SIMON BUTTERISS

BIOGRAPHY GALLERY REVIEWS SCHEDULE VIDEO/AUDIO REPERTOIRE TRANSLATIONS/ NARRATIONS CONTACTS HOME	REVIEWS for SINGING for WRITING/TRANSLATING/PRESENTING for DIRECTING SINGING This amazing singing actor…everything he does is absolutely riveting …you can hear every word and every word is nuanced. KoKo THE MIKADO, BBC Radio 3 Simon Butteriss is surely the leading comic baritone of his generation. KoKo THE MIKADO, Manchester Evening News Simon Butteriss – favoloso attore, cantante e ballerino. KoKo THE MIKADO in Rome, Corriere della sera
	Simon Butteriss captivated the audience…will remain forever in my memory…beautifully sung...the audience roared its approval.  KoKo THE MIKADO in Sydney, Australian Opera-Opera The star of the production is unquestionably Simon Butteriss.  He brings the house down, generating a kind of theatrical electricity as he romps about the stage. His cavortings and malleable face, which mirrors a comic range of expressions, are frankly inspired; in years I cannot recall enjoying a G&S portrayal as much as this.    KoKo THE MIKADO, Oz Arts Review Nimble-footed and versatile Simon Butteriss is the best KoKo I've ever seen. KoKo THE MIKADO, Manchester Evening News Simon Butteriss’ KoKo was a triumph. KoKo THE MIKADO, The Times The indisputable star was Simon Butteriss, a hyperactive KoKo who could do no wrong, imbuing the role with an exhilarating, infectious energy. KoKo THE MIKADO, Classicalsource.com There was another virtuoso performance in the servant's roles by Simon Butteriss; he brought off Frantz's number brilliantly, which isn't easy, given the dramatic context.  He played Cochenille in smart drag with a fag hanging out of his mouth - simply hilarious. THE TALES OF HOFFMANN (ENO), Opera Magazine Simon Butteriss sang the four servant roles with astonishing variety including Cochenille in outrageous drag.  Although usually a comic baritone, Butteriss managed the tenor tessitura of the roles with ease. THE TALES OF HOFFMANN (ENO), Radio 3 Forum Simon Butteriss is nothing less than virtuoso as Frantz THE TALES OF HOFFMANN (ENO), Musical Criticism Simon Butteriss, a baritone, nevertheless makes scene-stealing appearances in the four character tenor roles, especially as the drag, chain-smoking Cochenille - a cameo of genius. THE TALES OF HOFFMANN (ENO), Sunday Times The only interpretation of distinction was Simon Butteriss’ Jack Point.  A barefoot, pathetically anxious figure, he struck just the right note of pathos and projected both spoken and vocal lines with exemplary clarity.  This is the way to do it. Jack Point THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD, Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph Good to see the brilliant Simon Butteriss on another local stage.  After his recent sublime KoKo at Chichester, his Jack Point is another masterpiece.  Watching his true love torn from him is to see human pain at its most agonizing.  Jack Point THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD, The News Dazzling musical tour de force George Grossmith in the film A SALARIED WIT, Time Out That virtuoso of the musical theatre, Simon Butteriss…his verbal and vocal drive turn it into all but a one man show Pangloss CANDIDE, The Times Simon Butteriss is touched with comic genius Basilio LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, The Independent Wholly irresistible…Simon Butteriss gets his aria di sorbetto and earns it, suggesting that he could make a formidable Lady Macbeth. Clorinda LA CENERENTOLA, The Times The amazing Simon Butteriss Orlofsky DIE FLEDERMAUS, The Times The person who really stole the show was Simon Butteriss, and he is really funny, he really glitters Bobinet LA VIE PARISIENNE D’Oyly Carte, Kaleidoscope, BBC radio 4 Perfect          Bunthorne PATIENCE, Evening Standard Brilliant Bunthorne PATIENCE, Opera Magazine Simon Butteriss was outstanding: agile, tragic-comic (as he should be) and he delivered his role with an astonishing variety of vocal shades Bunthorne PATIENCE BBC Proms, Musicalcriticism.com Butteriss was a revelation as Bunthorne.  He brought all the right mannerisms to the role but he sang with remarkable depth of tone Bunthorne PATIENCE BBC Proms, Planet Hugill Classical Music Simon Butteriss is some kind of comic genius as Bunthorne, sounding like John Reed but sharper-witted. Bunthorne PATIENCE BBC Proms, Davidniceblogspot.com Fully as good as the legendary Martyn Green Bunthorne PATIENCE BBC Proms, Berkshire Review of the Arts, USA Stealing the first act, however, is the clear baritone of Simon Butteriss Benoit LA BOHEME ENO, Metro If only every singer enjoyed the clarity of Simon Butteriss, present too briefly as the landlord Benoit LA BOHEME ENO, The Times The most polished performance of the evening comes from Simon Butteriss who offers a beautifully observed old fusspot of Benoit LA BOHEME, ENO, Daily Telegraph More arresting was Simon Butteriss, whose amusingly lecherous Benoit is a perfectly conceived caricature.  