Mark Davoren, Author at North West End UK

19Jan

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Snow White – Rainhill Village Hall

Director Karen Woods has kept the spirit of the season alive – oh yes she has! – as Rainhill Musical Theatre company sing us into the New Year with their take on this famous fairy tale to a live musical accompaniment led by Musical Director Wayne Oakes. The kind and beautiful Snow White (Michelle Williams) lives happily in the village of Applebury with Muddles (David Stevens) and his mother, the Dame (Dru Fitzgerald), and other villagers (Fiona O’Gorman; Ryan Greenall; Emily Boycott). Her wicked stepmother, the evil Queen (Sarsh Johnson) is jealous of her beauty and with the assistance of Helga the Hag (Claire Heaton) decides to do away with her. Can fairy Riff (Megan Charlton) and Mirror (Dianne Glover) stop her in her tracks? Will the miners (Ruth Gibb; Annie Topping; Liam Fitzgerald;...

15Jan

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Carmen – Liverpool Empire

Director and Producer Ellen Kent’s Carmen is carnal, captivating, and carefree in equal measure and with the close camaraderie of the company clear to see on stage, it is a joy to behold. Set in early 19th Century Seville, Carmen tells the story of the downfall of Don José (Davit Sumbadze) a naïve corporal who falls head over heels in love with Carmen (Natalia Matveeva), a seductive, free-spirited gypsy girl. The infatuated Don José abandons his childhood sweetheart, Micaela (Elena Dee), and neglects his military duties much to the annoyance of his senior officer Zuniga (Valeriu Cojocaru), only to lose the fickle Carmen to the glamorous toreador Escamillio (Iurie Gisca). Sung in its original French, with English surtitles provided by Victoria Bazalinchuk, the unfolding action on stag...

Madama Butterfly – Opera House, Manchester

13Jan

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Madama Butterfly – Opera House, Manchester

The heartbreaking beauty of this opera is perfectly presented by Director and Producer Ellen Kent in this sensitive and moving portrayal which captures passing moments of innocence and naïve humour but whose final scene touched me deeply. Marriage broker Goro (Yevhenii Vaskiv) shows US naval lieutenant Pinkerton (Giorgi Meladze) around the home he will share with his bride-to-be in Nagasaki, although American Consul Sharpless (Iurie Gisca) warns him of the tragic consequences that may follow. The Butterfly duly lands in the form of young Japanese girl Cio-Cio-San (Elena Dee) supported by maid Suzuki (Natalia Matveeva), and they are married by the Commissioner (Vitalii Cebotari). Her love makes her willing to sacrifice everything which sees her disowned by her uncle, a Bonze (Valeriu Coj...

11Jan

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North West

La Traviata – Manchester Opera House

Ellen Kent’s production of this much-loved opera is aided by its sumptuous set and costume design as it relishes its traditional 19th Century roots and delivers a truly musical feast to dine upon. At its heart lies a love story which draws upon Alexandre Dumas the Younger’s real-life doomed love affair with well-known courtesan, Marie Duplessis. We open with Violetta (Alyona Kistenyova), aided by her friend Flora (Natalia Matveeva) hosting a lavish party where she is introduced by Gastone (Nicolae Cebanu) to his friend, Alfredo Germont (Giorgio Meladze), a fervent admirer, who is more concerned for her failing health than her escort, Barone Douphal (Eugeniu Ganea). When Alfredo declares his love for her, she wonders if he could be the one amidst her desire to be free to live her life. ...

9Jan

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Nabucco – Met Opera Live in HD

Verdi’s biblical story is brought to life in biblical proportions with this fifth revival from director J. Knighten Smit’s of the late Elijah Moshinsky’s original production complete with John Napier’s impressive set design taking full advantage of the stage’s turntable. In Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, the terrified Hebrews await the arrival of the conquering Babylonian king, Nabucco (George Gagnidze), who is renowned for his cruelty. The Hebrew high priest Zaccaria (Dmitry Belosselskiy) has kidnapped Nabucco’s daughter, Fenena (Maria Barakova) entrusting her safe keeping to Ismaele (SeokJong Baek), and their love for each other is soon revealed. Nabucco’s elder daughter, Abigaille (Liudmyla Monastyrska), is also in love with Ismaele and offers to save the Jewish people if he will giv...

