La Traviata
It’s been a rocky period for ENO, but the new season has plenty to get excited about — starting with Verdi’s weepie with Emma Bell in the title role.London Coliseum, St Martin’s Lane, WC2 (www.eno.org 020-7632 8300), Sep 27 to Nov 16

Tristan und Isolde
This revival of Yannis Kokkos’s production for WNO has plenty going for it: including John MacMaster’s Tristan and Annalena Persson as Isolde.Touring from Sep 30 to Dec 9 (www.wno.org.uk)

Peter Grimes
A new production by Phyllida Lloyd is sure to find hidden depths in Britten’s masterpiece.Touring from Oct 26 toDec (www.operanorth.co.uk)

Carmen
A new production of Bizet’s opera by Francesca Zambello, has a dream cast, including Anna Caterina Antonacci in the title role and the hunky tenor Jonas Kaufmann as her desperate lover, Don José.Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, WC1 (www.royaloperahouse.org 020-7304 4000), Dec 8-Feb 3
NEIL FISHER

THEATRE

Wicked
This big-budget Broadway musical takes a reverse trip up the Yellow Brick Road to find out how Dorothy’s chief adversary in The Wizard of Oz became so mean. The big-lunged Idina Menzel reprises her Tony Award-winning role as the Wicked Witch of the West. Apollo Victoria, Wilton Road, SW1 (0870 4000889), previews from Sep 7, opens Sep 27

A Moon for the Misbegotten
Kevin Spacey stars in Howard Davies’s revival of Eugene O’Neill’s 1923 play as the tormented alcoholic actor James Tyrone seeking escape from his demons.Old Vic, The Cut, SE1 (www.oldvictheatre.com 0870 0606628), from Sep 15, opens Sep 26

How Many Miles to Basra?
Colin Teevan reworks his acclaimed radio play about four soldiers, a journalist and their Iraqi translator trying to make amends for the deaths of some local men at a checkpoint.West Yorkshire Playhouse, Quarry Hill, Leeds (www.wyp.org.uk 0113-213 7700), Sep 23-Oct 21

Monty Python’s Spamalot
Tim Curry stars in Eric Idle’s stage adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Beware the killer rabbit.Palace, Cambridge Circus, W1 (www.montypythonsspamalot.com 0870 8900142), from Oct 2, opens Oct 16

Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
Antonio “Huggy Bear” Fargas features in August Wilson’s play about the tensions among a jazz band in a Chicago recording studio in 1927. Royal Exchange, St Ann’s Square, Manchester (www.royalexchange.co.uk 0161-833 9833), Oct 18-Nov 25
IAN JOHNS