The Royal Opera House's 2011-12 season began in splendour, finished in triumph but suffered painfully from a drab, unimaginative and cancellation-riddled middle. For many London opera-goers, it appeared that Covent Garden had blown its budget on high-profile stagings of Il Trittico, Les Troyens and the Ring Cycle but had little left to satisfy regular visitors throughout the long winter months except safe revivals of over-familiar productions with casts that offered great professionalism but little excitement. It was lucky, then, that the shows which ended the season were nearly all winners that left one's palate refreshed and eager for the next season to start. Pick of the bunch, production-wise, was Robert Carsen's fizzing new production of Falstaff (shared with La Scala), which updates the action to the 1950s. Carsen justifies his…
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