Handel’s Alcina - a ‘first’ for Glyndebourne - joins other great Handel gems in the company’s repertoire such as Ariodante, Giulio Cesare, Rinaldo and Theodora

Handel: Alcina - Samantha Hankey, Beth Taylor, Soraya Mafi, Jane Archibald - Glyndebourne Opera (Photo Tristram Kenton)

Handel: Alcina; Jane Archibald, Svetlina Stoyanova, Soraya Mafi, Beth Taylor, Rowan Pierce, director: Francesco Micheli, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conductor: Jonathan Cohen; Glyndebourne Opera
Reviewed 24 July 2022 (★★★★★)

Italian-born director, Francesco Micheli, brings style and sumptuous excess to Glyndebourne Festival Opera’s wonderful and lush staging of Handel’s Alcina 

Our correspondent, Tony Cooper, provides a second view of Glyndebourne's production of Handel's Alcina directed by Francesco Micheli with Jane Archibald in the title role. [see Robert's review of the production}.

Handel loosely based the libretto for Alcina on Riccardo Broschi’s opera, L’isola d’Alcina, set to a libretto by Antonio Fanzaglia. The original source of the story, however, comes from Ludovico Ariosto’s epic poem, Orlando furioso, the source, too, for such other Handel delights as Orlando and Ariodante.  

The work received its first performance at the Teatro Capranica, Rome, in 1728, a theatre originally constructed in 1679 by the Capranica family and housed in the early Renaissance Palazzo Capranica. It was, incidentally, the second public theatre to open in the Eternal City but, sadly, ceased operating as a full-scale theatre and opera-house in 1881. In 1922 was converted into a cinema. Following the closure of the cinema in 2000, the theatre now functions as a conference and performance venue.  

Handel: Alcina - Soraya Mafi, Samantha Hankey, James Cleverton - Glyndebourne Opera (Photo Tristram Kenton)

Composed for Handel’s first season at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, Alcina received its première on 16 April 1735. But like the composer’s other works in the opera seria genre, Alcina slowly fell into obscurity. A revival of sorts took place in Braunschweig (Lower Saxony) in 1738 but then it was shelved for nearly 200 years before a production was mounted in Leipzig (just up the road from Handel’s birthplace in Halle) in 1928. 

But come the Swinging Sixties, this forgotten three-act opera took flight and, indeed, took the operatic world by storm. Joan Sutherland hit the headlines in the title-role in Franco Zeffirelli’s stylish production at La Fenice in February 1960 seen a couple of years later at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden while Robert Carsen directed another super-charged production for Opéra de Paris in 1999 later seen at Lyric Opera of Chicago. Both productions featured Renée Fleming while Cecilia Bartoli wowed her adoring fans in the title-role just before Lockdown at the 2019 Salzburg Festival. 

For my money, though, Francesco Micheli’s production for Glyndebourne (the first time the opera has been staged on the South Downs marking Signor Micheli’s Glyndebourne début) is surely up there with the best and as for Canadian coloratura soprano, Jane Archibald (who made her Royal Opera House début in the 2013-14 season as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos) her portrayal of the sorceress Alcina is surely up there with the best, too.  

Arun Ghosh's The Canticle of the Sun at the Spitalfields Music Festival

Arun Ghosh: The Canticle of the Sun - Arun Ghosh & ensemble - Spitalfields Festival at St John on Bethnal Green

Arun Ghosh: The Canticle of the Sun; Arun Shosh, Irini Arabatzi, Seaming To, Camilla George, Sarathy Korwar, Ruth Goller, Davide Mantovani; Spitalfields Music at St John on Bethnal Green

Eclectic and powerful, Ghosh's style of composed jazz fused many different elements in his setting of St Francis' original Umbrian dialect text

Clarinettist and composer Arun Ghosh's spiritual jazz reimagining of St Francis of Assisi's The Canticle of the Sun premiered at this year's Norfolk & Norwich Festival, when Tony heard it and reviewed it for us [link]. Produced by Sound UK, the work was a co-commission between the Norfolk & Norwich Festival and Spitalfields Music. On Friday 1 July 2022, we caught Arun Ghosh and his ensemble giving the London premiere of The Canticle of the Sun at St John on Bethnal Green as part of Spitalfields Music's Summer festival. 

