Review: The Glyndebourne Tour - L’Elisir D’Amore and Rigoletto at Milton Keynes Theatre

Glydebourne are back on tour and performing at Milton Keynes Theatre this week. We had the pleasure to attend the performance of L’Elisir D’Amore on Tuesday evening and Rigoletto last night. The Glyndebourne Tour is always a big hit and a highlight of the year at Milton Keynes Theatre, amongst their many dazzling shows.

L’Elisir D’Amore, a comic opera, is a light, playful affair set in a sunny 19^th century Italian village. Peasant Nemorino is hopelessly in love with beautiful land-owner Adina. He is not taken seriously by Adina or the provincials and is the butt of their jokes and teasing. Akin to the story of Tristan and Isolde, enchanted by a magical love potion; Nemorino is fooled by quack Dr Dulcamara into buying a potion to win Adina’s heart. Like all good opera tales, there’s a fair bit of drama, sneakiness, backstabbing and jealousy going on but overall this tale has a happy ending unlike some that are much more tragic – we’ll get to that next. L’Elisir D’Armore is a nice change from the traditional style of opera, performed skilfully, with impressive soloists and an incredibly talented chorus and orchestra as one would expect from the Glydebourne Tour.

Rigoletto was a refreshing take on an old classic, one of the most popular and frequently performed operas. Director Christiane Lutz took inspiration from 1920’s Hollywood movie studios and brought us a revamped Rigoletto in the form of ‘Charlie Chaplin’ instead of the original hunchbacked joker. It’s an opera of male power and sexual violence so considerably darker than the previous night’s performance. There are moments (certainly towards the end) when you really just want to give Gilda (Rigoletto’s lovesick daughter) a good shake and say snap out of it! She gives her life to save the man that does not love her, lied to her, is unfaithful and was even involved with her kidnapping. But that is what makes such an astounding and absurd opera with exceptionally talented music and singing working seamlessly with these farcical storylines. 

Masterful performances with a thoroughly engaged audience, I can highly recommend a trip to Milton Keynes Theatre this week. 

L’Elisir D’Amore will be performed this evening, Rinaldo will be performed on Friday 15^th and Rigoletto will be performed again on Saturday 16^th November. For tickets, go to: www.atgtickets.com/venues/milton-keynes-theatre

Review: Manon

***Contains spoilers – most of you will already know this famous story and we find it best to know the story before watching a ballet***

This week, the English National Ballet is in town performing Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. With Jurgita Dronina as Manon, Isaac Hernandez as Des Grieux and Ken Saruhashi as Lescaut.

For those of you that do not know the story of Manon, here’s a quick summary. Young, penniless student, Des Grieux meets the beautiful Manon and they fall in love. Manon’s brother, Lescaut has other ideas and persuades Manon to choose the wealthy Monsieur GM instead. Lescaut makes a bargain with Monsieur GM but before he can introduce him to Manon, she has run off to Paris with Des Grieux. They have a passionate affair before Monsieur GM and Lescaut arrive and Manon is enticed to becoming the wealthy man’s mistress; Des Grieux is left distraught. In Act II Des Grieux is looking for Manon and is convinced to cheat at a poker game to get Monsieur GM’s Money and the lovers run off again and prepare to escape Paris. They are interrupted by Monsieur GM, a beaten Lescaut and armed policemen, panic ensues, Lescaut is killed and Manon is arrested. Act III takes you to New Orleans where Manon has been deported with other prostitutes to be sold as servants. Des Grieux has followed Manon to try to protect her but the Gaoler has taken an interest in Manon and forces her to please him. Des Griex breaks in, kills the Gaoler and the lovers flee. Lost in the Louisiana swamp, they are trapped, delirious and haunted, eventually the strain and anxiety is too much for Manon who dies in her lover’s arms.

As with most ballets, it is a simple story of love and loss which makes it fairly easy to follow what is happening which of course in ballet is portrayed only through the dance without dialogue or song. The dancing truly was mesmerising and there were some incredibly talented dancers on stage. From the leads to the artists of the company, each character was a joy to watch and they all played a critical part in the story and setting the scene.

