Warwick Thompson

There are some great performances in an amusing new production of Verdi’s “Falstaff” (1893) at the Royal Opera House in London. Yet Rupert the horse manages to outshine everyone else on stage.

There may be trouble ahead, sings the hero of the 1930s tap musical “Top Hat” in London. It’s closer than he thinks.

When John Copley was asked to direct “La Boheme” at London’s Royal Opera, he was told the production had to be good enough to last at least five or six years.

The events in English National Opera’s “The Flying Dutchman” sometimes appear to be a product of the heroine’s imagination. Often they aren’t. Often it’s hard to care.

Sometimes interesting ideas and good performances combine into a big theatrical yawn. It’s a mystery that London’s theater seems happy to be exploring.

“Surreal, dreamlike, and delicate” are words that strike fear into the heart of seasoned theatergoers. They usually mean “no plot.”

Eugene O’Neill’s “A Long Day’s Journey Into Night” is three hours of misery, despair and dysfunction in search of a plot. It’s also a superb vehicle for great actors with the requisite theatrical chops. A new production offers three dazzling and passionate performances.

A man faces up to a crippling disability. A friendship is tested. The fate of nations hangs on difficult personal choices. “The King’s Speech” has everything required for a great play, except a script.

These are desperate times, sings Sweeney Todd, and so they are.

When the Royal Opera House agreed to coproduce Rossini’s “La Donna del Lago” management hoped for something dazzling. Then Lluis Pasqual’s staging opened in Paris. It was dismal, and it was heading their way.

The Metropolitan Opera’s high- definition live movie broadcasts started out with the modest aim of breaking even -- or not losing much money at any rate.

Edward Bond’s 1974 play “Bingo,” about the last years of William Shakespeare, provides a gift of a role for a great actor. Patrick Stewart commands it fully.