Latest news with #Tchaikovsky
Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
The Queen of Spades review — Tchaikovsky's chiller comes up trumps
A hall of foxed mirrors designed by Tom Piper enfolds the cast of Garsington Opera's new production of Tchaikovsky's chiller, the effect part Versailles, part haunted fairground. It's the first sign that Jack Furness's staging is something of a collector's item among productions of The Queen of Spades. We're actually in the period the composer imagined, the 1790s, in the St Petersburg of Empress Catherine the Great. Tchaikovsky venerated Mozart, and Furness's insightful and pacey show is in some ways a kind of nightmare Marriage of Figaro, with aristocrats and underlings jockeying for position, acrimony seeping through a society of snobs, hypocrites and chancers. 'What is our life? A game!' the tormented antihero Herman will conclude at the tragic close. A game of cards, but also a game of dress-up, role play and buried identities. • The best musical, dance and theatre shows to book now Furness's show — excuse the pun — really shows its hand in the Pastorale, a play within a play at the midpoint of the opera, featuring an increasingly risqué ballet (clever choreography by Lucy Burge) in which all kinds of seduction are on the cards. The cast start to reveal their true colours too: Robert Hayward's powerfully empathetic Tomsky — a character who usually is the wry, grizzled type — clearly has unfinished romantic history with the bottled-up Prince Yeletsky (Roderick Williams). Stephanie Wake-Edwards's forceful yet thwarted Polina is pining for Laura Wilde's Lisa. And who knows what the old Countess really means when she starts reminiscing about her youthful fraternising with Madame de Pompadour? Tchaikovsky (and for that matter his librettist brother Modest) both wrestled with repressed homosexuality, but whereas Covent Garden's last production of The Queen of Spades turned the entire show into a nightmare Freudian autobiography, Furness pulls these strings far more subtly. So much for rococo spice. For all the Mozartian tints to his opera, however, Tchaikovsky's score practically throbs with anguish and ardour, and the propulsive playing of the Philharmonia — particularly its velvety strings — add the essential heat. Douglas Boyd's perceptive conducting is full of disconcerting details, including the eerie threnody that opens Act III. The tormented Herman is a beast of a role. The forceful Aaron Cawley certainly chews into it — and then some — though by the end of the night the tenor was tending to wiry and strident. Wilde is an affecting, vocally polished Lisa, and (replacing Diana Montague at this performance) Harriet Williams caught the acidulous ennui of the Countess. Nobody sounded more polished, however, than Roderick Williams's heartfelt Yeletsky, who delivered his noble aria with memorable and moving grace. ★★★★☆ 270min (includes dinner interval) To July 4, To be broadcast on Radio 3 in October
Cosmopolitan
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
How to Have a Rom-Com Vacation in Ocean City, Maryland
Whether you're coupled up, ready to turn that situationship into a relationship, or looking for true love, Ocean City, Maryland, has all the ingredients for a dreamy romantic vacay worthy of a screen adaptation. Pristine beaches and mesmerizing sunsets? A bustling nightlife ripe for chance encounters? Yup, in this Eastern Shore resort town, life can be just like the movies. Pack your best fire emoji-worthy swimsuit and add the activities below to your itinerary. From the deliciously unhinged (do it for the group chat!) to the adorably cheesy (go get that kiss at the top of the Ferris wheel, girlie), the destination offers no shortage of ways to live out the most iconic rom-com plotlines. Aside from a makeover, nothing makes for a better montage than a date packed with wholesome activities. Ocean City's boardwalk contains nearly three miles of opportunities for cute AF moments to mentally snapshot. Some suggestions: Share a bucket of Thrasher's fries—served with apple-cider vinegar, never ketchup (it's a