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At the Savoy Theatre, director-choreographer Michael Bennett sees his 1981 Tony award-winning hit get a UK premiere. Anyone who loves musicals and strong vocals shouldn’t hesitate to see Dreamgirls. It is without question that lovers of Motown and soul music will also be more than satisfied with what Dreamgirls has to offer.

Loosely based on The Supremes, Dreamgirls is a reminder of the struggles of the music industry during 1960’s America – a time when blues and jazz music were once described as ‘race music’, and only then had the uprising of the African-American Civil Rights movement just begun.

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It was roughly around the same time last year that Iván Fischer and the Budapest Festival Orchestra visited the South Bank Centre to perform Mozart’s Magic Flute. It was fun and colourful for the younger audiences and enthusiastically performed by the orchestra. Two years prior to this performance (23rd May), the South Bank Centre had Charles Dutoit and the Royal Philharmonic perform Bartók’s one-act horror opera Bluebeard’s Castle (1911).

I consider it to be one of my favourite operas. The suspense, the intensity of the music and the terror emitted from the score alone is one of its kind. Even as a semi-stage, the music suffices in sculpting the erring castle of the Duke and his seven mysterious, blood-soaked doors.

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It’s a bunch of firsts for the Hampstead Garden Opera and their new production of Claudio Monteverdi’s marvellous opera L’incoronazione di Poppea. Hosted at the Jackson Lane Theatre, it is the first time they are performing with surtitles and asking their 12 young soloists to sing the opera in its original Italian language.

To coincide with the 450th anniversary of Monteverdi’s birth, his masterful opera of power, greed, and lust seemed most apt, and it is to the delight of their impressive singers that the production doesn’t feel like an amateur’s feast, at least that is what I felt when I saw it on Friday night.

The soloists are also accompanied by musical director Oliver John Ruthven who strikes a balance between strong voices and the dedicated ensemble, Musica Poetica – a small orchestra of eight musicians with expertise in period instruments including harpsichord, theorbo, harp, viola da gamba, violins, and violone. Put together this makes for an exquisite evening for any Baroque devotee.

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‘Better late than never’, as some may say or in my case, better to find out for yourself than depend on two-star reviews. The time came to see Ivo van Hove‘s production of Obsession with its lead protagonist performed by film and stage actor Jude Law, and one would think that given Hove’s international reputation and Law’s virtuoso acting the show would be a big hit, yet instead this is perhaps one production that meets a degree of anti-climax.

At the main stage of the Barbican Centre, theatrical technicalities and marvellous acting are worth the bite, yet the writing is basic, dry and stale. Yet, what creative device or person(s) do we blame for the production’s flaws?

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Finally! I got to see the much-talked about opera The Exterminating Angel at the Covent Garden, and I am glad I managed to see it, even if it was the last performance of the Royal Opera House‘s run. It premiered at the Salzburg Festival in July 2016, and, as of last Sunday, has been awarded the World Premiere Award at the Opera Awards 2017.

Composed and conducted by Thomas Adès, it is based on the 1962 surrealist film by Spanish director Luis Buñuel. I entered the auditorium not knowing what to expect, but it was highly recommended by many, including non-opera aficionados. My desire to see the opera grew and with the best seats already taken, I waited for the Friday Rush tickets to save me. I managed to get a high-up auditorium ticket for just £24.00, and I wasn’t complaining.

Going in with no background knowledge on Buñuel’s film or the composer’s intention, I hoped that the opera would tell me why a group of 12 gentlemen and glamourous socialists were stuck in a room they could not, for no ‘visible’ reason, leave. By the end of the opera, whatever meaning I was searching for didn’t seem to matter. Adès’s eclectically mesmerising music did most of the talking.

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Last time I hit the Bush Theatre was back in 2015. (I know, bad!) I recall the reception area being cosy, yet in some need of an update, pronto. Nevertheless, the theatrical space was a decent one. It was a good enough space for new writing and stage worthy performances, even if they were brand new and off the fringe. I had seen tweets about #GuardsattheTaj on my twitter feed and many positive reviews had been released, though I never read them in depth. When I spoke to my colleagues at work about Bush Theatre, some of them already knew that it been newly developed.

To my surprise, it had been completely revamped. A new signpost, a brand new cafe, a welcoming reception with seats outside for those sunny days. In fact, it was a place for people to chill even if they weren’t there for the theatre.

As far as theatre engagement goes, the cafe, named ‘The Library Bar‘, was quite an adventure for those seeking caffeine fuel and possibly, or unintentionally, coming across the theatre posters and seeing what was currently showing. A Saturday morning latte at The Library may mean a curious visit to the Bush in the evening and seeing the wonders of the newly renovated theatre.

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Totally last minute! I got word from Fran (@Crosseyedpiano) about 7 Star Arts’s concert taking place not too far from me. It was their Sweet Harmony concert which focused on the genius of Shakespeare through music, words and art. The event took place at Chiswick’s quaint St Michael’s Church with a small and intimate audience, yet the performers and artists were far from amateur. This was an special occasion to get up close with accomplished, talented and professional artists who had graced the stages of The National Theatre, performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and released classical music albums.

The evening was a feast for the senses. Shakespeare’s writings, from his diverse plays, and romantic sonnets were confidently and passionately narrated by Susan Porrett. After each reading, it was an immediate escape for the eyes and the ears.

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Shakespeare wrote many plays – 38 to be exact – and only now can I confess that I’ve seen his psychological, semi-comedic drama, The Winter’s Tale. That may sound pretty shocking for a theatre enthusiast, but I am glad I waited for Cheek by Jowl’s production, presented at the Silk Street Theatre of The Barbican, for a brilliant and insightful undertaking.

Declan Donnellan has directed Shakespeare’s imagined world of jealous kings, angry gods and unconditional love at the kingdoms of Sicily and Bohemia and transferred them onto a contemporary platform. Cleverly done, I managed to understand the threads of each plot without having studied the sophisticated dialogues, previously. It is to the masterful cast, too, that brought their characters to life and made every moment engaging and entertaining.

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Brace yourself for a dialogue of quick-wit and verbal interrogation. Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill go at it full of guts and poise in Edward Albee’s 1962 play, ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I mean, that’s what I saw when I sat in the front row of the Harold Pinter Theatre.

Hill and Staunton are accompanied by Luke Treadaway and Imogen Poots for a sweeping display of word wars and mockery, set in the living room of a home in New England. Both leads perform as married couple George and Matha in what appears to be a life consumed of fickle domestic fights which get louder as the hour moves on.

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Last week, Londoners weren’t expecting the terrifying events which took place at Westminster, leaving five dead and forty injured. Although devastating, the terrorist attack brought thousand of Londoners together, coining the hashtag #wearenotafraid as a positive stance against Islamic terrorist groups.

A year ago, the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) had pre-programmed a concert with French contralto singer and conductor Natalie Stutzmann, including two pieces associated with confronting death – Mozart’s Requiem and Richard Strauss’s Tod und Verklärung – and given the close proximity to such aftermath, Stutzmann introduced the concert with a speech, dedicating the concert to those who lost their lives at Westminster and their families. She said, ‘May their souls find solace and appeasement in this offering.’

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