York Opera is celebrating its 60th anniversary and the company has been performing at York Theatre Royal for 40 years.

By Angie Millard

Photos by David Kessel

On this occasion, they have a new Musical Director who comes with an impressive career in Music including a professorship at Leeds University and the position of academic-in-residence at Opera North. The orchestra’s performance is outstanding as are the superb sets designed by John Soper and the costumes designed and produced by Maggie Soper, Anna Day, Sandra Rowen and Victoria Salter. 

Direction is undertaken by John Soper and Liz Watson, and it is an impressive production in many ways.

The plot is filled with mistaken identities, revenge (for a practical joke) and marital flirtation, blended together with a varied style of music ranging from waltz to polka.

Many of the performers are professionally trained; Olivia Turner playing the leading role of Rosalinda is making her debut with York Opera and has a massive background of experience which she uses to bring vitality to her role. The Directors cast two sopranos in this part, playing on alternate nights. I couldn’t help but wish that I had also seen Alexandra Mather’s rendition as the last time I saw her she was at Theatre 41 playing an extremely energetic leading role in Anything Goes. The comparison would have been most interesting.

The comic role of Adele was similarly double cast (Lala Marais/Stephanie Wong). I saw Lala Marais, who was exceptional in Act 2 singing the famous ‘Adele’s Laughing Song’. The host of the party, Prince Orlofsky, played by Molly Raine was a continuing source of delight using idiosyncratic movement and a Russian sense of utter boredom to great effect.

The vocal support of the ensemble in Act 2 was joyous and beautifully choreographed, concluding the scene with energy and high spirits but it was a pity that a long break in scene changing following this punctured the balloon. Act 3 continued in this downward spiral with a long comic interlude between the prison governor, Mark Simmonds, and his assistant John Soper. Simmonds played his role with humorous invention throughout, and this sequence would have been entertaining on its own but sat uncomfortably within the whole production. It was also not helped by the slow previous scene change and even Soper’s clever comic acting couldn’t remedy the lowering of energy. Continuity of flow in the action was also absent at times as performers prepared to sing or undertake choreography. This may have been first night nerves and the performance was significantly longer than advertised.

I left the theatre, however, with memories of a society which, as the musical director says in his programme notes, is: “a fusion of buoyant melody and subtle social commentary”.

Die Fledermaus is being performed from 3 June 2026 to 6 June 2026, you can purchase tickets here.