Both he and Richard Angas delivered their lines clearly and directly. LA BOHEME, ENO, Opera Today, USA The real stars are the veterans: Simon Butteriss a touchingly Wellesian Benoit LA BOHEME on DVD, ENO, Gramophone The sharply enunciated, ripely played Benoit of Simon Butteriss is a delight LA BOHEME on DVD, ENO, Opera News, USA The name Simon Butteriss is a joyous guarantee of both musical and comic quality and here he was a delight. Sir Joseph Porter HMS PINAFORE, The News Simon Butteriss has Gilbert and Sullivan in his soul and in his portrayal of Sir Joseph Porter not a word was lost, not a joke overlooked; in humour, sensitivity, slapstick, clowning or melancholy, Butteriss raises the level of performance around him whilst still remaining the monarch of the stage.  Simply, he is the very model of the modern Gilbert specialist. Sir Joseph Porter HMS PINAFORE, Bachtrack.com Matters improve greatly with the entry of Simon Butteriss, a true G&S man bringing joy and humour to every role. His enthusiasm is infectious and with his entrance all seem to relax and enjoy themselves. Sir Joseph Porter HMS PINAFORE, Daily Express WRITING/TRANSLATING/PRESENTING Tom Stoppard was the first to write an English narration for the piece and his idea rather wittily supposed that Njegus was the man in the know.  Simon Butteriss has replicated that idea for John Wilson and the Philharmonia orchestra, and indeed has done so with more wit and a great deal more charm than even Stoppard did. Butteriss is a Gilbert and Sullivan stalwart whose dapper delivery hits just the right note of satire.  The mythical state of Pontevedro is close to bankruptcy as the curtain rises at its embassy in Paris, so you can just imagine the irresistible temptation for jokes on European insolvency.  Butteriss lands them all.  But my favourite of his interventions was his dubbing of Embassy Wives as ‘diplomatic bags’.  Plenty of mileage in that one. The other cleverness about the narration is that Butteriss has designed it to be played as part of the action so that he is often standing ‘invisibly’ in the midst of quite intimate situations.  It proved to be an ingenious device from the man who also directed this semi-staging, and when Butteriss did finally get a number of his own, it came with a lyric from Jeremy Sams which was naughty enough to pass off as the performer’s own.  No prizes for guessing where the strategic pause came in ‘a mouthful of coq au vin’. So it was very much Butteriss’ show. THE MERRY WIDOW, Edward Seckerson, The Arts Desk Butteriss enhanced every twist of the ludicrous tale with a perfection of verbal wit THE MERRY WIDOW, Hilary Finch, The Times What made the afternoon slip by so easily was the new narration written and performed by Simon Butteriss.  A consummate performer in his own right, his story telling was done in character which provided a bridge between the action and the audience without the constant need to step in and out of character.  Added to which, it was witty and pointed without being over contemporary in its allusions.  This might have carried the afternoon by itself. The Lark Review Simon Butteriss’s translation, by all accounts done in about five minutes, is quite brilliant, knowing exactly how risqué to be and then going just a bit further. FRA DIAVOLO translation, Opera Now When we say an opera is “funny”, we usually mean “we are very sophisticated people who can appreciate the humour of 200 years ago”, but in a new and very free translation by Simon Butteriss, it really was laugh-out-loud hilarious FRA DIAVOLO translation, The Guardian If you wanted your faith in human nature restored, you should have caught Simon Butteriss’s illustrated lecture about Oliver Goldsmith (Sky Arts, Saturday).  Butteriss’s talk - interrupted by Butteriss himself, impersonating the doctor/jourmalist/poet/playwright – was brimming with ideas. A GOOSEBERRY FOOL Sky Arts, The Times Enchantment may more usually be the province of The Magic Flute, but there were charms at work in the Queen Elizabeth Hall yesterday, conjured principally by Simon Butteriss.  Commissioned by the OAE, Butteriss has produced both a new translation and a narration (which he himself performs). The tone is gently and aptly satirical, the pace swift and the effect immediate and deeply comic.  This is Jackanory for musically-literate adults and you could hear the pleasure and hush of an audience being willingly bewitched. If a case were to be made then this singspiel could find no more persuasive an advocate than Butteriss.  The OAE must be rejoicing in their commission - a work I feel certain will be around long enough to see a turn in the London fortunes of this delightful opera. DIE ENTFUHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, QEH, TheArtsDesk.com Hugely entertaining A MOTLEY PAIR  Sky Arts, Sunday Times Simon Butteriss hits us between the eyes in A Motley Pair.  He will certainly make you think again about the operas, and if he succeeds in bringing a new audience to see them, then a knighthood should follow!  All hail, Sir Simon! A MOTLEY PAIR Gilbert and Sullivan News Simon Butteriss is as good a presenter as I have seen on TV in many years.  He is natural, relaxed, enthusiastic, without going over the top and his speech is absolutely clear.  Some of today's celebrity TV presenters could learn a lot by studying his approach.  Instructive and highly entertaining.  