Ghosh set St Francis' text in the original Umbrian dialect, sung by Irini Arabatzi and Seaming To, accompanied by Arun Ghosh on keyboards (with some guitar and clarinet), Camilla George on alto saxophone, Sarathy Korwar on drums and percussion, Ruth Goller on electric bass and Davide Mantovani on double bass. Lighting was by Brendan Clarke with sound by Tim Hand.

Second View: Prokofiev’s War and Peace - a work ranging from the intensity of personal emotion to the grit of national determination - was also grand and intimate at the same time

Prokofiev: War and Peace - Welsh National Opera (Photo Clive Barda)

Prokofiev’s War and Peace: Jonathan McGovern, Lauren Michelle, Mark Le Brocq, Jurgita Adamonytė, dir: David Pountney, cond: Tomáš Hanus; Welsh National Opera at Royal Opera House
Reviewed by Tony Cooper on 23 July 2019 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
Sir David Pountney’s colourful account of Prokofiev’s epic work, War and Peace, was delivered by a great cast with a creative team that worked sheer wonders on a relatively tight budget

Based on Tolstoy’s epic novel, the well-known scenario of War and Peace follows the trials and tribulations of Russian society as Napoleon edges closer to the country’s borders spinning his grand ideas of conquering Western Europe whilst, at the same time, stirring fear in Mother Russia. Tony Cooper provides a second view of Prokofiev's opera in Welsh National Opera's production at the Royal Opera House (seen 23 July 2019) [see Robert's review]

Combining public turbulence with private romance and temptation, the fate of the opera’s main characters - the spirited young lovers Natasha Rostova and Prince Andrei Bolkonsky - are intertwined with the idealistic aristocrat Count Pierre Bezukhov who’s seeking to understand his own identity amidst the brutal events of Napoleon’s 1812 invasion.

Originally conceived for only 11 scenes, Prokofiev - who began working on War and Peace in the summer of 1942 - was spurred on in his endeavours by the German advance of the Soviet Union which began in June of the previous year. Because the Soviet authorities breathed heavily down his neck, he had to rework parts of Tolstoy’s text to acknowledge the country’s war effort.

From a performance point of view, War and Peace has certainly had a chequered history. Plans were drawn up for its première at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in 1943 to be directed by Sergei Eisenstein and conducted by Samuil Samosud - but nothing came of it. A year later, a private performance of eight scenes with piano accompaniment took place at the Moscow Actors’ Centre in October whilst a public concert performance of nine scenes, conducted by Samosud, was held in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire in June of the following year. The first fully-staged performance of this version was heard in June 1946 at the Maly Theatre (Mikhailovsky Theatre) in Leningrad, once more conducted by Samosud.

Then in February 1948, Prokofiev started work on a shortened single-evening version whilst at the same time making various revisions to his original scheme but, in the end, the 13-scene framework remained and it was this version that was first performed in May 1953 at the Teatro Comunale, Florence, conducted by Artur Rodziński, sadly two months after the composer’s death but with scenes 2 and 9 omitted. The Russian première of this version was duly given at the Maly Theatre in April 1955 conducted by Eduard Grikurov - in this case with the omission of scenes 7 and 11.

However, all 13 scenes (but with cuts) came together for a performance at the Stanislavski-Nemirovich-Danchenko Theatre, Moscow, in November 1957, under the baton of Samosud’s assistant, Alexander Shaverdov. Finally, on 15th December 1959, the epigraph and 13 scenes were staged uncut, conducted by Alexander Melik-Pashayev, at the Bolshoi.

Eight years later, the work arrived at the shores of England with a concert performance at Leeds Town Hall in April 1967 conducted by Edward Downes while the first fully-staged British production fell to Sadler’s Wells in October 1972.

