Richard Eyre News

Russian bass Ildar Abdrazakov – whom the Metropolitan Opera just announced will star in the title role of a new production of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro for its 2014-15 season-opening gala – has earned a chorus of praise for his performance as the eponymous character in Dmitri Tcherniakov's new production of Prince Igor at the Met, which last staged Borodin's work nearly 100 years ago. In the New York Times, Anthony Tommasini enthused over Abdrazakov at length: “Solid and ruggedly handsome, Mr. Abdrazakov is a confident actor. Though his voice is firm and robust, he is not one of those formidable, gravelly Russian basses. He is a fine singer of Italian repertory, and his Igor has moments of Italianate lyrical refinement. He brings passion, even a touch of neediness, to his exchanges with his devoted wife, Yaroslavna. … Mr. Abdrazakov does his most burnished, powerful singing in the prince's despairing soliloquy [in Act II].” The New York Observer had a similar view: “Abdrazakov hurled his dark bass-baritone into Igor's soul-searching arias, the warm, lyrical tone suggesting the proud prince's underlying vulnerability.” WQXR likewise commended the bass's “sonorous” tone and Classical Review his “dramatic force.”

The Met: Live in HD, the Metropolitan Opera's award-winning series of live transmissions to more than 2,000 movie theaters in 65 countries around the world, will feature ten operas in the 2014-15 season, including all six new productions in the Met season. All ten performances, transmitted live from the Met stage, will feature the world's finest singers, conductors, and theatrical artists.

The Metropolitan Opera's 2014-15 season will feature 26 operas, three of them company premieres, in six new productions and 18 revivals showcasing the talents of the world's leading singers, conductors, and theater artists. The three operas that will have their first-ever Met performances, each staged by a director making his Met debut, are John Adams's The Death of Klinghoffer, conducted by David Robertson and directed by Tom Morris, opening October 20; Rossini's La Donna del Lago, conducted by Michele Mariotti and directed by Paul Curran, opening February 16, 2015; and Tchaikovsky's one-act opera Iolanta, conducted by Valery Gergiev and directed by Mariusz Treli?ski. Iolanta will be presented in a double bill with a new staging of Bartok's one-act Duke Bluebeard's Castle, also conducted by Gergiev and directed by Treli?ski.

Following a hugely successful run at Chichester's Minerva Theatre last year Julian Mitchell's ANOTHER COUNTRY, directed by Jeremy Herrin, transfers to the Trafalgar Studios, Studio 1 for a limited season, 26th March - 21st June.

Flashdance - The Musical, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation, will run at the Community Center Theater from tonight, February 4 - 9, 2014.

Here's the new theatrical trailer for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Stephen Ward, starring Alexander Hanson as the titular character

A Finborough Theatre commission, Carthage is the debut play from the Finborough Theatre's new Channel 4 Playwright in Residence, Chris Thompson, and will receive its world premiere in a four week run from tonight, 28 January 2014 (Press Night: Thursday 30 January 2014 at 7.30pm).

Tenor Jonas Kaufmann will star in the title role of the tortured poet in the Met's new production of Massenet's Werther, opening February 18.

Richard Tucker Award-winner Ailyn Pérez – the “lyric soprano who truly seems to have it all” (Opera News) – takes on a trio of starring roles at London's Royal Opera House over the coming months. After launching the new year in the title role of Manon (Jan 31–Feb 4), she makes her role debut as Liù in Turandot (Feb 17–March 10), before giving her first scheduled Covent Garden performances in the title role of La traviata opposite her husband and fellow Tucker Award-winner, tenor Stephen Costello (May 6–20). Dubbed “America's fastest-rising husband-and-wife opera stars” (Associated Press), the couple brought down the house in London two years ago, when the soprano stepped in as a last-minute replacement to partner her husband in Verdi's masterpiece.

The West End production of Stephen Ward today releases a further 120,000 tickets for sale taking bookings at the Aldwych Theatre to 31 May 2014.

It must be an odd feeling, seeing yourself on posters all over London. It must be even odder when that poster pictures you in a state of undress, imitating one of the most famous photographs of the 20th century.

Flashdance - The Musical, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation, will run at the Community Center Theater from February 4 - 9, 2014, as part of California Musical Theatre's Broadway Sacramento series. With electrifying dance at its core, Flashdance - The Musical tells the inspiring and unforgettable story of Alex Owens, a Pittsburgh steel mill welder by day and a bar dancer by night with dreams of one day becoming a professional performer. When romance with her steel mill boss threatens to complicate her ambitions, Alex learns the meaning of love and its power to fuel the pursuit of her dream.

Flashdance - The Musical, the stage adaptation of the 1983 hit film that defined a generation, will run at the Community Center Theater from February 4 - 9, 2014, as part of California Musical Theatre's Broadway Sacramento series. With electrifying dance at its core, Flashdance - The Musical tells the inspiring and unforgettable story of Alex Owens, a Pittsburgh steel mill welder by day and a bar dancer by night with dreams of one day becoming a professional performer. When romance with her steel mill boss threatens to complicate her ambitions, Alex learns the meaning of love and its power to fuel the pursuit of her dream.

Experiencing a grand opera from the Met and stage plays from Britain's National Theatre of London is a convenient and affordable reality, thanks to the Live in HD series at The Ridgefield Playhouse. Bordin's Prince Igor will be center stage on Saturday, March 1, at 12 p.m. Massenet's Werther will thrill on Saturday, March 15, at 12:55 p.m. and Sunday, March 16, at 12 p.m. War Horse from National Theatre of London takes the audience on an incredible journey on Tuesday, March 25, at 6:30 p.m. For dinner-and-a-show, Bernard's (22 West Lane, Ridgefield) is offering a special $45 prix-fixe menu, or a free glass of wine with dinner before these events, when tickets are presented; reservations suggested beginning at 5 p.m. Visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org for video previews of the Met Live in HD Series. These two series are underwritten by Jeanne Cook, Anita and Nicholas Donofrio, Liz and Steven Goldstone, Marilyn and Joe Kreitz, Joanne and John Patrick, Starbucks Coffee, Sabina and Walter Slavin, Taylor Zemo Foundation, The Ridgefield Press and Whistle Stop Bakery.

A Finborough Theatre commission, Carthage is the debut play from the Finborough Theatre's new Channel 4 Playwright in Residence, Chris Thompson, and will receive its world premiere in a four week run from Tuesday, 28 January 2014 (Press Night: Thursday 30 January 2014 at 7.30pm).

A Finborough Theatre commission, Carthage is the debut play from the Finborough Theatre's new Channel 4 Playwright in Residence, Chris Thompson, and will receive its world premiere in a four week run from Tuesday, 28 January 2014 (Press Night: Thursday 30 January 2014 at 7.30pm).

Gary Naylor previews London Theatre's start to the New Year.

Stephen Ward, which has music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and book and lyrics by playwright Christopher Hampton and lyricist Don Black, is currently palying at the Aldwych Theatre. The production, directed by Richard Eyre, is currently booking to 1 March 2014. The cast album is released today, December 30, by Decca, and you can purchase it now at http://www.decca.com/. To preview the album, visit: http://www.stephenwardthemusical.com

A full performance clip of the emotionally rich Andrew Lloyd Webber/Don Black melody 'I'm Hopeless When It Comes To You' from the new historically-based West End musical STEPHEN WARD is now available to view, featuring two-time Laurence Olivier Award-winner Joanna Riding.