I'm going tonight and again next Thursday. A friend was there on Saturday and raving about Gerald Finley,which should be no surprise to anyone who saw him in ENO's production about three years ago.
Various 'First night' reviews are in - Music Criticism, with links to interviews with Finley, Poplavskaya and Beczala
Eugene Onegin at Covent Garden - the forecast is cold and wet
I have often thought about making a point of going to opening nights in order to be hot off the presses with a review. I recall some pretentious idiot on the Opera-L idiot list stating that he found it important to attend first night and/or the one that gets broadcast because it is more 'historically accurate'. I'm afraid that I tend to book performances that fit in with my diary. And I'm not convinced that the First Night sees the cast at their best (although,frankly, when there are only, say, six or eight performances, it's not good enough to be treating one - however subconsciously - as a glorified dress rehearsal).
