Pursuits

Radcliffe Goes Irish After Harry Potter; Britten Rules

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When Benjamin Britten presented a bald and crabby Elizabeth I to the next Queen Elizabeth, the public was not amused.

He composed his 1953 opera “Gloriana” -- which shows Elizabeth I as a clever, complex and tormented monarch -- to celebrate the coronation of Elizabeth II, who was at the premiere. It flopped. One critic called it “Boriana.”