In search of the Great American Opera, the strange case of Samuel Barber's Vanessa

Rosalind Elias and Eleanor Steber in the original 1958 Met Opera production of Vanessa.
Photo: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Opera Archive

Samuel Barber's Vanessa is a strange piece, yet remarkably strong. I saw it twice this summer at Glyndebourne [see my review of the premiere] and the second time it did not pall, partly thanks to the strong performances and partly through the way director Keith Warner's production mined the works unspoken depths.

Zach Borichevsky (Anatol) and Virginie Verrez
(c) Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2016

The work was premiered at the Met in New York in 1958. It was Barber's first large-scale opera. Though three years younger than Barber, Benjamin Britten had already written Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, Gloriana, Rape of Lucretia, Albert Herring and Turn of the Screw, whilst Francis Poulenc's Carmelites premiered in 1956. And there is an inevitable tendency to compare Barber's work to that of these composers, rather than taking it on its own terms. Much of the critical reaction to Glyndebourne's production of Vanessa has tended to emphasise that the piece simply wasn't what was expected from a composer writing in the 1950s.

Whereas Benjamin Britten and Francis Poulenc's works use libretti which have strong links with the Western European literary elite, Giancarlo Menotti's libretto for Vanessa can come over as rather novelettish and its strongest links seem to be with Hollywood films of the period (Hitchcock's Rebecca, from 1940, seems a particular link). And like these films, the distinctive style has a tendency to dominate, whilst the complexity which lies underneath is easily obscured.

At Santa Fe Opera in 2016 [see my review] the opera was played straight, as Hollywood noir without many of the undercurrents. It has taken Keith Warner's production at Glyndebourne to give the piece depth, a process which seems to have started with Rodula Gaitanou's 2017 production at Wexford which brought out the Tchekovian influences [see the review on Bachtrack]. Warner's production hinted at the issues of incest, miscegenation and abortion, things which helped explain the torrid atmosphere.

Not that the piece is perfect, far from it. When the first Erika, Rosalind Elias, pointed out to Samuel Barber, rather dauntingly, that her character was the only major one without an aria, he came up with 'Must the Winter come so soon'. This is a stunning number which has been a recital staple ever since,  but it is very much in Barber's Knoxville, Summer 1915 style and works well as a stand-alone piece yet in context it seems apropos of nothing and even holds up the action. Yet at the ends of Act One and Act Two Erika has strong scenes which cry out for expansion. But it is in these scenes that Barber moved furthest away from his chosen medium, American lyricism, and clearly he shied away from going too far.

Second view: Cosi fan tutte at Opera Holland Park conducted by George Jackson

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte - Nick Pritchard, Eleanor Dennis
Opera Holland Park (Photo Robert Workman)

Mozart Cosi fan tutte; Eleanor Dennis, Kitty Whately, Nick Pritchard, Nicholas Lester, Sarah Tynan, Peter Coleman Wright, cond: George Jackson, dir: Oliver Platt; Opera Holland Park
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 14 June 2018 Star rating: 4.0 (★★★★)
A return to Opera Holland Park's Cosi fan tutte, with a new conductor

It is always fascinating returning to productions for a second view. Second time around, your perceptions of the piece have changed somewhat, but also the performance has bedded in and the cast has further developed their relationships. We returned to see Oliver Platt's production of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte at Opera Holland Park on 14 June 2018 [see my review of the production's premiere]. Whilst the cast was the same, with Eleanor Dennis and Kitty Whately as the sisters, Nicholas Lester and Nick Pritchard as the young men wooing them, and Sarah Tynan and Peter Coleman Wright as Despina and Don Alfonso, there was a new conductor, George Jackson, who is associate conductor for the production, with the City of London Sinfonia.