whole thing); hit the Kite Loft and then fly your colorful purchase on the beach; commemorate the day with a fun portrait at Flashback Old Time Photos; win each other obnoxiously big stuffed animals at Jolly Roger Pier arcade and amusement park; and, finally, take a ride on the Giant Wheel and make the people in the car behind you think, Get a room. Maybe you're waiting for the *perfect* moment, or maybe you've already had a makeout sesh that was just a tad underwhelming. Don't stress! With the right backdrop, that firework-inducing kiss is in your future. Here's what you're gonna do: Make a reservation at a bayfront restaurant like Fager's Island. Not only are this spot's crab cakes on point, but they time the sunset to Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture every. Single. Day. Once you hear the 15-minute climactic masterpiece start pumping through the speakers, hightail it to the gazebo on the restaurant's private pier to make your move as the dramatic crescendo hits. Grand gestures don't have to be expensive; at Assateague Island National Seashore, you can let its herd of free-roaming horses do the impressing for you. (One thing, though: Since they're wild, you can't feed or touch these cuties. The park rangers recommend observing them from at least 40 feet away.) In addition to the wildlife, the barrier island is known for its peaceful, rustic beaches, making it picnic-perfect. Pro tip: Pack a cooler with delish provisions from a specialty shop like the market at Touch of Italy. Try the Antipasti Della Casa (a cheese-and-charcuterie board for two), or pick up a couple of stacked Italian heroes to split. So your bestie invited someone you can't stand on the group trip? We all know how this trope plays out. You and the crew will rent kayaks to explore one of the area's photogenic salt marshes. You'll get stuck sharing a tandem with said person and drift away from the rest of the group because *someone* isn't paddling hard enough. Your bickering will cause the boat to tip over, and a crab will bite one of their toes (because, well, Maryland). The whole ordeal is pure comedy, so suddenly you're both laughing and—wait. Did you just catch feels? Yeah, you did. Fun fact: The Orange Crush—a summery bevvy made with freshly squeezed orange juice, vodka, triple sec, and a splash of lemon-lime soda—was invented in Ocean City, Maryland. Speaking of crushes, what are you waiting for? Take them to a picturesque bar, order a round of *the* cocktail and have *the* convo. Might we suggest Harborside Bar & Grill, where the drink originates, or Seacrets, which has a distillery on its six-acre bayfront compound? Even if the feelings aren't mutual, you're sure to lock eyes with someone new at one of the latter's 17 (yes, you read that right) bars. You're no damsel in distress, but as so many rom-coms have taught us, there's nothing a potential love interest loves more than overconfidently flaunting their skills. Cosplay this narrative and prepare for a meet-cute at one of Ocean City's many championship courses, such as Rum Pointe Seaside Golf Links. Then, once you've captured the attention—and heart—of the pro, flip the script and show off your real talent. In this movie, it's what scores you the one. Not a golf girlie? This method plays equally well on a fishing charter or a paddleboard tour—both of which are abundant in Ocean City. Start filming your Ocean City rom-com with a trip to the seaside destination. Visit
Washington Post
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
Xian Zhang and the BSO are a match made in heaven (or hell, as it were)
The last time conductor Xian Zhang came through town in 2024, she led the National Symphony Orchestra in — let me check my notes here — 'one of the more powerhouse showings from a guest conductor that I've witnessed since landing in D.C. four years ago.' So on Thursday evening it was an easy decision to head to Strathmore, where Zhang took up the first of three performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra — a program of composers Yi Chen and Alexander Glazunov followed by a one-two punch of Tchaikovsky.
