Cox and Box and The Zoo are both one-act comic operas. Cox and Box was written by Arthur Sullivan 5 years before he started collaborating with W. S. Gilbert; It was a huge success in its time and is relatively frequently performed . The plot revolves around a landlord who rents one room to two people, one who works at night and one who works during the day. When one of them has a day off, they meet with hilarious consequences. The Zoo’s plot is about two pairs of lovers, a nobleman wooing the girl who sells snacks in the zoo and a young chemist who believes he has poisoned his beloved (all commented by the visitors of the zoo).
Volksopera in co-production with Zuidpool gives us a simple but lovely performance. The staging is very scarce. in fact, there is none in Cox and Box, just one or two props, such as the pipe or the pistols; The zoo is a bit livelier with colourful summer clothing and a bit more action. But what made the evening very entertaining was in fact very simple: the singers not only had good voices but were also motivated actors and a dozen instrumentalists performed flawlessly and kept it light and airy. Unfortunately the Arenbergschouwburg in Antwerp was only half full. A missed opportunity for the lovers of the genre seen the overall good quality of the performance.
Stijn Saveniers, Jorgen Cassier, Anne Cambier, Lien Haegeman, Geoffrey Degives, Kris Belligh, Fabrice Pillet, Eloïse Mabille, Naomi Beeldens, Mathis Van Cleynenbreugel, Lars Corijn en tienkoppige ensemble The Tourist Attraction Company (Antwerp, 4/4/17, Picture from Zuidpool.be)
If one has to travel to Tourcoing to hear Vivaldi, one does so with pleasure, seen how little Vivaldi is performed. The orchestra is the well known “La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy” with Jean-Claude Malgoire as its conductor. Judging by this performance, the reputation is better than the quality, but then it could just be a bad day. The choice in tempi is poor, dynamics are unvaried, the playing tedious. Add to this a very scholastic rendering of the orchestra with many mistakes, and the pleasure quickly dwindles to disappointment. Slighly better the singers (but only slightly): voices that are either barely audible (Angelica) or flat when they descend to lower notes (Orlando). Ruggiero was good in his flute aria but Come l’onda sounds colourless with a little projected voice. Much better Clemence Tilquin, the only with a more homogeneous voice and some lovely acting that inflated Alcina with personality. All in all a performance with very little variations or nuances with an incomprehensible Italian pronunciation. The costumes were very well designed while staging consisted in several painted panels which were moved up and down to bring us into the different settings or slid side-wards to make the singers appear and disappear. Simple and effective.
Like many other Italian composers before him (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti just to mention the main contemporary ones), Verdi was invited to compose for the Parisian stages. It was decided to stage a grand opéra as it was fashionable since the 1830’s. But instead of composing a brand new opera, Verdi adapted one of his earlier operas, I lombardi alla prima crociata. The writers of the libretto Royer et Vaëz rewrote the plot (which makes more sense than the Lombardi one) while Verdi re-adapted and rewrote bits and pieces. The result is not really a grand opéra in the sense of Meyerbeer, Halevy et al. It sounds like any contemporary Verdi with all his characteristics and flaws. So if you like Verdi you probably liked this one as well, if you were expecting a grand opéra you probably were disappointed. Mazzonis di Pralafera and Jean-Guy Lecat provide red-bricked columns on each side, a wall at the back and a painted decor with an otherwise empty stage (except cushions for Gaston’s aria in act III, hastily removed for the ballet). Beautiful the costumes shaped as idealized and colourful Middle Ages apparel. The ballet was the only modern bit in an otherwise traditional setting and although i liked some parts, the performers danced in a modern, hectic, nervous kind of style.
Speranza Scappucci does her best to keep it going though I again miss the extra bit to make the music sparkle. Marc Laho’s voice expands well, his registers equally even; a fine interpretation. Elain Alvarez and Roberto Scandiuzzi both had some issues with very low or high notes in act I. Maybe not warm enough? But in the following acts Scandiuzzi developed his beautiful bass voice and was a delight as Roger (and hermit). Elain Alvarez has a somewhat “slow” voice, her embellishments not very light and and the interpretation lacked the punch of the Verdi heroines. Overall i preferred her Hélène to her Elvira 2 years ago, but was not fully convinced either.
Bellina questa Cenerentola realizzata in coproduzione con il Teatro del Giglio di Lucca. Partendo dai costumi di Lele Luzzati (realizzati per una Cenerentola negli anni 70), Aldo Tarabella ed Enrico Musenich hanno realizzato scene molto belle con parti mobili che vengono spostati e ricomposti a vista, pannelli che sono dipinti su più lati per essere arrotolati e srotolati e dare cosí vita a diversi interni in modo veloce. Tutto ciò in uno stile che ricorda Lele Luzzati.
Un plauso a chi sta riportando la lirica a Cosenza e forse il pubblico inizierà ad apprezzare. Per il momento ho trovato il pubblico poco entusiasta, con alcuni disinteressati che parlano a voce alta, controllano cellulari e lasciano la suoneria ad alto volume (poco prima del rondo finale).