What came over particularly with this performance was how cast had developed as an ensemble. Whilst the production does not neglect the more serious issues, it was clear that the singers were having great fun and this enjoyment communicated itself to us in the audience. As the sisters, Eleanor Dennis and Kitty Whately were two complementary characters, with the Eleanor Dennis as the somewhat sharper, more serious of the two whilst Kitty Whately displayed a nice liveliness of character. Yet there were similarlities too, and the two characters were closer than in some productions. Dennis displayed some lovely evenness of tone in the passagework of 'Come scoglio' whilst Whately's appealing yet luxuriant tone combined with a nice sense of style.

Mozart: Cosi fan tutte - Kitty Whately, Nicholas Lester - Opera Holland Park (Photo Robert Workman)

Disguise was a key element of the production, after all we start in a tailor's shop and the young men, Nicholas Lester and Nick Pritchard, start off in 18th century outfits with white faces and huge wigs that are as much a disguise as the Albanian costume.

Bruce Sledge and Ronnita Miller in Meyerbeer's Le prophète in Berlin

Meyerbeer Le prophète; Bruce Sledge, Ronnita Miller, Nicole Haslett, Andrew Finden, Derek Welton, Andrew Dickinson, Thomas Lehman, dir Olivier Py, cond: Enrique Mazzola; Deutsche Oper, Berlin
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Jan 4 2018
A new cast, and a creative solution to stage machinery problems, give a new slant to this powerful production

The Deutsche Oper, Berlin's production of Giacomo Meyerbeer's Le prophète, directed by Olivier Py, was new in November 2017 [see Tony's review]. For a pair of performances in January 2018, the opera is being given with a substantially new cast. We caught the first of these, on Thursday 4 January 2018, with Bruce Sledge as Jean, Ronnita Miller as Fidès, Nicole Haslett as Berthe, Thomas Lehman as Mathisen and Andrew Finden as Oberthal.  Returning to their roles were Derek Welton as Zacharie, and Andrew Dickinson as Jonas, and Enrique Mazzola conducted.

The circumstances of the performance on 4 January were more dramatic than intended. Significant water ingress had badly damaged stage machinery, and the opera was given in a stream-lined staging. Pierre-André Weltz's sets were simplified and the whole staging re-thought. Thanks to, I presume, much last minute work the whole had a remarkable coherence, perhaps akin to seeing one of Glyndebourne on Tour's revised versions of the main stage operas.

Premiered in 1849 at the Paris Opera, Le prophète was hugely influential in the 19th century but fell out of favour in the 20th century, in part due to Meyerbeer's relatively conservative idiom but also thanks to the demands of the Paris Opera's stagings of the period. What is remarkable is how, within the tropes of French Grand Opera with the need for a ballet, a grand historical subject, complex large-scale ensemble scenes incorporating a chorus, not to mention a contrasting pair of heroines, Meyerbeer and his librettists Eugène Scribe and Emile Deschamps treated such a complex and contemporary subject. Viewed through the historic lense of the Anabaptist uprising in Munster in the 16th century, the opera examines how revolutions can be fallible and just as objectionable as those regimes that they superceded, and how leaders can be deluded.

Rachel Willis-Sørensen & Anna Stéphany in Der Rosenkavalier

Anna Stéphany, Rachel Willis-Sørensen - Der Rosenkavalier
@ ROH. photo Catherine Ashmore

Richard Strauss Der Rosenkavalier; Rachel Willis-Sørensen, Anna Stéphany, Sophie Bevan, Matthew Rose, Jochen Schmeckenbecher, dir: Robert Carsen, cond: Andris Nelsons; Covent garden
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Dec 22 2016
Star rating: 4.5
A return to Robert Carsen's new production to hear two very different singers as the Marschallin and Octavian

We returned to Robert Carsen's new production of Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier on 22 December 2016 at the Royal Opera House to see the alternative cast (see my review of the production's first night). This time Rachel Willis-Sørensen was the Marschallin and Anna Stéphany was Octavian, with the rest of the cast remaining the same; Matthew Rose as Ochs, Sophie Bevan as Sophie, and Jochen Schmeckenbecher as Faninal with Wolfgang Ablinger-Sperrhacke, Helene Schneiderman and Giorgio Berrugi. Sets were by Paul Steinberg, costumes by Brigitte Reiffenstuel, lighting by Robert Carsen and Peter van Praet, choreography by Philippe Giraudeau, with Andris Nelsons in the pit conducting the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House.