The Guardian
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
The Queen of Spades review – dark and convincing staging of Tchaikovsky's compulsive drama
Garsington's production of The Queen of Spades leaves little room for doubt that this is Tchaikovsky's most substantial and forward-looking operatic achievement. There are a few debatable aspects to Jack Furness's ingeniously busy production and Tom Piper's mirror-dominated stage designs, and on the opening night it took time for the show to fully hit its musical stride. Overall, though, this is an overwhelmingly convincing staging of a genuine music drama, and it will surely come to be seen as one of Garsington's most notable milestones. The opera's 18th-century setting, following Pushkin's short story, is retained. But in every other respect this is an unmistakably dark 21st-century reading. Furness is good at inserting troubling new details into the opera's apparently sunnier moments, literally so when black curtains zip across the late afternoon Garsington windows. The children playing soldiers on the banks of the Neva are here more sinister than cute, while the costume ball scene is riddled with transgressive suggestion. Suffice to say that the grand entrance of Catherine the Great after the ball scene's pastorale will not end as traditionalists will expect either. A successful performance of The Queen of Spades never rests solely on the shoulders of the opera's tortured antihero Hermann. Tchaikovsky's opera contains too many other fine cameos and ensembles for that. But without an outstanding Hermann, the opera's uniquely visceral impact might misfire. Fortunately, Garsington has a true Hermann in its ranks, in the shape of the Germany-based Irish tenor Aaron Cawley, who sings the role with prodigious intensity, almost too agonisingly, and with a brooding Heathcliffian presence which at times threatens to eclipse everything else on stage. Yet this is as it should be. Hermann's obsessive gambling, social awkwardness and sexual frustration are the dramatic focus of the opera in ways that look forward to the 20th century, to Berg's unhappy Wozzeck and to Britten's troubled loner Peter Grimes, a role for which Cawley would be ideal. Under Douglas Boyd's baton, Tchaikovsky's compulsive and innovative score, full of expressive woodwind detail and driven forwards by the march of fate, does the rest. Among the other principals, Laura Wilde is a suitably haunted and haunting Lisa, movingly depicting her character's journey from security to despair. Stephanie Wake-Edwards is bright and characterful as her friend Polina. Diana Montague, as vocally elegant as ever, plays the aged Countess without hamming the role. Robert Hayward uses his many arts to give more depth to Hermann's friend Tomsky than usual, while Roderick Williams does an eloquently sympathetic turn as the disappointed Prince Yeletsky. Until 4 July
Telegraph
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
The Queen of Spades, Garsington: Romantic despair and mad obsession – with a strong whiff of sulphur
After the bright daylight and saucy flirtations of Garsington Opera's season-opener The Elixir of Love, their second night plunged us into romantic despair and mad obsession, with a strong whiff of sulphur. The titular Queen of Spades in Tchaikovsky's great opera is an elderly Russian countess who has the secret for winning cards, but it's a secret that will bring death to anyone who learns it. For the opera's bitter anti-hero Herman the way to that secret lies through the Countess's niece Lisa. But perhaps love for her will rescue him from his mad obsession? That's the intimate heart of the opera, but as this fabulous new production makes clear the story is rooted in the tensions of Russian society. Director Jack Furness and designer Tom Piper summon that world's luxuriant, telling detail as well as its huge epic sweep and barely concealed brutality. In the barracks at the very beginning we see some lads playing soldiers. It's charming, and the excellent Garsington Opera Children's Chorus savour the Russian words. But when one of them falls down the others give his head a good kicking. Later, when we see Herman explaining his infatuation with the socially unattainable Lisa to his good friend Tomsky, he gets contemptuous looks from the strolling St Petersburg high society, who admire themselves in the mottled mirrored detachable walls that make up the set. These spin round to reveal previously hidden worlds. It might be the make-believe of a Rococo theatre-in-a-theatre, or the grim cramped barracks where Herman dreams his dream of infinite wealth. This picturesque but fundamentally grim world is enlivened by the dancers in the ball scenes and above all by Garsington's lavish 32-strong chorus, breathtakingly vigorous whether they're playing eager gamblers round the gambling-table or the Countess's chattering servants. Tchaikovsky's blazing score, which ranges from Mozartian pastiche to Russian charm to the tremor and shriek of the supernatural is brought to vivid life by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Garsington's musical director Douglas Boyd. However the couple at the opera's heart are not quite so strong. Laura Wilde as Lisa has an impressive flaring voice but her performance felt rather dramatically tepid, and though Aaron Cawley's dark-grained baritone seemed right for Herman's obsession one missed a sense of that countervailing tenderness for Lisa that might have saved him. The circle of army friends around Herman were more convincingly portrayed, above all gravel-voiced Robert Hayward as the jovial, ever-optimistic Tomsky. Roderick Williams as the stuffed-shirt Prince Yelestsky who loses out to the romantically fascinating Herman provided the subtlest singing of the performance, in his aria of dignified heartbreak. However the evening's most spell-binding moment came from Diana Montague as the Countess, alone in her bedroom, recalling her young days in Paris when she learned the secret of the 'three cards'. On opening night, when the lights fell and the orchestral sound dropped to a whisper, you could feel everyone lean forward to catch the old witch's secrets. Sometimes the best moments at the opera are the quietest.
