The superb Asmik Grigorian is simply Mimì in a kimono in Covent Garden’s Madama Butterfly

United KingdomUnited Kingdom Puccini, Madama Butterfly: Soloists, Royal Opera Chorus, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House / Kevin John Edusei (conductor). Filmed (directed by Bridget Caldwell) on 26.3.2024 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and shown at Everyman Cinema, Chelmsford, Essex, 1.4.2024. (JPr)

[l-r] Hongni Wu (Suzuki), Josef Jeongmeen Ahn (Yamadori), Ya-Chung Huang (Goro), Asmik Grigorian (Cio-Cio-San) and Joshua Guerrero (Pinkerton) © Marc Brenner

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Bernheim and Sierra are outstanding as Gounod’s star-crossed lovers in the Met’s Roméo et Juliette

United StatesUnited States Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, New York / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). Broadcast Live in HD (directed by Gary Halvorson) from the Metropolitan Opera, New York, to Cineworld Basildon, Essex, 23.3.2024. (JPr)

Alfred Walker (Frère Laurent), Nadine Sierra (Juliette) and  Eve Gigliotti (Gertrude) © Marty Sohl/Met Opera

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Sir David Pountney’s Guillaume Tell still hits the target in Vienna

AustriaAustria Rossini, Guillaume Tell (William Tell): Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera / Bertrand de Billy (conductor). Transmitted live (directed by Dominic Zepczynski) from the Vienna State Opera, 16.3.2024. (JPr)

Vienna State Opera’s Guillaume Tell © Michael Pöhn/Weiner Staatsoper

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You needed to be there: a (p)review of NT Live’s The Motive and the Cue as Gielgud and Burton clash in 1964

United KingdomUnited Kingdom NT Live – Jack Thorne’s The Motive and the Cue: Currently on at London’s Noel Coward Theatre until 23.3.2024. It was filmed live in 2023 (directed by Matthew Amos) at London’s Lyttleton Theatre and it will be available in cinemas from 21.3.2024. (JPr)

The Motive and the Cue © Mark Douet

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