This was very much Anna Netrebko's Anna Bolena. True, it is the title role, but the other characters have to work quite hard too. Her face was emoting from every review, and so here's a round-up of what the critic's had to say about Anna as Anna at the Met. Anne Midgette's review for The Washington Post loved the voice, but was surprised about our diva's reaction to the … [Read more...] about Critics Round-up: Anna Netrebko in Anna Bolena
Washington Post
Gloves off in Washington: Placido Domingo strikes back
Washington Post music critic Anne Midgette was often critical of Placido Domingo during his years with the capital's opera company. However when she criticized his conducting of Tosca a month ago, Domingo decided that enough was enough, and wrote a letter to her paper. On September 12, Midgette wrote; All the performances were hampered, indeed sabotaged, by the … [Read more...] about Gloves off in Washington: Placido Domingo strikes back
Critics round-up: Tyne Daly in ‘Master Class’ – “remarkable”
Tyne Daly plays that greatest of divas, Maria Calla, in Terrence McNalls Mast Class at New York's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Her much anticipated performance has been well received: Towering before us — and tower she does, though she is not particularly tall — the celebrated opera singer is undeniably, overwhelmingly there. And yet she’s not there at all. One of … [Read more...] about Critics round-up: Tyne Daly in ‘Master Class’ – “remarkable”
Critics Roundup: South Park creators’ musical ‘The Book of Mormon’ triumphs on Broadway
It looks as though everyone got the joke after all. Even in Utah, it seems, with no damning articles or negative reviews. Time reports: “I was prepared for scatological humor, generous doses of the F-word, and off-color bawdiness—this is South Park without network censorship, remember?” a Mormon reviewer blogged on BeliefNet, “but I wasn't prepared for my Mormon faith to be … [Read more...] about Critics Roundup: South Park creators’ musical ‘The Book of Mormon’ triumphs on Broadway
Elizabeth Taylor: selection from a life… what today’s press has been saying, her best films and her changing look
Today's press A London-born beauty who never lost her clipped, clean way of speaking, Ms. Taylor possessed vivid features known to three generations of filmgoers: Raven hair, dark eyebrows, ivory skin, a near-perfect figure and, most remarkably, violet eyes that were among the most commented-on physical attributes in Hollywood history. Her great beauty arguably both aided … [Read more...] about Elizabeth Taylor: selection from a life… what today’s press has been saying, her best films and her changing look
3-D has rarely seemed as gimmicky as in “Carmen in 3D’’
We're promised "the best seat in the house" but that turns out to be a wheelchair moving around six feet in front of the performers and rarely straying beyond the proscenium. Furthermore, this Royal Opera House production is as conventional as you could imagine. Compared to inventive cinematic takes (the township-set U-Carmen, Preminger's Carmen Jones or Carlos Saura's 1980s … [Read more...] about 3-D has rarely seemed as gimmicky as in “Carmen in 3D’’
Anna Nicole’s breasts loom largely on the Royal Opera House stage – “I’ll eat my six-gallon hat if it’s not a stonking great hit.”
"The sad but true story of Anna Nicole Smith, a two-bit, surgically enhanced American stripper, nude model and C-list celebrity who married an 89-year-old billionaire and ended up, at the age of 39, dead from an overdose of prescription drugs in a lonely hotel room." Thus Rupert Christiansen in The Telegraph sums up the new opera "Anna Nicole" by composer Mark-Anthony … [Read more...] about Anna Nicole’s breasts loom largely on the Royal Opera House stage – “I’ll eat my six-gallon hat if it’s not a stonking great hit.”
The worst and the worst of the Spider-man reviews: a round-up of the first “official” reviews
Critics have taken things into their own hands and attended (unofficially) what was to have been the opening night of Spider-man: Turn off the Dark instead of the currently announced 15 March opening. The 7 February date was in itself a postponement from an earlier opening night. After all the ungenerous Twitter and blog buzz, the professional critics have been no kinder. … [Read more...] about The worst and the worst of the Spider-man reviews: a round-up of the first “official” reviews