Two Boys/ENO

Hmm. Good but not the work that heralds a new beginning for contemporary opera, it's just not interesting enough for that. It's basically Prime Suspect set to music. Nico Muhly's score is richly textured and always feels as if it's about to bloom into something wonderful but in the end is constrained by the plodding drama's unrelenting darkness. Still, one highlight of the entire production has been ENO's rather brilliant video campaign which has gone viral on Youtube I hear.

Glee/O2

Blog terribly neglected of late but good old fashioned work intervened to put it on the back burner. So, Glee at the O2 (basically a shopping mall with a very large concert venue in the middle). To be fair, the sight-lines inside are excellent. God knows, they need to be given the huge distance between where we were sitting in the outer reaches and the stage. As for Glee, what a remarkable product; a show brimming with politically correct characters and somehow becoming the new template for mainstream entertainment -how did that happen? Everyone in it is a modern day hero, fighting for and being proud of who they are. It's also a homage to good pop songs I suppose.