Florencia en el Amazonas – Met Opera Live in HD

10Dec

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Florencia en el Amazonas – Met Opera Live in HD

With Marcela Fuentes-Berain’s libretto inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez, Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera is an enchanting story about love with Mary Zimmerman’s new production establishing the story through a series of vignettes where we meet some of the passengers embarking on a trip to Manaus along the Amazon River, all with the goal of seeing the famed diva Florencia Grimaldi (Ailyn Pérez) perform at the legendary opera house. Unbeknown to them, she is actually travelling incognito among them on her own personal quest into the past to seek out her lover, Cristóbal, a butterfly catcher, who has gone missing in the jungle. Love as the recurring central theme is explored further through the other passengers: Paula (Nancy Fabiola Herrera) and Alvaro (M...

9Dec

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Little Red – Theatre Porto

Kevin Dyer’s delightful re-imagining of this tale as old as time is wonderfully brought to life under the direction of Nina Hajiyianni with memorable musical composition by Patrick Dineen to keep us on the right path as Little Red (Fatima Jahara) heads into the forest with the blessing of her mother (Anoush Kendrick) to visit her sickly Grandma (Francesca Anderson), but on the way she encounters a rather hungry Wolfie (Stephanie Greer) who has other plans for her. There is a surreal quality to this re-telling and the all-female cast deliver inspired performances with Anderson, Greer, and Kendrick also taking on ensemble roles as the journey unravels with lots of humour and the right amount of scare, wrapped up in song and some outstanding choreography. Anderson’s Grandma is instantly re...

20Nov

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North West

Opera North: La rondine – The Lowry

The curtains opens to 1920’s Paris in director James Hurley’s take on Puccini’s take of the La Traviata tale and with the backdrop of Leslie Travers rich and glamorous set, suitably illuminated by Paule Constable and Ben Pickersgill, we meet Magda (Galina Averina), the mistress of a wealthy banker, Rambaldo (Philip Smith), but when the poet Prunier (Elgan Llŷr Thomas) reads her palm and predicts that like la rondine – the swallow – she will travel south in her pursuit of happiness, the die is cast for what is to come. When she meets the young Ruggero (Sebastien Guèze), glamour soon turns to decadence as she follows him to the nightclub Bulliers where they fall in love and decide to run away to the south of France, and with Prunier equally smitten with Magda’s maid, Lisette (Claire Lees), t...

Opera North: Masque of Might – The Lowry

17Nov

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North West

Opera North: Masque of Might – The Lowry

Sir David Pountney’s exuberant production is billed as ‘eco-entertainment’ and it certainly takes re-purposing to a whole new level with its glorified collage of Purcell’s semi-operatic musical form of the 17th Century masque lyrically enhanced to explore a range of contemporary themes including the rise of strongman leaders and the devastation of climate change, and how these may be rightly overcome. By its very nature and whilst sung, the piece is narrative in form and whilst merging various disparate musical moods, by and large it holds together quite well with the assistance of side panel surtitles in English of an English libretto. Although its success can be very much attributed to the genius fusion of the original composer and the adapted libretto by its director, it is also unfo...

16Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Opera North: Falstaff – The Lowry

The rainbow-striped curtain rises on Opera North’s sustainable take on Verdi’s final masterpiece, a comic opera drawn from Shakespeare in director Olivia Fuchs’ re-imagined riotous and rampant romp that serves up satire, slapstick, and stags along the way. Roguish knight Falstaff (Henry Waddington) is down on his luck, residing in the car park of the Garter Inn and reliant upon its Host (Gordon D. Shaw) to keep him in good spirits of any kind! When he informs Bardolph (Colin Judson) and Pistol (Dean Robinson) that he intends to seduce Alice Ford (Kate Royal) and Meg Page (Helen Évora) they refuse to deliver his letters, so he throws them out, turning to his assistant Robin (Robert Gardiner) instead. When the letters are eventually received, Mistress Quigley (Louise Winter), Meg, Alice, ...