Don Giovanni (Metropolitan Opera) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

I don't think Michael Grandage has quite grasped the size of the Metropolitan Opera. His new "Don Giovanni" is so minutely detailed that it comes across looking under directed. A fabulous ca…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 7:00pm on October 14, 2011☆⚑

Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Metropolitan Opera) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

As kooky, symbolic sets go this is a pretty one. Sliding doors and autumnal colours bringing the stage to life. It's a pity then, that the stagecraft that comes with it, is so numbingly stra…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 3:41pm on October 13, 2011☆⚑

New York City Ballet Triple Bill (Square/In Memory/West Side) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

I clearly can't get enough of the New York City Ballet. Heading along to yet another diverse mixed bill of ballets. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the way these bills are p…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 10:05pm on October 10, 2011☆⚑

The Threepenny Opera by The Tyro Theatre Critic

There are some shows that just beg to be seen. The Berliner Ensemble performing "The Threepenny Opera" under the direction of Robert Wilson is one of those shows. Not an easy night out by an…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 7:01pm on October 9, 2011☆⚑

The Book of Mormon by The Tyro Theatre Critic

My prayers were answered and I finally got myself to "The Book of Mormon". A show so lauded it was surely doomed to disappoint. But it didn't. Relentlessly funny, with hum-along tunes and cr…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 7:47pm on October 7, 2011☆⚑

New York City Ballet Triple Bill (Ocean's/Sonnambula/WestSide) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

The New York City Ballet's biggest event of the fall season has been, without doubt, the premiere of Sir Paul McCartney's new ballet "Ocean's Kingdom". It's probably also going to be the eve…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 11:31pm on October 2, 2011☆⚑

Nabucco (Metropolitan Opera) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

Deary me. After Monday's radiant "Anna Bolena", I suppose it was almost inevitable that "Nabucco" would fail to live up. As it happens, it failed to live up by quite some margin, looking unr…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 5:07pm on September 30, 2011☆⚑

Anna Bolena (Metropolitan Opera) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

Divorced, Beheaded, Died. Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. Thus begins and ends my knowledge of Tudor history. Donizetti's "Anna Bolena" which opened the Metropolitan Opera's season last night …

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 6:32pm on September 27, 2011☆⚑

New York City Ballet Triple Bill (2 Part/Apollo/Mercurial) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

With "Swan Lake" now in the pleasantly distant past, we can get down to what the New York City Ballet (NCYB) do best. Short works. I'll be hitting up a fair few evenings over the next month,…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 12:19am on September 27, 2011☆⚑

Zarkana by The Tyro Theatre Critic

I'm becoming something of a Cirque du Soleil junky. A regular dose still blowing my mind however formulaic their productions have become. "Zarkana" is very much par for the course …

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 6:53pm on September 25, 2011☆⚑

Atys by The Tyro Theatre Critic

This production of Lully's "Atys" has been much lauded by just about everyone and it's hard to deny it is a spectacularly beautiful evening; filled with gorgeous music, fabulous costumes and…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 9:08pm on September 22, 2011☆⚑

The Little Dog Laughed by The Tyro Theatre Critic

For waspish, caustic wit you couldn't do much better than Diane in Douglas Carter Beane's enormously funny "The Little Dog Laughed". She is the lynch pin of this hysterical, but not altogeth…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 5:57pm on September 20, 2011☆⚑

Voca People by The Tyro Theatre Critic

This should have been awful. An hour and a half of a cappella strung together by end of the pier, comedy schtick. Heck, just looking at the Voca People brings me out in hives. The first…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 6:46pm on September 18, 2011☆⚑

Man and Boy by The Tyro Theatre Critic

The Rattigan fever seems to have crossed the pond with this revival of "Man and Boy". A reworked version of the Maria Aitken's West End staging from 2004, when it had David Suchet in the cen…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 5:58pm on September 16, 2011☆⚑

Swan Lake (New York City Ballet) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

I don't really associate the New York City Ballet (NYCB) with big, full length works and off the back of their "Swan Lake", that's probably a good thing. Peter Martins's production is not a …

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 6:00pm on September 13, 2011☆⚑

Completeness by The Tyro Theatre Critic

I'm steadily scoping out the various quirky venues around New York, they are many, but thanks to a recommendation from one of my Uni Professors: I've found my new Royal Court. Play…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 5:00pm on September 10, 2011☆⚑

Catch Me If You Can by The Tyro Theatre Critic

Retro or derivative? I fear "Catch Me If You Can" might well be the most painfully conventional and unoriginal new piece of musical theatre I've ever seen. Closing this weekend, Broadway wil…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 2:00pm on September 1, 2011☆⚑

Master Class by The Tyro Theatre Critic

Two "Master Class" production inside of a year, it's like Christmas come early for the opera/theatre lover. This Broadway revival is a plusher affair than the low key UK Touring production b…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 11:00am on August 30, 2011☆⚑

Rent by The Tyro Theatre Critic

I wasn't lucky enough to catch the original Broadway production of "Rent". I've seen it in a variety of forms, multiple student productions and an ill fated West End reworking, but none have…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 3:00pm on August 29, 2011☆⚑

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying by The Tyro Theatre Critic

I knew little of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" before entering but it rapidly dawned on me this is just "Promises, Promises" with a bit more bounce. Fun and frivolous wi…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 10:34pm on August 23, 2011☆⚑

Die Zauberflöte (Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

With the summer months holding few operatic delights, especially now I've been ripped away from Glyndebourne, I jumped at the chance to catch Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble's production of "Die Za…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 7:52pm on August 21, 2011☆⚑

Sleep No More (Punchdrunk) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

Punchdrunk are a company like few others, their conjured worlds are breathtakingly beautiful. They are also a company who haven't managed to much change in the last few years. The strengths …

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 2:29am on August 21, 2011☆⚑

The Eternal Husband (FringeNYC) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

Nat Cassidy's adaptation of Dostoyevsky's "The Eternal Husband", currently running as part of FringeNYC, has pretty much everything. Moments of sheer terror mixed with darkly funny humour; a…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 6:02pm on August 17, 2011☆⚑

Fourteen Flights (FringeNYC) by The Tyro Theatre Critic

I've never been strong on fringe theatre but with FringeNYC, the New York International Fringe Festival, happening practically on my new door step, I jumped at the chance to catch a few of t…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 9:35pm on August 15, 2011☆⚑

Billy Elliot by The Tyro Theatre Critic

First up in my New York adventure came "Billy Elliot", not an exactly adventurous choice it must be said. I saw it when it was new, years ago, but having not been back since, it's now an alm…

SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 10:42pm on August 13, 2011☆⚑