A Seductive Sicilian Schemer

Bravissimo to Sir Thomas Allen who has just returned from Los Angeles Opera where he been enjoying enormous success in the title role of Puccini's 'Gianni Schicchi'.

This was Allen's debut in the role, in a new production directed by movie legend Woody Allen and conducted by James Conlon, the Music Director of the Los Angeles Opera. The critics, without exception, have hailed his debut as Pucinni's lovable Sicilian schemer as one of his finest performances to date. Anne Midgette in the Washington Post wrote that 'Thomas Allen is always a class act, but he surpassed himself in the title role and seemed to be having the time of his life'. Rupert Christiansen in The Daily Telegraph wrote 'Flying the British flag, Thomas Allen was simply brilliant in the title role of Gianni Schicchi, playing him as a greasy, leering spiv in correspondent shoes' while Timothy Mangan in the Orange County Register judged that 'there's not a better actor in all of opera. Delicious'.

Allen will reprise the role, again in Woody Allen's production, when it transfers to the Spoletto Festival next summer and he is also scheduled to sing it at Covent Garden in the acclaimed Richard Jones production.

3 October, 2008

View more information relating to

Sir Thomas Allen

Contact: Keiron Cooke or Rebecca Sackman