The stage was one of the simplest sets that I’ve seen but was very effective with huge backdrops, a few props, lighting, smoke and stunning costumes. The orchestra were fantastic and as always at Milton Keynes Theatre, the sound was tremendous!

A highly recommended ballet whether you’re a ballet old-timer or a newbie, you will thoroughly enjoy it.

For tickets, head to www.atgtickets.com

Review: The Little Mermaid Ballet

This week we went along to Milton Keynes Theatre to see the lovely ballet by David Nixon OBE. Having always been in love with the story of The Little Mermaid and watching the Disney version several times a day (as a child!), I was very excited to see this grown-up adaptation of the story. Mermaids, and their earlier related form the Siren, have been a part of myth and folklore since at least the ancient Greeks, however Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy-tale is one of the most well known and loved stories to this day. Nixon’s ballet resembles Andersen’s fairy-tale much closer to that of Disney and as such you must prepare yourselves for the not-so-happy ending as the Little Mermaid learns that you do not always get what you want. You will be pleased to know that Marilla does have a trusty friend in the form of Dillion the seahorse.

Ballet is an artistic and delicate form of dance and lends itself perfectly to the undersea movements you would expect. The stage was lit up beautifully with a bluish, twinkling aqua-like glow and then a bright, warm sunshine glow when Marilla washes ashore. Along with the lighting and music of course, a simple stage was transformed through the use of two large arched structures to show us the underwater palace, cliffs and even the ship. The costumes were beautiful with lots of silks and sequins to show off the soft movements and specs of sunlight as you’d expect underwater. The performance overall was very charming, elegant and a delight to watch. The music was enchanting and all the dancers performed brilliantly. The other-worldly floating movements of the mermaids and the much more energetic routines of the sailors harmonised perfectly with the music and you always knew what was going on even though there is no dialogue.

Well done to all involved and thank you for bringing us a perfect adaptation of the adored fairy-tale, The Little Mermaid.

At Milton Keynes Theatre until 21^st April, for tickets go to www.atgtickets.com

Review: Cabaret

At Milton Keynes Theatre until Saturday 4^th November.

Will Young is outstanding as Emcee! He has reprised his role - which earned him an Olivier award nomination for his critically acclaimed performance as the show’s master of ceremonies at London’s Savoy Theatre. Starring alongside Will is newcomer to theatre, Louise Redknapp as Sally Bowles, who did brilliantly in her stage debut.

The show captures the heady atmosphere of the Cabaret lifestyle and the characters that star in or attend the Kit Kat Klub and local residents of Frauline Schneider’s house. Its quirky story follows the hedonistic lifestyles in 1930’s Berlin within the world of glitzy showbiz, dancing, singing, drugs, prostitutes and bisexuality in what was once described by Christopher Isherwood as ‘smokey sexuality’. As the show develops, so does the power of the Nazi Party and we see hints of this throughout until the very haunting end.

An exceptional performance from Will Young, who has been remarkably versatile throughout his career so far with a beautiful singing voice and he added a great touch of ‘weird’ to Emcee who was very funny and endearing. The entire ensemble acted, danced and sang effortlessly with some killer routines and looked as though they were having a smashing time on stage, which always makes a performance more exciting. I didn’t warm too well to Sally Bowles as a character (maybe I’m not supposed to?) and having never seen Cabaret before I feel the story should focus more on Emcee however, Louise Redknapp was a fantastic Sally and with her musical background she smashed it.

As usual at MK theatre the set design, lighting, sound, costumes and atmosphere were perfect – they cleverly switched between just three scenes from the sombre boarding house to the lively Klub and the audience loved it from start to finish. I particularly loved the inclusion of the orchestra raised at the back of the stage, what would a musical be without its musicians!!

The theatre was packed out on a Tuesday night, so get your tickets quick before they sell out!! www.atgtickets.com