What's not to love? Glamour and heart as Puccini's little swallow returns to Opera North

Puccini: La Rondine - Sébastien Guèze, Galina Averina - Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Puccini: La Rondine; Galina Averina, Sébastien Guèze, Claire Lees, Elgan Llŷr Thomas, Philip Smith, director: James Hurley, conductor: Kerem Hasan; Opera North at Grand Theatre, Leeds
Reviewed 20 October 2023

Glorious melodies sung by a youthful cast, 1930s glamour in a production proud of its green credentials, and a story both touching and engagin

The problem with Puccini's La Rondine, if problem there is, is that no-one dies; it is Puccini's only major opera where a significant death does not occur. La Rondine ends with a love triangle where, very even handedly, no-one really gets what they want. The opera was an experiment, coming at a time when Puccini was trying to move his art in other directions. After Madama Butterfly in 1904 came two operas where Puccini changed tack, La Fanciulla del West in 1910 and La Rondine in 1917. Fanciulla is his most advanced opera, whilst La Rondine is his lightest, flirting with operetta and full of dance rhythms.

Opera North performed the work in 1994, a ground-breaking production in the UK, and Covent Garden followed in 2002, but it remains something of a rarity, more popular with smaller companies. Opera Holland Park performed it in 2017 and we caught it last year at IF Opera in Bradford on Avon.

Puccini's little swallow returned to Opera North on Friday 20 October 2023 as part of the company's Green Season at Leeds Grand Theatre. La Rondine was directed by James Hurley, conducted by Kerem Hasan with set designs by Leslie Travers (who has designed all the operas in the Green Season), costumes by Gabrielle Dalton, lighting by Paule Constable and Ben Pickersgill, and choreography by Lauren Poulton. Galina Averina was Magda with Sébastien Guèze as Ruggero, Claire Lees as Lisette, Elgan Llŷr Thomas as Prunier and Philip Smith as Rambaldo. Claire Lees is a member of Opera North's chorus and the twelve smaller roles were all taken by members of the chorus.

Puccini compulsively tinkered with the work, particularly the third act. In 1994, Opera North performed his final, revised version but this time they reverted to his original thoughts, where Act Three is less fussy.

Puccini: La Rondine - Elgan Llyr Thomas, Claire Lees, Sébastien Guèze, Galina Averina - Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

Leslie Travers' set used the same basic elements as the other productions in the Green Season, Masque of Might and Verdi's Falstaff though in different ways and without the caravan. The result has been three productions that can be alternated with greater ease than usual, so that on Saturday 21 October 2023 there was both a matinee of Masque of Might and an evening performance of Falstaff.

Puccini: La Rondine - Sébastien Guèze, Galina Averina
Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

The set used abstract blocks that were moved around, creating a variety of spaces. In Act One we could see Magda's boudoir, the main reception room, her wardrobe (dressing up plays an important role in the act) as well as a smoking terrace for the men. All dominated by a giant vase of flowers. This was a visual tour de force, and any sense of the functional in the set was balanced by the richly imaginative costumes.

The setting was the 1930s, and all the women had lovely, period apposite dresses, and achievement by costume designer Gabrielle Dalton and the wardrobe department as all were sourced from pre-existing material - old costumes and vintage dresses.

James Hurley's production payed the work the compliment of taking it seriously. The idea of romantic love threads its way through the work, a key moment in Act One being the aria, Chi il bel sogno di Doretta, sung first by Prunier (Elgan Llŷr Thomas), then Magda (Galina Averina) and finally everyone, and including Puccini's fascinating use of the piano. Then at the climax of Act Two we have the glorious quartet, Bevo al tuo fresco sorriso, as the two pairs of lovers, Magda and Ruggero (Averina and Guèze), and Lisette and Prunier (Lees and Thomas) hymned love with the chorus joining in. Throughout the opera, Puccini's technique of using leitmotifs in the orchestra (something his generation of Italian composers learned from Massenet) means that this idea of romantic love is never far away, even when realism crept in during Act Three.

