Opera Choice: Orfeo

Orfeo, The Barbican, London EC1 (0171-638 8891) 7.45pm

The leap from dancing to directing is not as far as one might imagine. Bob Fosse knew not only how to strut his stuff, but how to build, shape and direct dance - and from there it was a short step to taking over the whole kit 'n' caboodle. American choreographer Trisha Brown has never dabbled in showbiz, and, until recently, hadn't even choreographed to music. However, her piece to Bach's Musical Offering opened her eyes and her latest work is danced opera. Pina Bausch has already been here with her groundbreaking Gluck production, and, last year, Mark Morris's sublime staging of Handel's L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato produced, according to Louise Levene, "the sound of an audience inhaling deeply, filling its lungs with the oxygen of big ideas and old masters, feasting its eyes on a sneak preview of paradise." Brown brings her dancers together with singers as strong as Simon Keenlyside for her production of Monteverdi and the result has seen critics abroad openly salivating. Closes Saturday.