Soprano Rachel Willis-Sørensen won first prize at the 2014 Operalia competition, was a winner of the 2010 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and spent three yeas as a member of the ensemble at the Dresden Semperoper. She is moving into jugend-dramatisch territory, singing Eva in Die Meistersinger at Covent Garden, Beethoven's Leonore and Freia. I am unclear whether this was her first Marschallin but it certainly isn't a role which she has sung extensively, yet! We last heard mezzo-soprano Anna Stéphany singing the title role in Handel's Serse with the Early Opera Company (see my review), and she first sang Octavian in 2011 at the Bolshoi and returned to the role more recently at the Royal Swedish Opera.

Second view: La Fanciulla del West at the London Coliseum

Leigh Melrose and the cast of The Girl of the Golden West  © Robert Workman

Puccini La Fanciulla del West; Bullock, Auty, Colclough, English National Opera dir. Jones, cond. Wilson; London Coliseum
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Oct 22 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Thrilling drama and fine ensemble in Puccini's gold-rush opera

We finally managed to catch up with English National Opera's first ever production of Giacomo Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (The Girl of the Golden West) at the London Coliseum on Wednesday 22 October 2014 (see Hilary's review on this blog). Susan Bullock was Minnie, Peter Auty was Dick Johnson, Craig Colclough was Jack Rance with Graham Clark as Nick and Leigh Melrose as Sonora. The production was directed by Richard Jones, with sets by Miriam Baethner, costumes by Nicky Gillibrand, lighting by Mimi Jordan Sherin and choreography by Lucy Burge. Keri-Lynn Wilson conducted.

Many of Puccini's operas are complex theatrical mechanisms which do not really respond to extreme tinkering. Richard Jones acknowledged this in an interview on BBC Radio 3's Music Matters. Jones's production gave us just about what the libretto and music ask for, albeit with a typical Jones spin.

The production is a co-production with Santa Fe Opera which means it must fit in with Santa Fe's limited stage facilities. We did have gold-rush miners, but the theatrical world was an hermetically sealed one. We saw little outside world, just the interiors of the Polka Saloon, and Minnie's cabin, plus the frontage of the Marshall's office. And all reflected Jones's liking for crowded theatrical spaces. In style the look was more 1950's than 1850's though the costumes were more in period.

Verdi's Otello at ENO - Second View

Jonathan Summers and Stuart Skelton
photo Alastair Muir

Verdi Otello; Stuart Skelton, Leah Crocetto, Jonathan Summers, dir. David Alden, cond. Edward Gardner; English National Opera at the London Coliseum
Reviewed by Robert Hugill on Sep 18 2014
Star rating: 4.0
Mixed results from new production with Stuart Skelton singing his first Otello

Whilst Hilary reviewed the Opera Undressed performance of 
 David Alden's new production of Verdi's Otello at the London Coliseum, I caught up the the production on 19 September.  Things opened in promising manner, with a town populace assembled in a public space by the main gate (a Mediterranean island circa 1920, probably). Jon Morrell's distressed yet massive set, Adam Silverman's dramatic lighting and Alden's massing of the chorus seemed highly promising. English National Opera has assembled a very strong team for the production with Stuart Skelton singing his first Otello, Leah Crocetto as Desdemona, veteran baritone Jonathan Summers as Iago, Allan Clayton as Cassio, Peter Van Hulle as Roderigo, Pamela Helen Stephen as Emilia and Barnaby Rea as Lodovico. Conducting his first Otello was Edward Gardner.

So far so impressive, but this is Alden-land and not the naturalistic operatic world and even working with a naturalistic setting Alden pushes the expressionist nature of the staging. The same set is used for the whole opera, dressed with stray bits of furniture at times but the final act is on a bare stage with just a single chair. Inevitably there is a lot of wall hugging, but that is to be expected in Alden-land, and the opening act is just as fervidly neurotic as the rest rather than allowing a slow build.

