Maria Stuarda; Rusalka
Opera North, in Leeds and on tour until July
Carmen
Royal Opera House, until 26 June
Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda is most celebrated for the apocryphal meeting of Mary Queen of Scots and Elizabeth, in which Mary descends to some coarse insults, backed up, in Antony McDonald’s new production for Opera North, by the use of a riding whip — Elizabeth has one, too, and the two queens do get quite physical. The drama here is stronger than the music, though, which is as perfunctory as most of the score, and only rises to an impressive level for the long monologues for the central characters, and especially the final scene — a very slow walk to the scaffold, inevitably.
Stars are needed, and in Sarah Connolly Opera North has one, though on the opening night it was announced before the second half that she had a throat infection, which you’d never have guessed.
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