Man on the Moon

Opera has always been a big part of my life, and has been my ambition for 8 years now. Man on the Moon is not one of my favourite operas. It is certainly not a bad opera by all means, far from it. I liked how it covered Buzz Aldrin's life and did it in good detail and the music by Jonathan Dove is very pleasant and beautifully orchestrated. Not all of it is entirely memorable though and there are a lot of time shifts which did perplex me at times. This production on Channel 4 was interesting, sadly it wasn't very well-received in terms of viewing figures. I can see why it wouldn't appeal to everybody but even though I am not sure whether I'd put it on a list of the all-time greats, but it deserve more than it got. The production values are meticulously evoked and true to period. The staging is well done and ambitious, not dulling the story in any way. The orchestra play beautifully, and the conducting well assured. Nathan Gunn is handsome in both looks and voice in the title role and acts in an intelligent manner, while Patricia Racette acts sympathetically and she sounds just great here, one of the best I've heard her. On the whole, not something I'd leap out of my chair for but it is interesting and grabbed my attention at least. 7/10 Bethany Cox