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Opera

Royal Opera’s Tannhäuser is one of the ugliest stagings I have set eyes on

But the conductor’s light, fleet way with the music at least allowed this element to proceed in an attractive way

7 May 2016

9:00 AM

7 May 2016

9:00 AM

Tannhäuser

Royal Opera, in rep until 15 May

Cursed, or perhaps blessed, with almost no visual memory at all, I had almost completely forgotten what the Royal Opera’s current Tannhäuser, directed by Tim Albery and with set designs by Michael Levine, looks like. Or perhaps it was the natural tendency to repress the memory of unpleasant experiences. Wanting to enjoy the Overture, I closed my eyes until the moment the Venusberg ballet that Wagner composed for the doomed Paris version in 1861 began.

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