Except for a Japanese-looking roof which hangs mid-air, the stage is empty. But this becomes the strength of the production, which plays with lighting, panels and props being taken on and off stage swiftly, and this results in a flexible and lively, never boring change of moods and feelings. Many scenes turned out beautifully, such as the binoculars with projected boat during the waiting scene or the flowers during the women’s duet. The fact that Butterfly was a doll throughout the show maneuvered by 3 puppeteers, while Miss Voulgaridou stood at the corner of the stage dressed in a kimono, impressed me less.
The musical part was less exciting. I don’t know which of the many reviewed versions was played (after the fiasco of the first 1904 production in Milan, Puccini changed the score several times) but the second and third act are interminable and one of the reasons not to play Puccini too often. I enjoyed all singers except Pinkerton, who had a very tremulous voice with a top register reached only with strain. The conductor did a good job also but I sometimes felt a drop in emotional participation. Oh and by the way, the humming chorus is supposed to hum, not sing on the “u”, small detail, but changed the mood completely.
How many Zauberflöte can one watch without start to be bored? I mean…the priggish Sarastro is unbearable, the writing of the libretto awful with much racism and sexism, the horrible duet for the two priests etc etc etc etc… So well done David Hermann in giving the story a completely new interpretation. This was not without a proper tweak at the libretto, but OK….the horrible duet of the priests stayed horrible, but it was the first Zauberflöte (after my first and the Kosky one), where I did not leave somewhere before said duet.
Except for the opening scene, which looks a bit post-apocalyptic and where the three ladies are constantly in contact with each other, moving like a menacing blob, the sets bring us to what looks like rural America, a small house in the prairie (I guess where people are held hostage and tortured). Sarastro is the ruthless, misogynistic leader who is into taxidermy, abusive of Pamina, and heartlessly kills the Queen and the ladies at the end. Papagena is a handicapped hostage in wheelchair and Papageno is an ape-like creature that crutches when frightened and hisses like a cat when he is scared. He brings hunted birds to the three ladies at the beginning. The ladies don’t offer a flute and glockenspiel to Tamino and Papageno, but a revolver and gas bombs, the latter of which Papageno uses to knock out Monostatos. The opera ends with Sarastro smoking a cigar on his patio (after killing the Queen and the ladies); Pamina and Tamino come back and shoot him dead, presumably ending the cycle of horror. It’s one of these staging which reading would have made me think it’s a bad Regietheater. Regietheater it is, but a refreshing interpretation well thought through. The sets are beautifully designed, alternate at almost every scene and the changes are swift.
The orchestra gave a beautiful performance, playing clear and transparently with Jan Schweiger at its head, who made me fear the worst with the too solemnly played opening bars, but who excellently conducted with vibrant dynamism. Tarver has a hard time to find delicacy in the higher notes, Miss Sabirova was not completely fluid with a barely touched f in O zittre nicht, Josef Wagner also a bit hefty as Papageno, but overall the cast was very good. Lore Binon interpreted a beautifully sung, pure and clear-voiced Pamina. I’d love to hear more of her. Sarastro doesn’t seem to have secrets for Ante Jerkunica, who displays an attractive and warm timbre, especially in the deepest register, the best Sarastro I’ve ever heard.
Rossini’s Otello was one of the most represented operas of the XIX century, it was written in Naples for some of the best singers of Italy. Isabella Colbran, soon to become Rossini’s wife, was famous for the big range of her voice as well as her actorial skills, depicting heroins “with real sentiment and great passion” as Spohr penned down when he heard her in Elisabetta. All operas that were composed for Isabella Colbran had long and elaborated scenes which allowed her to show off her dramatic skills. In fact, Rossini made his Otello an opera about Desdemona, frail in the first act, the second act is centered around her distress and excitement while the third act intensifies her personal tensions and emotions even more, bringing the opera to a tragic close. Andrea Nozzari and Giovanni David were two famous tenors. David the flexible tenore contraltino, usually employed for the lovers’ roles, and Nozzari the baritonal tenor, usually the temperamental antagonist. For these voices he created most of his Neapolitan operas who are regarded as his masterpieces, such as La donna del lago, Ricciardo e Zoraide, Zelmira, Armida etc. It was in Neaples where Rossini could be the most creative, opening to new musical forms and modernizing the repertoire which was not possible elsewhere. Otello also finishes with a death on stage, something that was unthinkable in other parts of Italy (although just a few months before Carafa composed Gabriella di Vergy with tragic ending, which had a tremendous success).
The settings are beautifully designed by Dante Ferretti, who brings us from a ship interiour in the first act , to a big room with fire place in 16th century Venice in the Act II to Desdemona’s bedroom in the third act (well, a carpet with a few cushions…). Set, costumes and colours matched all very well. I was less enthusiastic about the direction. Amos Gitai wants to link Otello’s story with today’s immigrant issue and projects war landscapes, boats full of immigrants and the likes in regular frequency (3 or 4 times if i remember well). But these projections feel a bit like a “mistake”, in the sense that it felt like someone switched on the projections by accident, and then turned them off again so that the show could continue…very bizarre… And this is all the director could think of as the singers move very conventionally and the chorus is motionless.