Die Frau Schatten - a second look

Die Frau Ohne Schatten,
photo from  Teatro all Scala,
Pictures by  Monika Rittershaus

We caught up with Royal Opera's new production of Richard Strauss's Die Frau ohne Schatten on 29 March 2014. One of the Saturday performances; rather necessary when the opera starts at 6pm. (See Hilary's review of an earlier performance in then run.) I had seen the John Cox/David Hockney production at Covent Garden in 1992 and in 2001, along with Welsh National Opera's last revival of the opera in the 1980's. So I was fascinated to see what director Claus Guth, designer Christian Schmidt, dramaturg Ronny Dietrich and conductor Semyon Bychkov made of this wonderful, complex, fascinating, problematic and long opera.

The curtain goes up on a wood panelled interior, smooth curved walls and a recessed window suggesting a stylised German interior of around 1910.  A woman is in bed, a maid waits by the bed. The woman is the Empress (Emily Magee) and the maid is the Nurse (Michaela Schuster). In the programme book there is an article by Ronny Dietrich that makes it clear that all of the subsequent action can be taken as a dream. In Dietrich's, and presumably Guth's, opinion the only way the complex plot of the opera makes sense is to treat it as a dream, with the Empress working out her problems with her marriage and her relationship with her father.

To this end not only were there animal avatars (falcon, gazelle, deer buck) played by actors with wonderfully stylish masks, who re-enacted aspects of the plot's back story but Magee's Empress was twinned with Elena Pankratova's Färberin, the one being the reflection of the other, and Magee was present on stage during much of the other action. Schmidt's set for the whole opera was based on the Empress's room in the opening scene, but the central section of the rear wall was on a revolve which made for some spectacular scene changes, and at times a thrilling use of Covent Garden's stage. But the spectacle is not quite aligned to Strauss's score, so that whilst act two did have superbly brilliant moments, the Empress's encounter with her father Keikobad took in act three place in an empty room and we never saw the Emperor as stone statue. Instead the Empress seemed to deal with these in her head.

The Magic Flute at the Hackney Empire: take II

Anna Patalong

Keeping the magic real: the English Touring Opera (ETO) at the Hackney Empire in the heart of the East End of London made a great success of Mozart’s The Magic Flute.

Nicholas Sharratt
credit Eleanor Skan

Having recently seen The Magic Flute by the ENO I was interested to see what the ETO would make of it. Directed by Liam Steel the ETO is running this opera with two casts: Robert Hugill saw cast I on the opening night and I saw cast II.

1791 was a busy year for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). The Köchel catalogue lists some 39 works written in this year alone. Composition of The Magic Flute was disrupted by a commission to write La clemenza di Tito (The Clemency of Titus) and was finished in September after the premier of Titus. However, while in Prague for the premier of Titus, Mozart succumbed to an illness from which he never recovered. The Magic Flute was premiered on 30 September 1791, but by December Mozart was dead.

Sung in English, this performance of The Magic Flute showed Mozart at his humourist best. Here was no updating of the story to try and fit in with modern sensibilities. The evil baddie, the queen of the night sung by Laure Meloy, never made excuses for her hatred of Sarastro (Andrew Slater) and was unrepentant to the last. Her minions (Lorna Bridge, Clarissa Meek and Susan Moore) were comic baddies, more interested in ogling the beautiful young man, and fighting amongst themselves, than in any doing real evil – yet like all henchmen they got their comeuppance.

RIgoletto - second view

Quinn Kelsey
ENO Rigoletto (c) Alastair Muir

For the second time this season English National Opera have replaced a long-running, favourite production. Earlier this season it was The Magic Flute and now Christopher Alden's production of Verdi's Rigoletto (a co-production with Canadian Opera) has come to rest at the London Coliseum to replace the influential, long-running Jonathan Miller production. We caught the second night of the production's run on February 15th to give a second view to the production (see Hilary's review of the first night).

