Reviews
David Edwards - Stage Director
DIDO AND AENEAS - LONDON
"A remarkably satisfying and beautiful account...high point of the year-long Temple Festival. I have never heard DIDO so stylishly, eloquently and movingly rendered. Edwards's direction was never obtrusive. It seemed, rather, a sensitive and subtle
visual animation of the musical drama that was being so strikingly well sung and played."
Andrew Porter, OPERA, August 2008
THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS - LONDON
"It was one of the most revelatory and moving evenings that I can remember...a summons to proclaim the virtues of truth, faith, hope and charity over the lurid distractions of the world, the flesh and the Devil. That was stunningly clear in David Edwards' resourceful semi-staging...the intensity was transfixing... "
Richard Morrison, THE TIMES, June 2008
"It was a knock-out, an overwhelming musical...spiritual adventure. Vaughan Williams would surely have welcomed Edwards's well-judged, musically sensitive presentation."
Andrew Porter, Times Literary Supplement, July 2008
IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA - SINGAPORE
"Not only was this the best Barbiere I have ever seen, it ranks as one of the dozen or so most memorable experiences I have enjoyed in 40 years of attending opera. The producer David Edwards turned this warhorse into a show that was as fresh, zany and relevant as it must have been to Rossini's audiences nearly 200 years ago."
Robert Markow, OPERA, November 2007
LA TRAVIATA - OPÉRA LES AZURIALES
“The quality of the shows was so disarmingly good I couldn’t quite believe it – the impact, vitality and stamina of [La Traviata], staged by David Edwards, was exceptional…telling the story with a clarity and conviction that extracted real theatre from simple circumstances…”
Michael White, OPERA NOW, November/December 2007
GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG - LONDON
“The staging of Hagens Rache…was an ingenious conflation of scenes from Götterdämmerung. It was a triumphant conclusion to the Mastersingers’ four-year project...the Funeral March sequence had indescribable emotional power. The ending was astonishing, unexpected but for me amazingly successful.”
Katie Barnes, WAGNER NEWS, February 2007
THE SCREAMS OF KITTY GENOVESE - NEW YORK
“An incredibly powerful piece of theatrical story-telling…superbly directed by David G. Edwards” Oscar E. Moore, Talk Entertainment, September 2006
“Arranging Will Todd and David Simpatico’s vibrantly lyrical musical-theatre opera…would have been daunting for most creative teams with Broadway-level resources, but director David G. Edwards and musical director Randall Eng have done so without a single detectable misstep”
Matthew Murray, Talkin’ Broadway Off-Broadway, September 2006
DIE WALKÜRE - LONDON
"David Edwards' production [DIE WALKÜRE Act 3] was compellingly powerful, far more hard-hitting than any of our subsidised companies would dare to perform....As a one-off presentation of a single act, it was sensational."
Katie Barnes, WAGNER NEWS, February 2005
LUCREZIA BORGIA - MINNEAPOLIS
"The Minnesota Opera has a hit on its hands." Star Tribune, January 30, 2004
THE BLACKENED MAN
- BUXTON FESTIVAL
“Lighting was inspired, designs and back-projections intelligent, direction and blocking admirable…” Roderick Dunnett, OPERA NOW, Nov/Dec 2004
PAGLIACCI/GOYESCAS - CENTRAL CITY, COLORADO
"A bold theatrical experiment, stripped bare and presented with uncompromising honesty ...an attempt to shake up stuffy operatic convention is always welcome. Edwards' nervy staging and his desire to dig beneath the surface will generate lively debate...the extraordinary effort both works receive from a terrific cast of singing actors."
Marc Shugold, Rocky Mountain News July 9, 2003
CARMEN - PHILADELPHIA
"Edwards provides a sharply etched staging that matches the intent musical performance. Robert Israel's simple set creates an effective playing space that Edwards fills with vivid dramatic action, highlighted by the glare of Marcus Dilliard's lighting. This CARMEN hurtles forward without losing dramatic tension. Edwards strips away the traditional gestures and tiresome clichés that burden many productions of Bizet's opera."
Robert Baxter, Philadelphia Courier-Post November 11, 2002
DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER - SAN DIEGO
"The dramatic elements of the production, which were in the charge of David Edwards, were integrated by means of a psychological concept focusing on Senta, who was treated as profoundly neurotic and alienated from external reality...The effect was to give the action the quality of a dream...everything in the opera carried an aura of visionary experience, as though it were all taking place in the heroine's mind."
Jonathan Saville, OPERA December 2002
SIMON BOCCANEGRA - SAN FRANCISCO
"David Edwards' production gave this tale of political intrigue and separated families powerful theatrical life. Edwards juxtaposed realistic action with striking passages of symbolic representation...the simplicity of the staging and the careful observation of the ways in which personal emotion and political ambition color and modify each other showed that SIMON BOCCANEGRA is as complete a work of theater as any of Verdi's other mature works." Simon Williams, OPERA NEWS October 2001
DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES
- PORTLAND
"David Edwards' uncluttered, sensitive staging made CARMÉLITES a particularly uplifting experience...the final tableau was striking..." Mark Mandel, OPERA NEWS June 2001
