Amongst other lesser-known operas features as part of this year’s Wexford Festival Opera was “Lalla Roukh” by Félicien David – an opéra-comique in two acts set in Kashmiere and Samarkand. We are delighted to see the rave reviews coming in for director Orpha Phelan, praised largely for her inventiveness, excellent taste and telling the long-forgotten, nineteenth-century tale through the prism of today.
“Director Orpha Phelan and designer Madeleine Boyd come up with colourful and appealing, eclectic visuals that nod to the Irish origins of the story… a top-quality, endlessly entertaining mix that sends the audience out into the night on an unmistakeable high.” – George Hall, The Stage *****
“Phelan had inventive fun with it and so did we.” – Roy Westbrook, bachtrack.com
“A forgotten gem… Orpha Phelan has taken down a long-forgotten book from a dusty shelf and found a story which transfixes, taking us into other-worlds – 1860s Paris and fantastic lands – through the prism of today.”- Claire Seymour, Opera Today
“[Orpha Phelan] had a visitation from “the mother of invention”. Mother invented the narrator device and supplied sundry other strokes of genius.” - Gerald Malone, Reaction
“Orpha Phelan's production showed that with imagination and with winning performances, the French orientalist fantasy can work in other contexts.”- Robert Hugill, planethugill.com
To find out more about Orpha Phelan’s work at Wexford as well as “Don Pasquale” at INO, read the fascinating interview for The Irish Times here: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2022/11/14/orpha-phelan-im-very-bossy-and-im-clear-and-organised-i-can-make-things-happen/
To see the official taster of Donizatti’s “Don Pasquale”, opening at INO on 26 November, check the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYVf3aezVhk
