OPERA NORTH’S SEASON OF CONTRASTS

OPERA NORTH’S SEASON OF CONTRASTS

From Kurt Weill’s interrogation of the American Dream in Love Life to a bold reimagining of Wagner’s classic opera The Flying Dutchman, unforgettable journeys await audiences in Leeds and across the North over the coming months as Opera North brings its latest season to the stage. James Brining’s popular production of The Magic Flute also returns after its hugely successful autumn tour, while The Magic Flute Lite offers a shorter daytime option for schools, families and anyone looking for all the magic, enchantment and drama of Mozart’s much-loved opera in a more condensed version.

The start of the year sees the company taking on the time-travelling masterpiece Love Life directed by Matthew Eberhardt and supported by the Kurt Weill Foundation. A hit on Broadway when it first opened in 1948, this pioneering musical grew out of a collaboration between composer Kurt Weill and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner (My Fair Lady) who were keen to explore the ups and downs of both a marriage and a nation. In the company of husband and wife Sam and Susan Cooper  the show moves through 157 turbulent years of American history. The couple never age but we see how their lives change as society evolves around them.

Interspersed with the sketches of family life is a cabaret-style act which sees different troupes commenting on the action through song and dance. With each era lending itself to a different style, the result is a score packed with hummable show tunes and dazzlingly inventive orchestration.

From the critically-acclaimed director/designer team Annabel Arden and Joanna Parker (Aida, Andrea Chénier, Turandot) comes a vital new reinterpretation of Wagner’s radical early masterpiece, The Flying Dutchman. Displaced and dispossessed, the Dutchman’s crew are condemned to wander the seas for eternity. Every seven years, fate offers them the chance to end this cycle of purgatory but, in a world where money, power and bureaucracy hold sway, it remains to be seen whether they will ever find shelter and sanctuary.

Touring alongside The Flying Dutchman will be James Brining’s magical production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute which played to packed houses during the autumn season.

In Leeds, Newcastle, Salford and Nottingham, younger people and anyone looking for a shorter opera will also get the chance to enjoy The Magic Flute Lite. Offering the same enchanted world and beautiful music as the full-length production, this special daytime performance lasts under two hours and has been created especially for families, schoolchildren at Key Stage 2-4 and audience members who prefer a more bitesize operatic experience. Both The Magic Flute and The Magic Flute Lite will be sung in English with English subtitles.

LEEDS GRAND THEATRE (Performances at 7.00 unless otherwise stated)

Love Life: Thu 16 Jan, Fri 17 Jan at 6.00pm and Sat 18 Jan at 2.30

The Flying Dutchman: Sat 1st Feb, Sat 8 Feb 2.30pm, Tues 11 Feb 6.00pm,  Friday 14 February Fri 21st February

The Magic Flute: Wed 12 Feb, Thurs 13 Feb AD and BSL, Sat 15 Feb, Thurs 20 Magic Flute Lite 2.30pm; Sat 22 February

 

 

 

 

You must be logged in to post a comment Login