Galina Averina made a delightful Magda, charming and poised, yet on edge with Philip Smith's Rambaldo and restless. Looking as uncertain and out of place in the ebullient liveliness of Bulliers in Act Two as Guèze's boyish Ruggero. Averina sang with poise too. In Act One there was a feeling that the top of her voice had not relaxed, but by the end of Act Two she was an lyrical voice. Perhaps on the light side for the role, she successfully conveyed both Madga's worldly experience that she was still young enough to dream, thus making the ending profoundly touching.

Sébastien Guèze is an experience tenor, he has sung Rodolfo and Don Jose for Opera North and has a busy diary. But his face remained boyish and he brought a lovely naivety to the role of Ruggero; he was believable both in the way he was not a man of the world in Paris, and the way he believed in the reality of his and Magda's fantasy. Allied to this was Guèze's lovely, dark hued tenor, so when he opened up the results were thrilling. In his Act Two duet with Averina, both artists soared, whilst his Act Three arias were passionate and ardent.

The casting for the secondary pair of lovers was done from strength, Claire Lees and Elgan Llŷr Thomas never felt secondary at all. Lees brought strength and depth to the role of Lisette, more lyric than pure soubrette and allying this lyricism with a delightfully pert sense of character, creating a real Puccini heroine yet also evoking Adele from Die Fledermaus.

Puccini: La Rondine - Claire Lees, Elgan Llyr Thomas - Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

One way of looking at the opera's dramaturgy is that Magda and Prunier are Musetta and Rodolfo in later life, with hear dreams of Bullier's referring to Cafe Momus. By casting Elgan Llŷr Thomas (who recently sang the Duke in Rigoletto at Opera Holland Park) as Prunier, we had a real Rodolfo rather than a character tenor. Thomas brought a lovely sense of brooding melancholy to the poet, thrilling in the climaxes of Doretta's dream but with a constant sense of being at one remove from society.

Philip Smith made a fine Rambaldo, and it was a testament to his performance that we felt genuinely sorry for him. It is not a large role, but Smith admirably created a character without putting focus.

Around these principals, Opera North had a constellation of singers from the chorus, each having their moments in the spotlight and giving a real feel of repertory company with no weak links. Pasquale Orchard, Kathryn Sharpe and Laura Kelly-McInroy played a significant role in Act ONe as the three young women, Yvette, Bianca and Suzy, in Magda's salon, creating a lively and vividly engaging atmosphere, well supported by Ross McInroy, Satriya Krisna, Paul Gibson and Andrew Randall as their male counterparts.

The full chorus only really came into its own in Act Two, here a vibrantly active depiction of Bullier;s with solos from Charlie Drummond, Molly Barker and Amy Freston. The chorus was in good form and whilst there were six dancers, everyone was on the moved. There was also small solos from Gillene Butterfield and James Davies.

Conductor Kerem Hasan and the orchestra did the work proud, Hasan's way with the score meant we got a whole sequence of beautifully long-breathed, flexible melodies.

No-one dies and there is no intense tragedy. Adami's libretto might be close to the lightness of operetta, but Puccini clearly invested in his Commedia Lirica and in his characters. Here we had Puccini's glorious melodies sung by an admirably youthful cast in a production which looked glamorous but brought heart and emotion to the piece. What's not to love?

Puccini: La Rondine - Ross McInroy as Périchaud, Laura Kelly-McInroy as Suzy, Galina Averina as Magda, Pasquale Orchard as Yvette, Elgan Llyr Thomas as Prunier, Satriya Krisna as Gobin, Philip Smith as Rambaldo and Claire Lees as Lisette - Opera North (Photo: Tristram Kenton)

In a few weeks, Opera North turns 45 and general director Richard Mantle steps down, so La Rondine was his final new production. Mantle said a few words after the performance, celebrating the whole company and its achievements, then the curtain rose on cast, chorus, orchestra and whole technical team.

But Mantle also had choice words for the present funding crisis at English National Opera, and Arts Council England's role in it. How could he not? Opera North was founded out of ENO, and example of leveling up that actually worked.

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