When Rodolfo, a penniless poet, meets Mimì, a seamstress, they fall instantly in love. But their happiness is threatened when Rodolfo learns that Mimì is gravely ill.
Rodolfo is painfully aware that he cannot afford the medicine and care Mimì needs, and so separates from her. As her sickness takes hold Mimì returns to Rodolfo's garret. They are joyfully reunited – but, despite the care of Rodolfo and his friends, Mimì dies.
Showtimes
Wed 29th January
Kinky Boots - The Musical, filmed live at the Adelphi Theatre in the heart of London's West End, is strutting onto the big screen!
With songs from Grammy and Tony award winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, book by legendary Broadway playwright Harvey Fierstein (La Cage Aux Folles), and direction
and choreography by Jerry Mitchell (Legally Blonde,Hairspray), the musical is based on
the film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth.
Inspired by true events, this huge hearted hit tells the story of two people with nothing in common or so they think. Charlie (Killian Donnelly) is a factory owner struggling to save his family business, and Lola (Matt Henry) is a fabulous entertainer with a wildly exciting idea. With a little compassion and a lot of understanding, this unexpected pair learn to embrace their differences and create a line of sturdy stilettos unlike any the world has ever seen!
But in the end, their most sensational achievement is their friendship. This unmissable musical theatre event celebrates a joyous story of British grit transforming into a high heeled hit as it takes you from the factory floor of Northampton to the glamorous catwalks of Milan!
Showtimes
Tue 4th February
A charismatic swordsman and brilliant poet, Cyrano de Bergerac is in love with his beautiful and intelligent cousin Roxane without her knowing. His one curse in his life, he feels, is his large nose and although it may have been a forming influence in his razer-sharp wit, he believes that Roxane will reject him. When the handsome but unpoetic Christian falls for the beautiful Roxane, he asks Cyrano to help him win her heart. Cyrano de Bergerac can be delivered as an allegory of inner and outer beauty.
Showtimes
Thu 20th February
The Royal Ballet presents two world premieres with Cathy Marston's first work for the Company on the Main Stage and a new work by Artist in Residence Liam Scarlett.
Showtimes
Tue 25th February
Beethoven's only opera is a masterpiece, an uplifting story of risk and triumph. In this new production, conducted by Antonio Pappano, Jonas Kaufmann plays the political prisoner Florestan, and Lise Davidsen his wife Leonore (disguised as 'Fidelio') who daringly sets out to rescue him. Set in strong counterpoint are the ingredients of domestic intrigue, determined love and the cruelty of an oppressive regime. The music is transcendent throughout and includes the famous Act I Quartet, the Prisoners' Chorus and Florestan's impassioned Act II cry in the darkness and vision of hope. Tobias Kratzer's new staging brings together the dark reality of the French Revolutionary 'Terror' and our own time to illuminate Fidelio's inspiring message of shared humanity.
Recorded from 17 March
Showtimes
Tue 24th March
Prince Siegfried chances upon a flock of swans while out hunting. When one of the swans turns into a beautiful woman, Odette, he is enraptured. But she is under a spell that holds her captive, allowing her to regain her human form only at night.
The evil spirit Von Rothbart, arbiter of Odette's curse, disguises his daughter Odile as Odette to trick Siegfried into breaking his vow of love. Fooled, Siegfried declares his love for Odile, and so dooms Odette to suffer under the curse forever.
Showtimes
Wed 1st April
Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana (Rustic Chivalry) and Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (The Players) are today Italian opera's most famous double act, but they were written independently. Cavalleria rusticana came first, its hugely successful premiere in 1890 doubtless an influence on Leoncavallo. His Pagliacci in 1892 was another triumph. The two works, each undeniable masterpieces of the verismo tradition of realism, share dramatic concision, melodic richness and an obsession with violent jealousy.
Damiano Michieletto's production was an Olivier-Award-winning hit when first presented in 2015. He sets both operas within the same village, allowing characters from one piece to reappear in the other and offering theatrical realism within visuals that are modern and yet timeless. The production was widely praised at its premiere, and summarized by the Financial Times as 'a gripping evening all round'.
Showtimes
Tue 21st April
One life in the hands of 12 women.
Rural Suffolk in England, 1759. As the country waits for Halley's comet, a young woman is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder.
When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of 12 matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she's telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose. With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst.
James Macdonald (Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) directs Maxine Peake (The Theory of Everything, Funny Cow) and Ria Zmitrowicz (Three Girls, Mr. Selfridge) in this bold and gripping thriller from Tony Award-nominated writer Lucy Kirkwood (Chimerica, Skins).
Showtimes
Thu 21st May
Dante's Divine Comedy is an epic journey through the afterlife: it encompasses the horrifying drama of Inferno and its damned, the lyrical mysticism of pilgrims on mount Purgatorio and the dazzling spheres of Paradiso with their endless configurations of light. The poem was inspired by the agony of Dante's own exile, and traces his path from crisis to revelation guided by his literary hero Virgil and his lost love Beatrice. In his new work, The Royal Ballet's trailblazing Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor creates a world premiere in collaboration with an award-winning team – contemporary conductor-composer Thomas Adès, artist Tacita Dean, lighting designer Lucy Carter and dramaturg Uzma Hameed – to bring us closer to Dante and his extraordinary vision.
Showtimes
Thu 28th May
With the first chords of Elektra, we are plunged into a psychologically intense and violent world. The opera shocked audiences (and even its performers!) when it had its premiere in Dresden in 1909. Today, as then, Elektra's desperate need to avenge the murder of her father by her mother makes for gripping drama. At 90 minutes, the opera is one of Strauss's most concentrated works, and in style and instrumentation one of his most modernist scores.
The political and social fractures in early 20th-century Europe, and emerging concepts of psychology, provide a rich subtext in Charles Edwards's production. The set and costumes allude to Classical and early 20th-century art and architecture, and highlight the moral decay at the heart of Klytämnestra's kingdom. Strauss's richly-orchestrated score takes the principal singers to their vocal limits. It is characterized by dramatic musical motifs, including the distinctive 'Agamemnon' motif, used to represent Elektra's obsessive thoughts of revenge. This highly dramatic opera also contains passages of great vocal beauty, including Elektra's rapturous recognition of her brother Orest, returned to avenge his father.
Showtimes
Thu 18th June
