All stories by Amanda Holloway on BroadwayStars

Monday, March 9, 2020

St John Passion review at Hackney Empire, London – ‘a cathartic community experience’ by Amanda Holloway

Bach’s St John Passion has been subjected to a variety of theatrical treatments: staged emotionally by Deborah Warner for English National Opera

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:26PM
Wednesday, December 18, 2019

La Traviata review at Royal Opera House, London – ‘beautiful voices are not enough’ by Amanda Holloway

A guaranteed crowd-puller, Richard Eyre’s production of La Traviata is still as eye-catching as it was in 1994. Bob Crowley’s set is

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:03PM
Friday, September 6, 2019

Don Jo review at Arcola Theatre, London – ‘a queer take on Mozart’s anti-hero’ by Amanda Holloway

Mozart’s seductive anti-hero Don Giovanni has invited reinterpretation by directors from many different points of view. This Grimeborn production from the Arcola

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:23AM
Monday, September 2, 2019

L’Elisir d’Amore review at Belcombe Court – ‘a vivacious young cast’ by Amanda Holloway

Moving from the cloister of an 18th-century manor to a geodesic dome in the 18th-century gardens of Belcombe Court seems to have

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:50PM
Monday, July 22, 2019

L’Arlesiana review at Opera Holland Park, London – ‘tugs the heartstrings’ by Amanda Holloway

Francesco Cilea’s L’Arlesiana – based on Daudet’s play L’Arlésienne, a tragic love story set in a Provencal village – never achieved the

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:41AM
Thursday, July 4, 2019

The Turn of the Screw review at Garsington Opera – ‘outstanding in every way’ by Amanda Holloway

Benjamin Britten’s psychological thriller, based on Henry James’ ambiguous ghost story, must have been doubly shocking in 1950s Britain. This gripping production,

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:54AM
Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Tosca review at Royal Opera House, London – ‘well-sung, but uninvolving’ by Amanda Holloway

Jonathan Kent’s straightforward production, with handsome designs by the late Paul Brown, has framed some memorable performances since its unveiling in 2006

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:16PM
Monday, May 20, 2019

Il barbiere di Siviglia review at Glyndebourne – ‘madcap staging and world-class performances’ by Amanda Holloway

Annabel Arden’s frenetic production of Rossini’s popular comedy received a mixed reception at its debut in 2016. Happily revival director Sinead O’Neill

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:59AM
Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Billy Budd review at Royal Opera House, London – ‘visually spectacular and musically arresting’ by Amanda Holloway

The good ship Indomitable sailed into London last night to a hero’s welcome, after triumphs in Milan and Rome. The cast for

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:19AM
Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Mary, Queen of Scots review at the Old Church, London – ‘a thrilling, up-close encounter’ by Amanda Holloway

Fittingly, OperaUpClose’s new touring production of Mary, Queen of Scots opened in London’s only surviving Elizabethan church, its simple nave transformed into

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:44PM
Friday, March 15, 2019

The Magic Flute review at London Coliseum – ‘spectacular effects’ by Amanda Holloway

English National Opera’s clear and inventive production of The Magic Flute, first seen in 2013 and now on its third revival, is

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:54AM
Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk review at Tower Ballroom, Birmingham – ‘filthy, fabulous immersive opera’ by Amanda Holloway

Graham Vick’s site-specific production of Shostakovich’s mocking, transgressive opera, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk – which takes place in a seedy nightclub on

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:30PM
Friday, February 15, 2019

Carmen review at King’s Head Theatre, London – ‘punchy new version of Bizet’s tragedy’ by Amanda Holloway

This punchy new English version of Bizet’s opera, by Mary Franklin and Ashley Pearson, focuses on the seedy, violent aspects of the

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:37AM
Friday, December 21, 2018

Amahl and the Night Visitors review at St John’s Smith Square – ‘musically satisfying’ by Amanda Holloway

Amahl and the Night Visitors has all the ingredients of a Christmas show – lyrical music, a winsome boy hero and a

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:20AM
Wednesday, December 12, 2018

Cinderella review at Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford – ‘lavish and entertaining’ by Amanda Holloway

This year’s Yvonne Arnaud pantomime features all the traditional ingredients, along with the spicy wit of a stand-up show. Writer and director

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:37AM
Friday, November 23, 2018

Harriet review at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield – ‘vivid new chamber opera’ by Amanda Holloway

