Reviews

Die Zauberflöte, Royal Opera

David Nice Sunday, 01 March 2015

Mozart’s The Magic Flute is one of those operas, like Verdi’s Il trovatore and all the mature Wagner masterpieces, which need a line-up of equally fine singers but rarely get it in the compromised world of the opera house. With Christiane Karg and Pavol Breslik as the trial-enduring lovers joining three performances in the latest revival of David McVicar’s production, and only Anna Siminska’s fifth-element Queen of the Night unknown to me, last night's team looked good in principle. And so it...

Three Men in a Boat, The Original Theatre Company, Touring

Ismene Brown Sunday, 01 March 2015

It’s a hostage to fortune really to create a play on one of the funniest books ever written, and a Victorian one at that. Still, Jerome K Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat is regularly mined for stage and small screen entertainment, and this version by Craig Gilbert turns out to be a diverting and enjoyable touring show for Britain’s small town theatres, for which hurray, and particularly so for towns on the Thames, where the boat hired by J, George and Harris is being ever so uncertainly steered....

Reissue CDs Weekly: Bridget St. John

Kieron Tyler Sunday, 01 March 2015

Bridget St. John: Dandelion Albums & BBC CollectionPigeonholing Bridget St. John is gratifyingly difficult. Although generally categorised as...

Jazz for Labour, Barbican

Thomas Rees Saturday, 28 February 2015

Jazz and politics go way back. Throughout its history the music has been involved with underground resistance movements in Nazi Germany and Communist...

Goya: The Witches and Old Women Album, Courtauld...

Florence Hallett Saturday, 28 February 2015

The sight of two old women fighting in the street would probably meet with roughly the same response from passers-by whether it happened today or 200...

Benedetti, La Cetra, Saffron Hall

Sebastian Scotney Saturday, 28 February 2015

The violinist's Vivaldi charms an appreciative audience in a bold new hall

The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Matt Wolf Saturday, 28 February 2015

The expats are back in that rare sequel that betters its predecessor

Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, CBSO Centre, Birmingham

Stephen Walsh Saturday, 28 February 2015

Woolrich's songbook asks important questions, and answers only some of them

Lippy, Young Vic

Marianka Swain Saturday, 28 February 2015

An unconventional meditation on storytelling confounds

Sculpture Victorious, Tate Britain

Marina Vaizey Friday, 27 February 2015

Technical innovation often coupled with meaningless extravagance

The Indian Queen, English National Opera

Kimon Daltas Friday, 27 February 2015

A colourful but eccentric production veers between beauty and incomprehensibility

Resident Evil: Revelations 2 – Episode 1

Simon Munk Friday, 27 February 2015

Action-oriented horror series gets snipped into formulaic episodes

White God

Kieron Tyler Friday, 27 February 2015

Hungarian allegory on racism and the rise of the far right fails to cohere

Man and Superman, National Theatre

Alexandra Coghlan Thursday, 26 February 2015

A theatrical trip to Hell has some heavenly moments

Wolf Hall, Series Finale, BBC Two

Jasper Rees Thursday, 26 February 2015

Superb drama from another age reaches its chilling endgame

The Mikvah Project, The Yard, Hackney

Jenny Gilbert Thursday, 26 February 2015

New play about Jewish faith and the limits of love makes a splash

Picasso: Love, Sex and Art, BBC Four

Fisun Güner Thursday, 26 February 2015

Picasso's women and the role they played in his work

Romeo and Juliet, Tobacco Factory, Bristol

Mark Kidel Thursday, 26 February 2015

Teen spirit, stirred but not deeply shaking

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Aldwych Theatre

Matt Wolf Wednesday, 25 February 2015

With Katie Brayben as the prolific songwriter, a star is born in London as on Broadway

Salt and Silver, Tate Britain

Florence Hallett Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Early photographs that brim with the spirit of experimentation

Kill Me Now, Park Theatre

Heather Neill Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Greg Wise in a searing Canadian import about disability, parenting and mortality

The War on Drugs, O2 Academy Brixton

Barney Harsent Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Philadelphia’s finest prove themselves to be more than the sum of their influences

The South Bank Show: Mark Rylance, Sky Arts 1

Adam Sweeting Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Lord Bragg explores an actor's life

It Follows

Emma Simmonds Wednesday, 25 February 2015

Smart, striking horror starring Maika Monroe and directed by David Robert Mitchell

Multitudes, Tricycle Theatre

Aleks Sierz Tuesday, 24 February 2015

New play about political and religious conflict in a Bradford family is powerfully emotional

Crouch, Touch, Pause, Engage, National Theatre Wales

Gary Raymond Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Alfie Agonistes: gay rugby play needs to come out more as a drama

Eva Yerbabuena/Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía, Sadler's Wells

Hanna Weibye Tuesday, 24 February 2015

Grimly majestic femininity steals the show at annual Spanish showcase

Closer, Donmar Warehouse

Aleks Sierz Monday, 23 February 2015

Rufus Sewell in a revival of the 1997 classic that begins uncertainly before romping home

The Jesus & Mary Chain, Brighton Dome

Thomas H Green Monday, 23 February 2015

Alternative Eighties noise-meisters tour their well-loved debut

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