MADNESS descends upon Welsh National Opera for its autumn 2015 season.
Three new productions at Mayflower Theatre next week will explore human turmoil.
The season, which launches WNO’s 70th birthday year, opens with a new production of Bellini's I puritani. The composer's final opera is widely regarded as a bel canto masterpiece. Following the season theme, the heroine Elvira’s descent into madness is one of the most exquisitely refined musical portraits of insanity in opera.
One of Handel’s greatest operas – Orlando – comes to WNO in a production that uses musical virtuosity as a metaphor for insanity during Orlando’s
vertiginous descent into madness.
Orlando will be set in 1940s London during World War II, providing a fitting backdrop to heighten the emotional impact of the story against the devastation of the Blitz.
The season is completed with Sondheim’s musical masterpiece, Sweeney Todd, which explores not only the madness of the protagonist, but society as a whole.
It promises a musical with all the emotional impact of opera and will be a rare opportunity to hear Sweeney Todd with the celebrated WNO Chorus and Orchestra.
The WNO season runs from Tuesday to Saturday.
Tickets: 023 8071 1811 or visit mayflower.org.uk
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