What's On

This production of The Sleeping Beauty has been delighting audiences in Covent Garden since 1946. A classic of Russian ballet, it established The Royal Ballet both in its new home after World War II and as a world-class company. Sixty years later, in 2006, the original staging was revived, returning Oliver Messel’s wonderful designs and glittering costumes to the stage. Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky’s enchanting score and Marius Petipa’s original choreography beautifully combine with sections created for The Royal Ballet by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Christopher Wheeldon. This ballet is sure to cast its spell over anyone who sees it. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10

Puccini’s opera of young love in 19th-century Paris is packed with beautiful music, including lyrical arias, celebratory choruses for Act II’s evocation of Christmas Eve in the Latin Quarter and a poignant final scene over which the composer himself wept. Richard Jones’s character-led production perfectly captures La bohème’s mixture of comedy, romance and tragedy, with striking designs by Stewart Laing. The cast features some of the greatest interpreters of Puccini’s bohemian lovers performing today, as well as former members of The Royal Opera’s Jette Parker Young Artists Programme. Sung in Italian with English subtitles Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10

The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess returns to the Met for the first time since 1990, in a new co-production with English National Opera and Dutch National Opera, hailed as a triumph at its premiere in London earlier this year. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions £16.50 Approximate runtime 3 hours 40 minutes

Kinky Boots The Musical, filmed live at the Adelphi Theatre in the heart of London's West End, is strutting onto the big screen! With songs from Grammy and Tony award winning pop icon Cindy Lauper, book by legendary Broadway playwright Harvey Fierstein (La Cage Aux Folles), and direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell (Legally Blonde, Hairspray), the musical is based on the film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth. Charlie is a factory owner struggling to save his family business, and Lola is a fabulous entertainer with a wildly exciting idea. With a little compassion and a lot of understanding, this unexpected pair learn to embrace their differences and create a line of sturdy stilettos unlike any the ★★★★‘A glorious high-kicking romp’ - Evening Standard ★★★★‘Dazzling, fabulously sassy and uplifting’ - Time Out Approx runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes including a 10 minute interval Please note this is a 12A certificate TBC Tickets: £17, Concessions: £15 (includes a £1 donation to the Regent Centre Development Fund)

The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess returns to the Met for the first time since 1990, in a new co-production with English National Opera and Dutch National Opera, hailed as a triumph at its premiere in London earlier this year. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions £16.50 Approximate runtime 3 hours 40 minutes

Kinky Boots The Musical, filmed live at the Adelphi Theatre in the heart of London's West End, is strutting onto the big screen! With songs from Grammy and Tony award winning pop icon Cindy Lauper, book by legendary Broadway playwright Harvey Fierstein (La Cage Aux Folles), and direction and choreography by Jerry Mitchell (Legally Blonde, Hairspray), the musical is based on the film written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth. Charlie is a factory owner struggling to save his family business, and Lola is a fabulous entertainer with a wildly exciting idea. With a little compassion and a lot of understanding, this unexpected pair learn to embrace their differences and create a line of sturdy stilettos unlike any the ★★★★‘A glorious high-kicking romp’ - Evening Standard ★★★★‘Dazzling, fabulously sassy and uplifting’ - Time Out Approx runtime: 2 hours 13 minutes including a 10 minute interval Please note this is a 12A certificate TBC Tickets: £17, Concessions: £15 (includes a £1 donation to the Regent Centre Development Fund)

Cathy Marston has previously been an Associate Artist of the Royal Opera House and Director of Bern Ballett, and is much in demand internationally. The inspiration for her first work for The Royal Ballet Main Stage is the momentous life and career of the cellist Jacqueline du Pré. Jerome Robbins’s elegant and elegiac classic forms the second part of the programme. This exercise in pure dance for five couples, set to music by Chopin, is a masterpiece of subtlety and invention. Approximate running time: 150 mins (Two 60-minute ballets with a 30-minute interval) Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10

In the Met’s first-ever performances of Agrippina, Handel’s satire of sex and power politics, Sir David McVicar reconceives a production evoking a scandalous world in which the Roman Empire never fell but simply kept going right up to the present. Joyce DiDonato stars as the power- hungry empress. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50 Approximate runtime 4 hours 10 minutes

James McAvoy (X-Men, Atonement) returns to the stage in an inventive new adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac, broadcast to cinemas from the West End in London. Fierce with a pen and notorious in combat, Cyrano almost has it all - if only he could win the heart of his true love Roxane. There’s just one big problem: he has a nose as huge as his heart. Will a society engulfed by narcissism get the better of Cyrano - or can his mastery of language set Roxane’s world alight? Edmond Rostand’s masterwork is adapted by Martin Crimp, with direction by Jamie Lloyd (Betrayal). This classic play will be brought to life with linguistic ingenuity to celebrate Cyrano’s powerful and resonant resistance against overwhelming odds. Tickets: £13.50, Concessions: £12.50 (includes a £1 donation to the Regent Centre Development Fund)

For the first time at the Met, Sir Bryn Terfel sings the role of the mysterious Dutchman, condemned to roam the seas for eternity, with Anja Kampe as the devoted Senta, whose love can set him free. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50 Approximate runtime 2 hours 44 minutes

Beethoven’s only opera is a masterpiece, an uplifting story of risk and triumph. In this new production, conducted by Antonio Pappano, Jonas Kaufmann plays the political prisoner Florestan, and Lise Davidsen his wife Leonore (disguised as ‘Fidelio’) who daringly sets out to rescue him. Set in strong counterpoint are the ingredients of domestic intrigue, determined love and the cruelty of an oppressive regime. The music is transcendent throughout and includes the famous Act I Quartet, the Prisoners’ Chorus and Florestan’s impassioned Act II cry in the darkness and vision of hope. Tobias Kratzer’s new staging brings together the dark reality of the French Revolutionary ‘Terror’ and our own time to illuminate Fidelio’s inspiring message of shared humanity. Sung in German with English subtitles Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10

