Category: Opera

The tale of Sweeney Todd – the ‘demon barber of Fleet Street’ who slit the throats of his victims and then passed on their corpses to Mrs Lovett, who turned them into meat pies – was first published in a Victorian serialised novel or ‘penny dreadful’ called ‘The String of Pearls’, and almost immediately turned

A particularly Antipodean colloquialism for masturbation is sung in full operatic voice in the Joan Sutherland Theatre mere moments into the world premiere of Whiteley. Behind the performers, the Hills Hoist is familiarly rendered (digitally) into the appropriately painterly backdrop. An Esky makes a welcome appearance in scene two. Yes, this is gloriously, garishly all-Aussie

The jumbotrons are back. After Opera Australia gave Aida a digital makeover last year, with dazzling impact, the dance of the giant tellys returns to the Joan Sutherland Theatre to illuminate another bel canto work. The result is not as easy a fit. But thoughtful directorial moments and thrilling singing elevate a dusty piece of

A Little Night Music, Stephen Sondheim’s 1973 bodice-ripping musical, has become a favourite of opera companies over the years. And with good reason. It’s not that classically trained voices are necessarily required. Though when they are employed, as here in Victorian Opera’s elegant treatment at the Arts Centre, it makes for a luxuriously lush soundscape.

Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd, the chorus sings. And that’s no small feat. Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece is an Everest musical for any company. It calls for a big orchestra. Big voices. Big emotions, from playful vaudeville to macabre tragedy. Complex staging. Subtle shifts in mood and musicality. There are variations, of course. Bryn Terfel

Like the No. 1 subway through the Upper West Side, a thin line bisects this alfresco West Side Story on Sydney Harbour. The difference between a great night out and a miserable one? Just add water, as us fancy-frocked freeloaders found on opening night when the heavens opened just as the orchestra struck up the

What are we to make of Salome—Richard Strauss’ one-act opera after Oscar Wilde’s one-act play—in an age of religious emergency, female empowerment and sexual awakening? What are we to make of a woman as both gruesome sexual fantasy and ghoulish sexual aggressor? A woman of the male gaze rendered so powerful? A heroine so shockingly

As opera love triangles go, this one is pretty staid: boy and girl are engaged, girl falls for another boy before the wedding, who gets a little clingy. If scandal is what you want you’d be better off staying at home with Married At First Sight. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s book, from which this opera