Opera della Luna

Thirty years ago Opera della Luna was launched at the Bloomsbury Theatre London with a production of Offenbach’s Robinson Crusoe. It was cheeky, irreverent, gloriously tuneful, and highly inventive in its staging. It set the pattern for every subsequent production; they have all maintained a high standard of arresting design, superb musicianship, and most importantly they have been uproariously funny and magically theatrical. We took our name from another early production: Il Mondo della Luna, Haydn’s delightful setting of a ridiculous Goldoni farce. Combining ridiculous hilarity with delightful music proved a winning recipe and has been the key to our success ever since. An early production of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance entitled The Parson’s Pirates and performed with only six in the cast proved a particular success and took the company to venues the length and breadth of the country. Since then the company has staged five other G&S shows, as well as another five comic operas by Offenbach. Haydn, Lehar, Strauss, Mozart, Donizetti and even Verdi have been added to the repertoire, and the company is now held in hugely high regard by critics and audiences alike.