Jeremy Herrin's pleasing production avoids the temptation to turn the play into a spectacular island fling.
Charles Raboud's pleasing production is set (as Menotti would have wished) in early nineteenth-century Italy, but has some imaginative video projections (courtesy of Gilles Papain) that summon up the story's fairy-tale elements in a way that's both modern and economical.
The singers often sounded tired, which was understandable, since this frenetic, eager-to-please production demanded such nonstop physical exertion.
This crowd-pleasing production at Papermill Playhouse certainly has that.
He became known for unabashedly audience-pleasing productions that were sometimes dismissed by critics who derided him as a populist.
Mr. Monette was known for unabashedly audience-pleasing productions that were sometimes dismissed by critics who derided him as a populist.
"I think it's a real operatic tragedy," said Mr. Rudel, who led City Opera for 22 eventful years, presenting daring new works and crowd-pleasing productions and conducting treasured performances with singers like Beverly Sills and, on the company's first night at its new home in Lincoln Center in 1966, a young Plácido Domingo.
Theater directors have creatively tackled the hardship by offering promotions and discounts, producing plays with fewer actors and, when possible, relying on well-known, crowd-pleasing productions like "42nd Street" and "Camelot" (both recently staged at Goodspeed Musicals in East Haddam, Conn).
At the Young Vic in London, new works tackled topics from Syria to synesthesia, while the venue took its crowd-pleasing productions of The Scottsboro Boys and A Doll's House to the West End.
"Go around, please!" a production assistant ordered us soon after.
It stars Ruthie Henshall and Julian Ovenden and is the crowd-pleasing last production in Jonathan Kent's season at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.
