Prima Donna at the Palace Theatre

One of the perks of volunteering for Manchester International festival is that hopefully you get to see parts of the shows/events you work on, but a totally unexpected bonus was that we got to choose a free ticket to a dress rehearsal of some of the events, I chose to go to Rufus Wainwright's Opera, Prima Donna at the Palace Theatre.


The story is about a day in the life of an opera singer, and without wanting to ruin it for anyone, the storyline has some amusing and ironic elements to the plot. The singing was truly amazing, as was the music.. I was so blown away by the scale of it all... the sets were the best I've seen in any stage show before and along with the costumes, felt very contemporary whilst being set in 1970. The subtitles were large enough to easily read, whilst not interfering with watching the performance, although I'd forgotten how cramped the chairs are at the Palace, even with me at 5'4" and my friend at 5'2" our legs were seriously cramped.
It is definitely worth a visit to see this, although I suspect it's close to selling out/sold out - Prima Donna is on at the Palace Theatre Manchester on the 10th, 12th, 14th, 17th & 19th July 2009, check here for ticket details.