Unlike most of my colleagues, I liked, and was even a little moved by the world première of Nico Muhly’s Marnie by the English National Opera (it goes to the NY Metropolitan next year). I particularly relished Nicholas Wright’s libretto (despite about fifteen minutes-worth of repetition, which could be cut to the piece’s benefit). The merits of Wright’s libretto include the good-old dramatic … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2017
Not Quite What You Will, but Almost
“What country, friends, is this?” You might well ask. In the Royal Shakespeare Company’s new production of Twelfth Night the opening line is delivered by Viola/Cesario, played by Dinita Gohill, in gorgeous Indian get-up, and when we glimpse Esh Alladi as her twin, Sebastian, and Beruce Khan as a turban-topped Feste, you wonder whether director Christopher Luscombe has set Shakespeare’s … [Read more...]
Who is the greatest living publisher of cookery books? Read on
As I am a regular contributor to The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and still earn a bit of my keep by writing obituaries for the British national newspapers, it is a rare delight to pen a tribute to a living person. But I have the excuse of having been asked to provide a summary of the career of a dear friend, a major figure in the food world, (and who has published at least one book … [Read more...]