Jonas Kaufmann My Vienna is a deeply personal tributeby the star tenorto the world-famous melodies from the birthplace of waltz and operetta. Filmed live in the magical setting ofthe Wiener Konzerthaus, the concert features popular Viennese music from Die Fledermausand Wienerblutby Johann Strauss and Franz Lehár’s The Merry Widow,plusmany of the classic songs inspired by the city of Vienna. Jonas Kaufmann performs with the Prague Philharmonia orchestraunder the baton of Maestro Jochen Riederand is joined by the internationally acclaimed soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen. Tickets £13.50, Concessions: £12.50 (including £1 Regent Centre Development Fee)

Liam Scarlett’s glorious production of Swan Lake, new in 2018, returns for its first revival. While remaining faithful to the Marius Petipa/Lev Ivanov text, Scarlett’s additional choreography and John Macfarlane’s magnificent designs breathe new life into what is arguably the best-known and most-loved classical ballet. The entire Company shines in this eternal tale of doomed love, a masterpiece refreshed for a new generation. Tchaikovsky’s first score for ballet soars with its symphonic sweep and combines perfectly with exquisite choreography from the grand pas de deux of Prince Siegfried and Odile to the swans at the lakeside. An intoxicating mix of spectacle and intimate passion, the overall effect is irresistible Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10

Sir David McVicar’s bold staging of Puccini’s operatic thriller returns with star soprano Anna Netrebko as the passionate title diva, opposite Brian Jagde as her lover, the idealistic painter Mario Cavaradossi. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions £16.50 Approximate runtime 3 hours 17 minutes

Sir David McVicar’s bold staging of Puccini’s operatic thriller returns with star soprano Anna Netrebko as the passionate title diva, opposite Brian Jagde as her lover, the idealistic painter Mario Cavaradossi. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions £16.50 Approximate runtime 3 hours 17 minutes

World Premiere broadcast live from London’s Royal Albert Hall to cinemas for one night only! One man has seen more of the natural world than any other. This unique feature documentary is his witness statement.  In his 93 years, David Attenborough has visited every continent on the globe, exploring the wild places of our planet and documenting the living world in all its variety and wonder. Now, for the first time he reflects upon both the defining moments of his lifetime as a naturalist and the devastating changes he has seen. Honest, revealing and urgent, David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet is a powerful first-hand account of humanity’s impact on nature and a message of hope for future generations.  The film will be followed by a Q&A with David Attenborough live from the World Premiere at the iconic Royal Albert Hall. Tickets: £16, Concessions: £15 Approximate timings 7.20pm Intro 7.30pm Film for 90 mins TBC 9.00pm Q&A for 30 - 40 Mins

Two opera classics are drawn together in this wonderfully observed re-creation of life in a south Italian village as a travelling theatre visits and emotions erupt. The award-winning production by Damiano Michieletto presents vividly the fast-moving, shocking events brought about by secret love and uncontrollable jealousy. The music is full of Italianate melody in the great choruses that bring the villagers together in celebration and revelry, alongside the solo arias and tense confrontations that provoke violence and tragedy. With thrilling singing and intense drama, ‘Cav and Pag’ distils into one wonderful night out, the enduring appeal of Italian opera in its most familiar form. Sung in Italian with English subtitles Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10

Donizetti’s drama, focused on the political and personal rivalry between two queens, returns to the Met with Diana Damrau as the doomed Mary, Queen of Scots, and Jamie Barton as her rival, Queen Elizabeth I. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions £16.50 Approximate runtime 3 hours 06 minutes

Dante’s Divine Comedy is an epic journey through the afterlife: it encompasses the horrifying drama of Inferno and its damned, the lyrical mysticism of pilgrims on mount Purgatorio and the dazzling spheres of Paradiso with their endless configurations of light. The poem was inspired by the agony of Dante’s own exile, and traces his path from crisis to revelation guided by his literary hero Virgil and his lost love Beatrice. In this new work, The Royal Ballet’s trailblazing Resident Choreographer Wayne McGregor collaborates with an award-winning team – contemporary composer Thomas Adès, artist Tacita Dean, lighting designer Lucy Carter and dramaturg Uzma Hameed – to bring us closer to Dante and his extraordinary vision. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10

One life in the hands of 12 women. Rural Suffolk, 1759. As the country waits for Halley’s comet, Sally Poppy is sentenced to hang for a heinous murder. When she claims to be pregnant, a jury of 12 matrons are taken from their housework to decide whether she’s telling the truth, or simply trying to escape the noose. With only midwife Lizzy Luke prepared to defend the girl, and a mob baying for blood outside, the matrons wrestle with their new authority, and the devil in their midst. Tickets: £13.50, Concessions: £12.50 (includes a £1 donation to the Regent Centre Development Fund)

Strauss’s thrilling and audacious adaptation of Greek tragedy receives a new staging by the award-winning director Christof Loy. This uncompromising opera, about a daughter intent on bloody revenge and a mother driven to madness, has provoked critics to lively debate and both shocked and excited audiences since its 1909 premiere. Antonio Pappano conducts music that combines violence with moments of exquisite tenderness in his first Strauss interpretation for The Royal Opera since 2002. The outstanding cast includes Nina Stemme (Brunnhilde in last Season’s Der Ring des Nibelungen) in the title role, and Karita Mattila in her role debut as the haunted queen Klytämnestra. Tickets: £18.50, Concessions: £16.50, Child (under 16): £10