Janos Gereben wrote
>..pity poor Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov.
>He turned out to be one of the most unfairly neglected composers in all
>opera. ....
I remember going to see Christmas Eve quite a few years back. The production
appropriately was done at Christmas time by the English National Opera at
the London Coliseum. Many of the younger members of the cast in their
costumes  mixed with the audience before the performance. All great fun. I
remember there was a scene with a witch riding through the sky  done by
having several ropes across the stage. The witch started as a real person
and was sent back as a smaller mock up and then back as a small cut out. All
well until the third cross over where the image of the witch became
jammed and there were various tugs on the line to free it. Eventually a
large arm could be seen dragging it  those vital last inches.
Shame they don't put on more of his operas it would make a change to
seemlingly endless productions of Carmen and La Boheme.

Tim Horwood