Battle of the Sexes review – tennis's most famous match becomes kitschy, pacey opera

omg u gotta check out this new opera "Balls" at the Royal Festival Hall lol it's literally a wild ride! they took that 1973 tennis match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs and turned it into this epic spectacle with catchy tunes, hollywood-style set pieces, and even some dope archival footage from the 70s Emma Kennedy's narration is on point too, it's like a slow rap that'll make you feel all the feels and karpman's score is straight fire, i mean who knew philip glass-inspired minimalism could be so playful & profound at the same time? the cast is also amazing, especially nikola printz as king and lotte betts-dean as her lover overall, it's an entertaining ride that'll have u cheering for more

OMG I just watched this new opera "Balls" at the Royal Festival Hall and it was SO GOOD!!! Laura Karpman's score is like, totally fire ! I love how she mixed all those different styles together - Philip Glass-inspired minimalism and archive footage of suffragettes? Genius . And the cast? Nikola Printz as Billie Jean King is EVERYTHING , Lotte Betts-Dean as her secretary and lover is amazing too , and Nicky Spence's comedic performance as Bobby Riggs had me dying . The only thing that kept me from giving it a full 10/10 was some minor issues with pacing and vocal mixing, but overall it was just SO MUCH FUN ! I'd totally recommend checking it out if you're a fan of music theatre or just looking for something new to watch .

I just got back to this review I was wondering what they meant by "kitschy" and now I get it... like a cheesy 80s movie it's still really fun to watch though! And omg Emma Kennedy's narration is I love how the score incorporates Philip Glass-style minimalism, that part gave me chills The cast is great too, especially Nikola Printz as King, she totally nailed the character But what really got me was the use of archival footage... it's like you're right there in 1970s tennis history