Rosemary Ashe

When young Candide's marriage offer to a baron's daughter backfires, the naïve student of optimism is hurled into an eye-opening journey around the globe, discovering the horrors of existence at every step. Turning Voltaire’s Candide, a stinging blast against tyranny and feigned moralising, into toe-wiggling musical theatre is a crazy idea. Bernstein revised his operetta countless times before settling on the final version. The Grange Festival’s 2018 semi-staged production commemorates the composer’s 100th birthday.

A disfigured musical genius, hidden away in the Paris Opera House, terrorises the opera company for the unwitting benefit of a young protégée whom he trains and loves. The 25th anniversary of the first public performance of Phantom of the Opera was celebrated with a grand performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

This made-for-television documentary tells the story of the creation of the world's most successful musical, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.

Filmed production of Bizet’s Carmen at Earls Court in London, June 1989.

A historical adaptation of John Gay's 18th Century ballad opera, exuberantly performed for BBC television.