ROH Live: Madama Butterfly

When the young geisha, Cio-Cio-San, marries American Naval Officer Pinkerton, she believes she is entering a real, binding marriage for life. Forsaking her religion and community, she learns all too late that for Pinkerton, their marriage is merely an illusion – with tragic 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. Asmik Grigorian performs the role of Cio-Cio-San, with Kevin John Edusei conducting.

OPERA
Music – Giacomo Puccini
Conductor – Kevin John Edusei

ROH Live: The Nutcracker (U)

Join Clara at a delightful Christmas Eve party that becomes a magical adventure once everyone else is tucked up in bed. Marvel at the brilliance of Tchaikovsky’s score, as Clara and her enchanted Nutcracker fight the Mouse King and visit the Sugar Plum Fairy in the glittering Kingdom of Sweets. Peter Wright’s muchloved production for The Royal Ballet, with gorgeous period designs by Julia Trevelyan Oman, keeps true to the spirit of this festive ballet classic, combining the thrill of the fairy tale with spectacular dancing.

BALLET
Music – Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky
Production and choreography – Peter Wright after Lev Ivanov

ROH Live: Don Quixote (U)

Don Quixote, based on Miguel de Cervantes’ epic novel of the same name, regales the adventures of the eccentric nobleman Don Quixote and his faithful squire Sancho Panza, as they help to bring a vivacious young couple, Kitri and Basilio, together. This energetic 19thcentury ballet is enlivened by Ludwig Minkus’ spirited score and is a wonderful showcase for the virtuosity of The Royal Ballet’s Principal dancers. Created for The Royal Ballet a decade ago, Carlos Acosta’s exuberant production featuring Tim Hatley’s characterful designs brings the heat and romance of Cervantes’ classic novel to life.

BALLET
Music – Ludwig Minkus
Production and choreography – Carlos Acosta after Marius Petipa

ROH Live: Manon

This adaptation of Abbé Prévost’s novel embodies Kenneth MacMillan at his best, his acute insight into human psychology and his mastery of narrative choreography finding full expression in the impassioned duets of the central couple, visceral and urgent in their desire.

The heroine’s struggle to escape poverty make Manon one of the most dramatic and devastating of ballets, emphasized by Nicholas Georgiadis’ evocative designs that reflect the juxtaposition between Manon’s impoverished origins and the lavish world she longs to inhabit. The 2023/24 Season celebrates the centenary of Nicholas Georgiadis.

BALLET
Music – Jules Massenet
Choreography – Kenneth Macmillan

ROH Live: Rusalka

Rusalka, a water spirit, lives with her family in the pure waters of the forest lake. When she falls in love with a Prince, she sacrifices her voice and leaves her home in the hope of finding true love in a new world – a world that does not love her back.

Natalie Abrahami and Ann Yee create a poetic, contemporary new staging of Dvořák’s lyric fairy tale, revealing our uneasy relationship with the natural world and humanity’s attempts to own and tame it. Semyon Bychkov conducts an all-star cast featuring Asmik Grigorian (Jenůfa) in the title role.

OPERA
Music – Antonín Dvořák
Conductor Semyon Bychkov

ROH Live: L’Elisir D’Amore *Encore screening

Country boy Nemorino is determined to win the haughty Adina’s heart, but she refuses to give him the time of day. Can Doctor Dulcamara’s socalled ‘elixir of love’ work its magic?
Conductor Sesto Quatrini makes his house debut, as does soprano Nadine Sierra in the role of Adina. She is joined by Liparit Avetisyan, Boris Pinkhasovich and the incomparable Bryn Terfel as the genial wheelerdealer Doctor Dulcamara.

OPERA
Music – Gaetano Donizetti
Conductor – Sesto Quatrini

ROH Live: Das Rheingold (12A)

When a precious hoard of gold is stolen from the river Rhine, it unleashes a chain of destructive events, pitting gods and mortals against one another for generations. Wagner’s Ring cycle boasts some of the greatest music ever written for the opera stage. Join us as we embark on a spectacular journey into the world of myth, dream and memory, with the figure of Erda Mother Earth herself at its centre. Antonio Pappano conducts Barrie Kosky’s bold new imagining of Wagner’s Das Rheingold which marks the start of a new Ring cycle for The Royal Opera with an outstanding cast including Christopher Maltman (Wotan) and Christopher Purves (Alberich).

OPERA
Music – Wagner
Conductor – Antonio Pappano

Exhibition on Screen: Vermeer (PG) – Extra Screenings

In the spring of 2023, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam will open its doors to the largest Vermeer exhibition in history.

With loans from across the world, this major retrospective will bring together Vermeer’s most famous masterpieces including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Geographer, The Milkmaid, The Little Street, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, and Woman Holding a Balance.

This new Exhibition on Screen film invites audiences to a private view of the exhibition, accompanied by the director of the Rijksmuseum and the curator of the show. A truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! As well as bringing Vermeer’s works together, both the Rijksmuseum and the Mauritshuis in the Hague have conducted research into Vermeer’s artistry, his artistic choices and motivations for his compositions, as well as the creative process behind his paintings.

Exclusive access to THE world’s biggest exhibition of 2023. Includes the first time the newly restored Girl Reading a Letter at the Open Window will be displayed.

“Your ticket to the show of the year” Telegraph ★★★★★

Directed by David Bickerstaff
Running time: 90 minutes

Directed by David Bickerstaff
Running time: 90 minutes

Oklahoma! Starring Hugh Jackman (12A)

Oh, what a beautiful day! This July, the magic and energy of live theatre is coming to cinemas around the globe with the National Theatre’s acclaimed, Olivier Award-winning production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Starring then-newcomer Hugh Jackman (Les Misérables, The Greatest Showman) as Curly, alongside Maureen Lipman, Josefina Gabrielle and Shuler Hensley, this riveting stage production was filmed during its record-breaking 1998 run in London.

Directed by theatre legend Trevor Nunn (CATS, Les Misérables) with new choreography by Susan Stroman, Oklahoma! features some of musical theatre’s most delightfully hummable songs, including “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” “The Surrey With The Fringe On Top” and the joyous title tune, “Oklahoma”. Now one of the most beloved musicals ever to grace the stage is coming to the big screen 80 years after it first premiered on Broadway. Grab your friends and ride your surrey to a cinema near you!

192 mins TBC

Extra Screenings- National Theatre Live: Good (15)

David Tennant (Doctor Who) makes a much-anticipated return to the West End in a blistering reimagining of one of Britain’s most powerful, political plays.

As the world faces its Second World War, John Halder, a good, intelligent German professor, finds himself pulled into a movement with unthinkable consequences.

Olivier Award-winner Dominic Cooke (Follies) directs C.P. Taylor’s timely tale, with a cast that also features Elliot Levey (Coriolanus) and Sharon Small (The Bay). Filmed live at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London.

“David Tennant is magnificent in chilling drama” Guardian ★★★★

GOOD
by C.P. Taylor
directed by Dominic Cooke