I enjoyed all singers of the first cast. Excellent Nino Machaidze, though with an harsh timbre and not always an exemplary legato, the voice moves effortlessly over the whole range and displays remarkable coloratura. Features that she shares with John Osborne, who i remember more audacious in other productions i saw him in, but nonetheless an exquisite Otello. Somewhat careful Dmitry Korchak as Jago but very very enjoyable nonetheless in a very difficult role. A bit short in the higher register Mirco Palazzi. Gaia Petrona had a nice warm timbre and convinced as Emilia. Of the second cast I particularly enjoyed Sergey Romanovsky, a tenor to watch carefully, as his rendering of Otello was very exciting with no problems neither in the baritonal register or in the coloratura with an agreeable timbre. I found Carmen Romeu not as convincing as when she sang the same role in Gent a few years back with a voice more tired and her usual issues with intonation. Rodrigo was a role too big, I felt, for Giorgio Misseri, who had slight issues in the runs as well as the high register.
A belcanto opera that doesn’t close with one of the main characters’ aria!! The Rosmonda d’Inghilterra performed in Bergamo was the one revised for a Naples production, which changes mainly queen Leonora’s role: a different aria for the introduction and no final aria at the end. In fact it finishes in pianissimo and this makes the opera appear a bit crippled. Nonetheless I must thank the Donizetti Festival for staging such a rare opera, which contains much beautiful music. Unfortunately the tenor has an ugly timbre, his voice strains as soon as the line touches the first high notes and the few runs are very stiff. The Arturo of Raffaella Lupinacci is adequate but disappears in ensembles. I liked both the warm-voiced Ulivieri and Mei, good for the respective roles. Eva Mei (who sang from the curtain with a mime acting in Act I), a bit good-natured to sing the jealous queen and determined to kill her rival, nonetheless has a good voice also in the low notes and in her middle to high register she becomes more convincing as the voice rises. Jessica Pratt, although always a bit cold on stage, was vocally perfect for the role of the unfortunate Rosmonda. All pieces, includig her entrance aria, Perché non ho del vento (used by Donizetti for French version of Lucie de Lammermoor and written for the same primadonna as Rosmonda, namely Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani), were sung with aplomb and exemplary technique, reaching high notes with ease.
Les Huguenots is maybe the most perfect example of Grand Opéra and explains why, in recent years, has been Meyerbeer’s opera with the most revivals (and still not enough IMO). In Les Huguenots (Opéra, Paris 1836), everything blends perfectly together: a grand tragic event where personal conflicts and real historic events come together with much attention to details. Additionally Meyerbeer is master in musically blending French, German and Italian styles. The presence of ballets and the skillful maneuvering of alternate crowd and solo scenes only adds to the “Grand” of the opera. Directing tragic events such as the Saint Bartholomew’s massacre is certainly not easy, but Alden chooses to show us the more trivial things. A musically dramatic scene is shown with singers and choir still on stage which is extremely sad in the third act where the choir has such a prominent role. Not only because it’s a “grand” opera where it’d be nice if the choir moves at least to some extent but especially in Les Huguenots where there are two parties opposing each other. The story is impossible to follow like this. Other times the director makes the characters move in the music’s rhythm in silly movements (the cleaning ladies with dusting feathers…), which distorts the plot, and elicits laughs from the public.The characterization of the single characters, the mass movements, the body language that characters speak to each other, everything is so conventional, without any ideas, very boring. Furthermore the setting to me looked exactly like a granary or a warehouse where to store old, unused rubbish. The chairs folded on top of each other, the horses, the bell….everything seemed to confirm that view. There is a beautiful staging by Olivier Py, getting dusty in Brussels. Why reinvent the wheel (and a ugly wheel that is).
Only half of the singers were convincing. I liked Ante Jerkunica. Although a bit short in the higher register, he has a nice bass voice and interpreted very well. Also short, but in the low notes, was Olesya Golovneva. But in her case being short is more damaging because of the importance of her role and additionally i would have wished a bit more colour in her interpretation. Beautiful ringing high notes, though, but not enough to make a good Valentine. Patrizia Ciofi has still some arrows to her bow and sings her entrance aria acceptably (ugly-ish final acuto though) but already her duet with Raoul loses lightness due to her stopping the flow as she is aiming her notes carefully. Juan Diego Florez sings very well, as usually, but coming from belcanto he lacks the right weight and personality and almost authority of the character rendering Raoul almost a bit unexciting. At the end one can hear the fatigue. But well he sings. Very well the Urbain of Irene Roberts in a part excellently sung with a voice well supported. Michele Mariotti, except for rhythmically more intricate pieces which would have required more clarity, supports the singers well but the score never really shines, is not exciting in its musical flow, the lines lose tension and are a bit emotionless.