strauss: Renée Fleming (soprano), London Philharmonic Orchestra / Thomas Guggeis (conductor). Royal Festival Hall, London, 5.3.2025. (JPr)
Janette Manrara is astounding in a Chicago still with ‘Razzle Dazzle’ even if it is now rather Fosse-ilsed
United Kingdom Kander & Ebb’s Chicago the Musical: Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 3.3.2025. (JPr)
La Monnaie’s Götterdämmerung has high musical values but is performed in an art installation
Belgium Wagner, Götterdämmerung: La Monnaie Chorus and Symphony Orchestra / Alain Altinoglu (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Anaїs Spiro) from La Monnaie, Brussels, 23.2.2025 and available on YouTube or OperaVision until 23.8.2025. (JPr)
(P)review of the filmed version of the NT’s The Importance of Being Earnest coming soon to a cinema near you
National Theatre Live – Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest: Filmed (directed by Matthew Amos) in London’s Lyttleton Theatre. (JPr)
Michael Volle is unsurpassable again as Wotan in David McVicar’s mostly traditional La Scala Die Walküre
Italy Wagner, Die Walküre: Soloists, Teatro alla Scala Orchestra / Simone Young (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Ella Gallieni) from La Scala, Milan, 12.2.2025 and available on demand until 19.2.2025. (JPr)
Lise Davidsen is delightfully diva-ish in Sven-Eric Bechtolf’s ironic Vienna Ariadne auf Naxos
Austria Richard Strauss, Ariadne auf Naxos: Soloists, Orchestra of Vienna State Opera / Cornelius Meister (conductor). Broadcast live (directed by Jasmina Eleta) from the Vienna State Opera, 28.1.2025. (JPr)
Carrie Hope Fletcher stars in Calamity Jane, an old-fashioned but still whip-cracking musical
United Kingdom Calamity Jane (adapted for the stage by Charles K Freeman from a screenplay by James O’Hanlon): Cliffs Pavilion, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, 28.1.2025. (JPr)
