The singers were good, of course. (Iain Paterson excellent as usual, with very little to work with.) The director was fine thesp Rory Kinnear, taking on his first opera production. Again, he made the best of a bad job, IMO.
I found the music boring as hell, capturing very little of the original's melancholy charm - and wot, no bear?! I was in the last row of the balcony, and my eyes are getting worse, so if it was lurking in the vicinity of the shipwreck, I missed it.
I looked around for
motodraconis , but couldn't find her, although I ran into a bloke on the music staff, who still works there.It was very brief, mercifully, a litlle over two hours, including interval.
On the bus home, I had a bad craving for a 'Filet-O-Fish', and was almost tempted to get off a stop early, at McDonald's. I was saved from myself by the interesting spectacle of two police cars,a small crowd of spectators, and a couple of handcuffed yoofs being prepared to be carted off, just outside the Devil's golden arches. Don't know if it was a fight, attempted robbery or what-all.
