As a whole, Ivan Alexandre's production is appropriately stately and Antoine Fontaine's set seems superbly authentic...The drama in the first act coalesces around Sarah Connolly's powerful Phèdre, and Stéphane Degout's resonant Thesee dominates much of the remaining acts. Emmanuelle Haïm's musical direction is taut, insightful and expressive, and Le Concert d’Astrée play like a dream.

Alexandre's rigorously historical production...requires that singers almost always face the front and sing downstage, even when addressing lines to each other...The controlled delivery of the drama is consequently unhurried and there are subtle ideas that might not be obvious at first viewing...Stéphane Degout's dignified Theseus and Sarah Connolly's anguished Phaedra both sing magnificently.

Topi Lehtipuu and Anne-Catherine Gillet in the title roles are a well-matched pair of young lovers with unforced, agile voices. Stéphane Degout is a solidly regal Tésée; his wife Phèdre, infatuated with her stepson Hippolyte, is played Connolly. Andrea Hill impresses as Diane, seemingly unphased by the swaying cut-out cloud on which she is suspended, and Jaël Azzaretti is a winsome Amour. The conductor Emmanuelle Haïm maintains a lively pace, ensuring sensitivity when needed, the playing of her period-instrument band Le Concert d’Astrée crisp and nimble despite its opulent size.

elegant Finnish tenor Topi Lehtipuu heads up a predominantly Francophone cast under the sparky direction of Emmanuelle Haïm...Ivan Alexandre's lavish production is emphatically eighteenth-century, and looks gorgeous.

it aims to recreate the sort of sumptuously costumed and ritualised spectacle Louis XV might have enjoyed when the piece was first performed in 1733. What elevates it from being exotic high camp is the superb musical performance, conducted by the indefatigable Emmanuelle Haïm and sung by an unbeatable cast led by an imperious Sarah Connolly.