The life of Harriet Tubman, African American freedom fighter and former slave, is a gift for an opera composer. Born on a

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:44AM
Monday, October 22, 2018

Cendrillon review at Glyndebourne – ‘a cluttered production’ by Amanda Holloway

Massenet’s operatic fairytale is a thing of perfection, his ravishing melodies supported by shimmering solos and feather-light textures. But director Fiona Shaw

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:23AM
Friday, September 28, 2018

Memorial review at Barbican Theatre, London – ‘transcendent theatre’ by Amanda Holloway

Never has Homer’s Iliad seemed less like a dusty schoolbook text than in this searing ‘excavation’ by poet Alice Oswald, dramatized so

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:29AM
Thursday, September 27, 2018

La Tragedie de Carmen review at Asylum Chapel, London – ‘unimpeachable musical values’ by Amanda Holloway

Peter Brook’s pared-down’s 1981 version of Bizet’s Carmen, is heady stuff. But it can feel at times like eating too many sweeties:

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 03:27AM
Thursday, August 23, 2018

Elephant Steps review at Arcola Theatre – ‘Experiment in sixties Surrealism reinvented for today’ by Amanda Holloway

Once you accept that it’s all nonsense, that your senses will be assaulted by a riot of colour and noise, by a

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 09:21AM
Wednesday, August 1, 2018

The Boatswain’s Mate review at Arcola Theatre, London – ‘a lively staging’ by Amanda Holloway

Celebrating the centenary of votes for women, Spectra Ensemble puts on a rare performance of Ethel Smyth’s jokey opera from 1914, The

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:53PM
Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Jette Parker Young Artists Summer Performance 2018 review – ‘vocal and dramatic brilliance’ by Amanda Holloway

The Jette Parker Young Artists (JPYA) Summer Performance was up against the football World Cup Final and the Wimbledon Final, so it’s

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 09:33AM
Tuesday, July 3, 2018

La Traviata review at Longborough Festival Opera – ‘awkward Hollywood farce’ by Amanda Holloway

Longborough Festival Opera’s theatre-in-a-barn (clad in Classical columns and with seats instead of hay bales) is known for excellent Wagner productions on

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:05PM
Monday, July 2, 2018

Don Giovanni review at Royal Opera House, London – ‘a thrilling ride’ by Amanda Holloway

Swirling images of naked women, conquests catalogued in ghostly handwriting on palace walls – the video designs by Luke Halls take us

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 01:04PM
Thursday, April 5, 2018

Roles review at V&A, London – ‘provocative new operatic work’ by Amanda Holloway

Less an opera and more a collection of scenes for opera heroines, Roles is the culmination of Metta Theatre’s residency at the V and

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 04:56AM
Thursday, March 29, 2018

The Mikado review at King’s Head Theatre, London – ‘wit and energy’ by Amanda Holloway

Who’d have thought that Gilbert and Sullivan’s baggy old warhorse could be reimagined for eight singers and a piano in a pub

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:39AM
Thursday, November 30, 2017

Eugene Onegin review at Arcola Theatre, London – ‘ambitious, pocket-sized opera’ by Amanda Holloway

In OperaUpClose’s ambitious pocket production of Eugene Onegin, the rolling Russian landscape of the Larin family estate has been replaced by a

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:39AM
Monday, November 6, 2017

The Lighthouse review at Hackney Showroom, London – ‘nerve-shredding’ by Amanda Holloway

Peter Maxwell Davies’ violent, unsettling tale of three lighthouse keepers who disappear in mysterious circumstances is especially intense in the modestly-proportioned Hackney

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:26AM
Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Lucia di Lammermoor review at Royal Opera House, London – ‘a triumph’ by Amanda Holloway

Katie Mitchell’s production of Lucia di Lammermoor for the Royal Opera drew howls of protest at its premiere in 2016 for its

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:29AM
Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Salieri’s The School of Jealousy review at St John’s Smith Square – ‘a sprightly performance’ by Amanda Holloway

Poor Salieri. Having paved the way for Mozart, whom he admired and encouraged, he became known as the man who killed the

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:30AM
Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Datong – The Chinese Utopia review at Richmond Theatre, London – ‘an entertaining chamber opera’ by Amanda Holloway

Utopian thinkers are often dismissed as dreamers, madmen or heretics. But for a brief moment in China’s history, one man succeeded in

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 12:38PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards