ROH Live: The Barber of Seville (12A)

When Rosina falls in love with a mysterious young suitor who calls himself Lindoro, she must use all her cunning –and a little help from her local barber –to outwit her calculating guardian Dr Bartolo. Expect heart-melting serenades, ridiculous disguises and a fairytale ending waiting just out of reach. From the barber’s famous opening number ‘Largo al factotum,’ with its cry of ‘Figaro!Figaro!,’ to Rosina’s feisty aria ‘Una voce poco fa,’ Gioachino Rossini’s comic opera is a riotously entertaining affair. Rafael Payare makes his Royal Opera House debut conducting an outstanding internationalcast that includes Andrzej Filończyk, Aigul Akhmetshina, Lawrence Brownlee and Bryn Terfel.

OPERA
Company – The Royal Opera
Music – Gioachino Rossini

Approximately 3 hours 45 minutes (including two intervals)

ROH Live- The Royal Ballet: A Diamond Celebration (12A)

A dazzling showcase marking 60 years of the Friends of the Royal Opera House.

The Royal Ballet’s dazzling Principals lead an evening not to be missed, their sparkling talents a perfect fit for a diamond anniversary. Celebrating the 60th anniversary of The Friends of Covent Garden, this programme recognises the amazing support of all ROH Friends past and present.

The showcase will demonstrate the breadth and diversity of The Royal Ballet’s repertory in classical, contemporary and heritage works. It will also include world premieres of short ballets by choreographers Pam Tanowitz, Joseph Toonga and Valentino Zucchetti as well as The Royal Ballet’s first performance of For Four by Artistic Associate Christopher Wheeldon and a performance of George Balanchine’s Diamonds.

BALLET
Company – The Royal Ballet

ROH Live- La Bohème (12A) *Encore Screening

Puccini’s opera of passion, friendship and heartbreak features a star-studded cast, conducted by Kevin John Edusei.

Paris, 1900. Penniless writer Rodolfo believes that art is all he needs – until he meets Mimì, the lonely seamstress who lives upstairs. So begins a timeless love story that blooms, fades, and rekindles with the passing seasons. But while the couple’s friends Marcello and Musetta passionately row and make up, a force greater than love threatens Rodolfo and Mimì.

Richard Jones’s production evokes the vivid contrasts of fin de siècle Paris, from Bohemian apartments to glittering arcades.

OPERA
Company – The Royal Opera
Music – Giacomo Puccini

National Theatre Live: Jack Absolute Flies Again (12A)- *Encore Screening

A rollicking new comedy by Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guvnors) and Oliver Chris (Twelfth Night).

After an aerial dog fight, Pilot Officer Jack Absolute flies home to win the heart of his old flame, Lydia Languish. Back on British soil, Jack’s advances soon turn to anarchy when the young heiress demands to be loved on her own, very particular, terms.

Emily Burns directs this spectacularly entertaining new version of Sheridan’s The Rivals. Featuring a cast including Caroline Quentin, Laurie Davidson, Natalie Simpson and Kelvin Fletcher.

‘One of the funniest productions in the National’s history.’ Guardian on One Man, Two Guvnors.

Jack Absolute Flies Again
by Richard Bean and Oliver Chris
based on Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s The Rivals

*Please note, this screening starts promptly at 7pm

ROH Live- Aida (12A) *Encore Screening

Love and duty collide and nations clash in Verdi’s political drama, starring Elena Stikhina and conducted by Antonio Pappano.

Princess Aida has been kidnapped: a valuable prize in a war between Egypt and Ethiopia. Meanwhile, the ambitious soldier Radames wrestles with his feelings for her. As they draw closer together, each must make an agonizing choice between their loyalty to home, and their love for each other.

In this new production, director Robert Carsen situates Verdi’s large-scale political drama within a contemporary world, framing its power struggles and toxic jealousies in the apparatus of a modern, totalitarian state. Royal Opera Music Director Antonio Pappano conducts Verdi’s glorious, monumental score.

OPERA
Company – The Royal Opera
Music – Giuseppe Verdi

Approximately 2 hours 50 minutes (including one interval)

RSC Live- Richard III (15)

Young Richard of Gloucester uses the chaos of the Wars of the Roses to begin his unscrupulous climb to power in this classic Shakespearean history of a king in the throes of jealousy and murder.

Despite being manifestly unfit to govern, he seizes the crown, as King Richard III. But how does he do it?

*Please note, this screening starts promptly at 7pm

ROH Live- Madama Butterfly (12A)

Puccini’s heart-rending opera about a young geisha who falls in love with an American naval officer.

‘Love cannot kill: it brings new life.’

On a starlit night in Nagasaki, these are the words spoken by American soldier Pinkerton to young geisha Cio-Cio-San. But as they both learn, words and promises carelessly spoken can have indelible consequences.

With a score that includes Butterfly’s aria, ‘Un bel dì, vedremo’ (‘One fine day’) and the ‘Humming Chorus’, Giacomo Puccini’s opera is entrancing and ultimately heart-breaking. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier’s exquisite production takes inspiration from 19th-century European images of Japan.

OPERA
Company – The Royal Opera
Music – Giacomo Puccini