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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
The show has suddenly become quite wonderful, and the galvanising factor is the terrific stage debut of Melanie C
Blood Brothers
Music
The British pop music industry may be eating itself but if Muse are the pick of what it can offer the world in 2010 then British music is in rude health indeed
Muse
I was smitten by both Gilberts enormous luxuriant moustache and the intelligence and nuance of this highly entertaining play
I totally recommend Babbo to anyone who is looking for really good and traditional Italian food
Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Richard Godwin's rating
Reader rating
Grand passion: Don Carlo (Rolando Villazon) and Elisabetta (Marina Poplavskaya)
Don Carlo at Covent Garden is the hot opera ticket of the summer - an impassioned production, full of starry names, which earned rave reviews when it premiered last month. Top-whack seats usually cost £380 a pair - if you can get your hands on them - but tonight, London audiences can see it up close for free as part of the Royal Opera House's Summer Screen programme.
Trafalgar Square and Canada Square Park (by Canary Wharf) will both be graced by enormous screens that will broadcast the action live from the auditorium. The sound, transmitted through huge speakers, is remarkably highquality for an outdoor relay, while the view of the stage certainly beats the ones from the more affordable seats. Add to that the opportunity to recline on a deck chair and work your way through a picnic as the sun sets over London and you have a delightful evening in prospect.
The production itself unites an all-star team, the stuff of opera buffs' dreams. The Royal Opera's musical director, Antonio Pappano, brings his usual tender intensity to the conductor's pulpit; the National Theatre's Nicholas Hytner provides absorbing direction; designs are by the superb Bob Crowley; while the whole is adorned by the mellifluous tenor of Mexican heartthrob Rolando Villazon in the role of Don Carlo, the Spanish prince whose father steals his betrothed.
Russian soprano Marina Poplavskaya, Simon Keenlyside and Ferruccio Furlanetto are the icing on the cake. Verdi's adaptation of Schiller's tragedy is one of the most intense operas in the canon and even on the big screen ought to retain its thrilling intimacy.
With the New York Met offering live opera relays to cinemas and La Scala in Milan following suit, no one could accuse the major opera houses of neglecting to court a wider audience. Covent Garden also offers The Marriage of Figaro on 16 July.
6pm-10.20pm with a 30-minute interval. Information: 020 7304 4000, www.roh.org.uk.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