You can hardly ask more of a TV documentary. A MOTLEY PAIR  Sullivan Society magazine It might be comic opera but The Barber Of Seville usually invites companionable tittering rather than full-on belly laughs.  However, Simon Butteriss's English translation gave the rib-cage contingent of Buxton Opera House a healthy work-out.  Clever rhymes and witty modernisms drew maximum humour out of the libretto. THE BARBER OF SEVILLE translation, Opera Now The English translation by Simon Butteriss - known widely as a genius of the Gilbert and Sullivan comedy roles - is both easy to follow and lively in its adaptation of the story.  It certainly makes the opera genuinely funny and the Buxton audience laughed heartily. BARBER OF SEVILLE translation, Manchester Evening News With a superb, newly commissioned narration - taut, terse and hard-hitting - written and declaimed by Simon Butteriss, it often felt as though we were experiencing the drama for the very first time. FIDELIO narration, Brighton Festival/Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Times It succeeded brilliantly FIDELIO narration, Brighton Festival/OAE, Daily Telegraph Extremely touching FIDELIO narration, Brighton Festival/OAE, The Guardian DIRECTING For the first time in my life during a performance of The Merry Widow, I felt a twitching at the corners of the mouth.  A very silly smile slowly formed, grew, and remained for the duration.  The Philharmonia described their festive show as a semi-staged performance in English.  But it was far more than that. The follies of Paris and Pontevedro were conjured not only by the magical, levitating baton of John Wilson, but by Simon Butteriss who, as Njegus, directed, danced, sang – and provided a racy, pacy narration to replace the operetta’s spoken dialogue.  Just as Wilson’s baton tickled the fancy, plucked the heartstrings, and whisked Lehar’s waltzes into the lightest of confections, so Butteriss enhanced every twist of the ludicrous tale with a perfection of verbal wit and comic timing, which gave angle and edge to it all.  It was, in short, the perfect blend of Viennese Schlagobers and English salt. The sheer flair and taut professionalism of this wonderful one-off did rather put in perspective what had been going on in St Martins Lane. Hilary Finch, The Times Director Simon Butteriss, who also plays the Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko, is my nomination for greatest living Englishman.  He stands in the great line of George Grossmith, Henry Lytton, Martyn Green and John Reed.  His ‘Little List’ was hilarious, his timing is immaculate, his singing is excellent, his instinct for observing tradition while making it relevant is impeccable. His production delights in the way it deploys a chorus and keeps the action moving.  When The Mikado is presented with zip and polish, as it is here, it sheds all vestiges of Victorian pomposity to emerge as the masterpiece it is.  The audience guffaw and applaud as if each word is new to them. ***** THE MIKADO (International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, Buxton Opera House)    Daily Mail An outrageously joyous production of THE MIKADO.  The reason for this new production being one of the most entertaining you’re ever likely to see is because the irrepressible patter man, Simon Butteriss, is also entrusted with directing it. You know that every ounce of fun will be wrung out of it, whilst maintaining the highest standards of singing and performance.  And that is what we get.  His KoKo is honed by years of experience, with masterly comic timing and yet spellbinding seriousness, as when it comes to his Tit Willow solo ….this is a production oozing vivacity. THE MIKADO (International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, Buxton Opera House)    Manchester Theatre Awards The 19th International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival got off to an excellent start with a rousing production of The Mikado directed by Simon Butteriss, who also played the leading role of Ko-Ko, the Lord High Executioner.  Butteriss never missed a chance to contribute extra glee; this production is glorious in its absurdity and added up to a thoroughly entertaining and deliciously over-the-top evening THE MIKADO (International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, Buxton Opera House)  Daily Express This Mikado is a production of intense joy.  In this new, fresh-faced production directed expertly by Simon Butteriss, who also assumes the role of KoKo, humour, sensitivity, satire, delicacy and simplicity reign abundantly.  Simon Butteriss as KoKo excelled on all fronts and to compose a little list of his vocal, directing and acting skills would surely not be missed. THE MIKADO (International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, Buxton Opera House)  Bachtrack.com Simon Butteriss has directorial genius. THE MIKADO  (International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, Buxton Opera House) Savoynet One was treated to an inspired interpretation, perfectly directed by Simon Butteriss.  A treat. THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD  (Philharmonia), Paris-Broadway.com