The curtain call at the Royal Opera’s Rusalka was met with booing this week.
Czech composer Antonin Dvorak’s adaptation has transformed the famous Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale, in which a mermaid searches for love, into the story of a prostitute who wants more than just sex.
The scantily clad cast members are far cry from traditional, child-friendly adaptations of the tale including the most famous, Disney's film starring the red head Ariel and a singing Jamaican lobster called Sebastian.
Rupert Christian, a Telegraph critic, called the adaptation a work of “vandalism” and hopes the booing means that “the production will be returned to sender at the earliest opportunity”.
Negative reviews also came from Opera-Britannia who were disappointed by the set and costume: "Close your eyes and live the concert experience and you’ll enjoy a musically superb evening. Eyes wide open, it’s a shocker."
Rusalka, which is on at the Royal Opera until 8 March, is not the first controversial opera piece to grace the stage.
Recently eyebrow raising operas include Jerry Springer: The Opera, which ran for 609 shows in London and was sharply criticised by the religious community for its treatment of various issues; Gaddafi: A Living Myth, that included some of the most controversial moments from the dictator's life and hit London in 2006; and Anna Nicole: The Opera, which documented the Playboy pin-up’s troubled life at the Royal Opera last year.