"The dominant tone of sadness is beautifully captured in Davies' production - a meticulously detailed depiction; bravado undercut by vulnerability at every turn. The end is heartbreaking... One of Opera Holland Park's finest achievements to date."
THE GUARDIAN on LA FANCIULLA DEL WEST ****
"A timely and beautifully judged 'Twelfth Night'"
THE TELEGRAPH ****
"As with her outstanding 'Ruddigore', Davies' 'Carousel' binds all the productions elements into a single dynamic. Dialogue flows into song and lifts into dance - it's hard to know exactly where chorus members end and professional dancers begin."
THE GUARDIAN on CAROUSEL *****
"A blast of operetta bliss"
DAILY TELEGRAPH on RUDDIGORE ****
"The original Yuan dynasty drama blisteringly fast and funny in this fine staging by Jo Davies"
THE TIMES on A NIGHT AT THE CHINESE OPERA ****
"Production tics attest to Jo Davies’s broad experience as a director of musical theatre, and indeed she could not have picked a standard opera that has more in common with Carousel or Oklahoma!. Her disposition of multiple characters in ensemble scenes is deftly achieved and pictorially satisfying, with major arias signalled and showcased with all the zip of a Broadway expert. Ingenious switches of location within a standalone set are exciting for their very inventiveness, nowhere more so than in her fast-changing configurations of giant mesh barriers during the final act’s bustling public scenes."
BACHTRACK on CARMEN
"Davies’ great achievement is to amalgamate a group of classically trained singers and musical theatre specialists into a unit so cohesive you can no longer see the joins"
THE GUARDIAN on KISS ME KATE
"Davies' staging is a model of how to make an update of a classical masterpiece unpretentious and accessible, yet bursting with energy... the link between dialogue and song is seemless thanks to the fast-pacing of Davies' direction. This Carmen is on her toes throughout."
THE SUNDAY TIMES on CARMEN
"Prospectors strike gold with Puccini"
THE EVENING STANDARD
"Opera director Jo Davies’ musical mastery shines through in a production made all the more absorbing by its gender-fluid casting"
THE GUARDIAN on TWELFTH NIGHT ****
"It is one of Puccini's most ambitious and fast-paced scores and Davies creates a blow-your-socks-off triumph."
THE METRO on FANCIULLA *****
"With 'Fantastic Follies' Davies and her team have transmuted this pretty average play into theatrical gold"
THE GUARDIAN on MRS RICH ****