Handel: Giulio Cesare in Egitto ****
Glyndebourne, 10th June 2018
It’s back. Sir David McVicar’s ridiculously entertaining romp through Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto returns to Glyndebourne. Unveiled at the 2005 festival, where it made a star of Danielle de Niese (then Cleopatra, now châtelaine), it was last revived in 2009. McVicar resets the action from 48BC to the zenith of the British Empire, Egypt under Ottoman rule, references to the British Raj and Bollywood thrown in. It’s a mixture of high camp – Carry on up the Nile, if you will – and stinging poignancy, ticking every box for a terrific night in the opera house.
Sarah Connolly (Giulio Cesare) and Joélle Harvey (Cleopatra)
© Bill Cooper
Read the full review on Bachtrack.