THIS April English Touring Opera (ETO) visits Cheltenham’s Everyman Theatre with its most ambitious season yet, with three full-scale productions of acclaimed operas by Mozart, Britten and Tippett and two operas for young people.

The company’s season, themed around Myth in Opera, begins on Tuesday, April 1, with Paul Bunyan, a collaboration between composer Benjamin Britten and poet W H Auden, often described as a cross between an opera and a musical. The music incorporates a wide variety of styles, including folk songs, blues and hymns.

This new production re-creates the great myth of the North American frontier in a charming, dreamlike adventure which features lumberjacks, singing geese and cats, good and bad cooks and an accountant.

Paul Bunyan himself is a legendary folk hero, a gigantic lumberjack, the American equivalent of Robin Hood or King Arthur. He is a character cloaked in mystery and in Britten’s opera appears only as a powerful voice off-stage. For ETO’s production the part has been pre-recorded by Emmy and Golden Globe-winning actor Damian Lewis, famous for his roles in Homeland and Band of Brothers.

The company’s visit continues on Wednesday, April 2, with a rare chance to see Michael Tippett’s opera King Priam, a tale of gods and men, character and destiny set in the world of classical myth in besieged Troy.

Then on April 3/4/5/ ETO performs Mozart’s final opera The Magic Flute, whose wit and charm has enchanted music and theatre lovers of all ages for hundreds of years. The opera tells the tale of a terrifying and joyful journey in pursuit of love, wisdom and happiness, with a beautiful score ranging from the show-stopping arias of the Queen of the Night to jolly folk tunes.

www.everymantheatre.org.uk