Mark Morris and English National Opera have a big hit on their hands with a radical reinterpretation of Purcell's "King Arthur". Although it is equal parts opera and dance in the hands of Morris, all the reviews thus far are from opera critics.
King Arthur
By Tom Service for The Guardian
Mark Morris's new production of Purcell's King Arthur for English National Opera takes a radical view of this "semi-opera". His staging ditches all the spoken dialogue, written by John Dryden, leaving us with the glories of Purcell's music, and creating what Morris describes as a "a pageant - a sort of vaudeville". It's an entertainment in which the joyous energy of the Mark Morris Dance Group is as important as the roles taken by the singers.
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King Arthur
By RICHARD MORRISON for The Times
WHAT A witty, whimsical, mesmerising and meltingly beautiful entertainment the American choreographer Mark Morris has made of Henry Purcell’s semi-opera. It’s a village fête, a seaside show and a surreal pageant of British eccentrics from all eras and many mythologies, rolled into one and done with winning grace.
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Predictably, the Daily Telegraph gives a traditionalist view: "It's not funny!"
"Oh, yes it is!" shouts the audience...and me.
It's not clever, and it's not funny
Rupert Christiansen for The Daily Telegraph
Alas, I fear that Morris has lost the plot literally so, inasmuch as he has entirely dumped Dryden's spoken text and connecting narrative (such as it is), playing the show as a series of disconnected musical numbers with no underlying theme or coherence.
"Vaudeville" is the term Morris mentions in his programme note, but "dog's breakfast" is what came to my mind.
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King Arthur
By Edward Seckerson for The Independent
It may seem fanciful to suggest Mark Morris's rambunctious take on Purcell's King Arthur has its origins in morris dancing - but that's certainly part of it. That and centuries of provincial pageantry. Let's face it, the nation's heart was always to be found in village halls and on village greens all over the country. Amateur dramatics, rude mechanicals, mead and maypoles. None of it has escaped Morris. His randy vaudeville does for Purcell and John Dryden what Monty Python did for the Holy Grail. It's Spamalot with better singing and more dancing.
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