One critic compares the dramatic work to a “Loblaws grocery bag”
Rufus Wainwright’s first opera, Prima Donna, made its North American debut at Luminato last night. And as the reviews tumbled in, they were as mixed as last year’s reaction to the opera’s European debut at the Manchester International Festival. A Toronto Star critic called the staging a “dramatic wreck,” adding that “you can’t get a Louis Vuitton clutch from a Loblaws grocery bag.” The Baltimore Sun’s critic wrote “it’s a valiant effort, to be sure, and Wainwright should try another.” The Globe, meanwhile, asserted that while the director and cast soar, the orchestra falls short. Still, it concedes “Wainwright has deftly made a virtue of his outsider status in the world of contemporary opera.”