192 stories from The Tyro Theatre Critic
When asked what my favourite opera is, I usually respond with vague platitudes about not having favourites, loving them all, etc. etc. That's pretty much true but if I had to pick one, which…
The Tony nominations came out and I realised that I'd seen surprisingly few of them, how on earth was I to moan about the inevitable results when I haven't seen everything! The fact that mor…
If I had a life checklist, hearing Barry Manilow sing "Mandy" live would have been on it. He went one better in his current tour, which I was very lucky enough to catch at Radio City Music H…
A couple of years ago, I happened to stumble upon "Leap of Faith" during its original run in LA. The show was then overlong, sentimental and totally unambitious. It has now dragged itself to…
In a long season of 25 odd operas, the incredible dearth of 20th Century (or dare we ask even 21st Century works) at the Metropolitan Opera has been rather dispiriting ("Satyagraha" the only…
The ring has come full circle and what an amazing ride it has been. I'd be lying if I said I liked everything about the Metropolitan Opera's new Ring Cycle, the production, cast and particul…
It would be difficult not to argue that the Metropolitan Opera's new Ring Cycle seems to be getting worse as it goes along. "Das Rheingold" led the cycle off with a bang, "Die Walküre" purr…
I've always been of the opinion that a director can do what they like with a composer/writer's piece as long as the end result works (if it doesn't work however, then prepare for critical kn…
Gotham Chamber Opera have managed without much fanfare to produce two of the most interesting and high quality operatic performances that I've been fortunate enough to see since I arrived in…
The chance to see the Maly Theatre perform anything is not something I would ever pass up. The chance to see the Maly Theatre perform Chekhov is something I'd beg, steal or borrow a ticket t…
Hailing from the UK and having not been born when most of the events of this play take place, I entered "Magic/Bird", a new play by Eric Simonson, knowing next to nothing about what was to f…
It took about three notes to realise the triumph of "Das Rheingold" wasn't going to sustain through "Die Walküre". Fabio Luisi kicked off the storm at such an absurd speed that the now regu…
All of a sudden: farce is massively trendy. I don't know how this happened, though to be honest I've never been quite sure why farce was so unfashionable to begin with. I'm certainly not com…
Having missed the first performance due to illness, all eyes and ears were on Natalie Dessay as she finally took to the stage in the Metropolitan Opera's latest revival of "La Traviata". Aft…
Robert Lepage's production of Wagner's Ring Cycle for the Metropolitan Opera has come a long way since he unveiled his "Machine" with "Das Rheingold" going on two years ago. It's now a widel…
I wasn't going to review "The Book of Mormon" again, this is now the third time I've seen it and one out and out rave from me was plenty whilst the first cast remained. That said, when I ven…
You've got to have guts to take on the role of Lady Macbeth but I'm afraid that's all the praise I can offer Nadja Michael's flat, screechy, air raid siren of an attempt. In other regards th…
I wasn't really planning on returning to "How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" but with family over from the UK it presented an ideal slice of Broadway. The cast has seen consid…
This will be something of a post-mortem as the majority of the cast of "Seminar" departed last weekend. It was for that very reason that I suddenly panicked and slipped into one of their fin…
Any production that takes a five Act play and boils it down to a riveting hour and fifty five minutes of mayhem has a lot going for it. Declan Donnellan's Cheek By Jowl production of "Tis Pi…
Rounding out the Metropolitan Opera's new productions for this season is Laurent Pelly's very grey "Manon". I was lucky enough to be in London when this production was actually new and I gav…
When "Ghost" launched in London I don't think all that many expected it would be quite as amazing as it turned out to be. Though not the greatest of musicals, the music decidedly middling, M…
New York City Opera's withdrawal from the Lincoln Center has left a hole in the venue's calendar and various bits and pieces have turned up over the course of this season, none of which has …
Zipping straight back to New York from London my string of theatrical frothy fun continued with "L'elisir d'amore" at the Metropolitan Opera. They cast this revival to the nines, Juan Diego …
It's been a UK trip of repeat visits and so to finish I slipped back to the Royal Ballet's "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". It was brand new last year, and when I saw it then I came away …
