Libera Dreams

There have been several movie versions. The most famous was the 1961 film titled "The Innocents" starring Deborah Kerr.

I think I've seen a BBC adaptation at some point in the past but cannot recall much about it. If I was to ever see an Opera something like this would tick the boxes. It's intimate (cast of only 6), only lasts 2hrs is thought provoking and leaves you guessing throughout...

A few big hitters have come out with their reviews and the conclusion is universally positive... with special mention of the two children (Miles & Flora)...

Telegraph

Both the children are confidently musical and excellent actors: Thomas Delgado-Little brings an angelic treble but troubling ambiguity to Miles, and Louise Moseley is an appropriately young Flora.

Guardian

The children, Thomas Delgado-Little as Miles and Louise Moseley as Flora, are utterly convincing, and rarely, I suspect, have been bettered.

..one from Jon Smalldon

The cast, too, do not put a foot wrong. Of particular note are the children: Thomas Delgado-Little as Miles and Louise Moseley as Flora

The Times has also reviewed but it's subscription only...

If Thomas conveyed "troubling ambiguity" then he precisely hit his acting mark. You're supposed to be unsure of what's going on with Miles to the very end.

Two more;

The Spectator

Elegant though Kent’s production is, Britten’s opera stands or falls with its cast. Achieving a rare natural chemistry, the children — Flora (Louise Moseley) and Miles (Thomas Delgado-Little) — dominate. So familiar, so instinctive is their play that it loads the dice even more heavily than usual against the governess (Natalya Romaniw) and her suspicions. A brilliant coup de théâtre finds them playing in the dirt of a fresh grave, ripping petals from a wreath — horrors of the sweetest, most innocent kind imaginable.

and... Bachtrack

Thomas Delgado-Little is excellent as Miles, using a mixture of energetic animation and blank-faced stillness when the ghosts are in control. Delgado-Little’s haunting “Malo, Malo” is spectacular: his voice soars into the stellar top notes with gentle confidence, showing us all the deceptive simplicity of this unnerving tune, the most memorable of the whole opera

JimmyRiddle wrote:Two more;

The Spectator

Elegant though Kent’s production is, Britten’s opera stands or falls with its cast. Achieving a rare natural chemistry, the children — Flora (Louise Moseley) and Miles (Thomas Delgado-Little) — dominate. So familiar, so instinctive is their play that it loads the dice even more heavily than usual against the governess (Natalya Romaniw) and her suspicions. A brilliant coup de théâtre finds them playing in the dirt of a fresh grave, ripping petals from a wreath — horrors of the sweetest, most innocent kind imaginable.

and... Bachtrack

Thomas Delgado-Little is excellent as Miles, using a mixture of energetic animation and blank-faced stillness when the ghosts are in control. Delgado-Little’s haunting “Malo, Malo” is spectacular: his voice soars into the stellar top notes with gentle confidence, showing us all the deceptive simplicity of this unnerving tune, the most memorable of the whole opera

Wow, you can't ask for better than that. And lets remember that these are professional critics - they feel no need to give praise that is not earned.

Glyndebourne update:

Glyndebourne have posted a compilation video using footage from this year's Turn of the Screw production titled 'Insight into The Turn of the Screw'....

[BBvideo 425,350][/BBvideo]



Woking was the first stop on their tour and the cast remains unchanged...praise remains very high...

Bravo, Tom!

Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury

Delgado-Little – a very young Miles – was the embodiment of angelic purity, both visually and vocally; his tone is pure and wholesome, and Miles’s dubious remark, ‘I’m bad, aren’t I’, at the conclusion to Act 1 lacked any of its usual transgressive inferences. Miles’s final cry, ‘Peter Quint – you devil!’, was flung at the audience, before the child buried himself in his governess’s enfolding embrace; were we to blame for his tragic torment?

Milton Keynes

thought the performance by the Glyndebourne Tour Orchestra was excellent. I really couldn’t fault anyone, however, the star of the show in my eyes was the young boy who played Miles (Thomas Delgado-Little). He has the sweetest sounding voice and sang his lines so beautifully a perfect match to Flora (Louise Moseley)

The final performance of Glyndebourne’s brilliant production of “Turn of the Screw” took place in Plymouth this evening. The haunting beauty of Tom’s voice singing “Malo, malo” will stay with me forever. The rest of the cast were pretty good too! I don’t believe I have ever known audiences to be so mesmerised. At each of the performances that I attended the intensity was palpable – no fidgeting, minimal throat-clearing, no rustling of paper – just undivided attention throughout. At the dramatic conclusion, a moment of stunned silence was followed by the rapturous applause of an audience knowing it had witnessed something very special.

I wish the video in JimmyRiddle's post had contained at least a sample of Tom's singing part.

TullyBascombe wrote:I wish the video in JimmyRiddle's post had contained at least a sample of Tom's singing part.

From looking around the web, the last time they performed this opera it was filmed and can now be purchased on DVD and Blu-ray. Perhaps the same will be for this production and you can see the opera, and Tom's performance, in its entirety.

That would be nice. Please let us know if you hear that it's become available. Who is selling the previous version?

TullyBascombe wrote:Who is selling the previous version?

It can be found on the Barnes & Noble website and Amazon

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dvd-the-turn-of-the-screw/25508275?ean=3770002003114

http://www.amazon.com/Turn-Screw-Britten/dp/B0095I9B3A

From reading the descriptions, the opera was filmed in 2011 but the DVD was released in early 2013; although maybe that was only a release of the Region 1 DVD. So assuming the same turnaround you will probably have to wait until early 2016 to acquire it.

But looking at the Glyndebourne website, it looks like the DVD may have been available as early as 2012, but maybe only in Region 2? Although I'm not certain about that.

I'm not sure where you are geographically because it may all just depend on that.

Anyway, you may have it in as little as a few months, or maybe in an entire year.

Man, I'm doing an awful lot of research concerning a DVD I'm unlikely to ever acquire lol But it's worth it for a fellow Libera fan

I'm also in the US.

Glyndebourne ‏@glyndebourne Nov 28
Toi x3 to our Turn of the Screw company for their last Tour performance @TRPlymouth tonight. @AJGregory_tenor @Mirandakeys @Natalya_Romaniw
0 replies 5 retweets 4 favorites

Moose Fan ‏@Libera_rule_ok Nov 29
@glyndebourne Thanks to brilliant cast and orchestra. Will there be a DVD?
0 replies 0 retweets 1 favorite

Glyndebourne ‏@glyndebourne 5h5 hours ago
@Libera_rule_ok Not of this cast but the production was filmed in 2011 and that is available on DVD. http://ow.ly/F88Fm