Where Miller set the opera in New York's Little Italy in a very precise historical period, Alden's new production has a more generic setting within which Alden explores the themes of the opera; this is rather a dark production. Following on from a very well cast La Traviata, ENO have again scored with the very fine cast fielded for Rigoletto with Quinn Kelsey in the title role, Barry Banks as the Duke of Manuta and Anna Christy as Gilda, with Graeme Jenkins conducting.

Alden and his designer Michael Levine set the opera in a huge wood-paneled room much akin to a London club. Costumes are mid 19th century, tail-coats for the men and crinolines for the women, and the opening scene takes place in the context of the club. The remaining scenes are in the same set, Alden and Levine are not interested in historical realism here, simply the interaction of the characters. The large space (and it is large, extending the full width and depth of the Coliseum stage) meant that Alden could have characters sitting on the sides watching. My only complaint was the need to use a drop curtain for scene changes, as much furniture is moved between scenes, you can't help feeling that something more slick could be organised.

Second view - The Magic Flute at the London Coliseum

Ben Johnson and Devon Guthrie  (c) Robbie Jack

The premiere of Simon McBurney's production of Mozart's Magic Flute was reviewed on this blog by Hilary. I caught the production for the first time last night (22 November). Gergely Madaras, the inaugural recipient of the ENO's Sir Charles Mackerras Conducting Fellowship, conducted a strong young cast with Ben Johnson (an ENO Harewood Artist) was Tamino and Devon Guthrie was Pamina, with Roland Wood as Papageno, James Creswell as Sarastro, Cornelia Gotz as the Queen of the Night, Brian Galliford as Monostatos and Eleanor Dennis, Clare Presland and Rosie Aldrige as the three ladies, with Mary Bevan as Papagena. Michael Levine's set was simple looking but probably far more complex than it appeared, a simple platform which tilted and raised surrounded by drop curtains on which projections could be seen. It was a production which heavily relied on video (video design by Finn Ross). Much (but not all) the video was handled by a video set up on stage right, which allowed for real-time cartoons but combined with other video into something which was entrancing and imaginative. 

The orchestra was raised which meant that they could see the singers and interact with them, in fact there was much coming and going between stage and pit. There was a sense that music was the origin of the whole production, both the magic flute and the bells were played by orchestral musicians with the players given the instrument by the singer. Then there were the birds. Actors sat by the side of the orchestra pit during the overture, with music on music stands. When Roland Wood as Papageno played his pipes (in fact a melodica) the actors started to articulate the music and turn the sheets into birds. Each time Wood played his pipes these birds appeared all over the stage.

Second View: Die Fledermaus at the London Coliseum

Edgaras Montvidas, Andrew Shore, Julia Sporsen
photo:Robert Workman/ENO

The premiere of English National Opera's new production of Johann Strauss's Die Fledermaus was covered by Hilary for this blog. Reviews of the opera had been mixed, so I caught up with the production on 11 October 2013. Director Christopher Alden has folded references to Sigmund Freud and other late 19th century Viennese cultural icons into his staging (designed by Allen Moyer with costumes by Constance Hoffman) which was first seen in 2012 at Canadian Opera. For this staging ENO provided a strong cast with Julia Sporsen as Rosalinde, Tom Randle as her husband Eisenstein, Richard Burkhard as Falke (here a Sigmund Freud-like figure), Rhian Lois as the maid Adele, Jennifer Holloway as Orlofsky and Edgaras Montvidas as Alfred. Eun Sun Kim conducted, making her ENO debut.

Act one took place in Rosalinde's bedroom, an oversize space with a huge bed, scale distorted. But at a certain point cracks appeared, through which dancing girls and the like came. During the overture we had watched Rosalinde dream of bats and Dr. Falke's bat costume made frequent appearances in the opera. But Christopher Alden applied a light touch and the act was amusingly diverting. Problems occurred after the interval, Rosalinde's bed was now occupied by Orlofsky (Jennifer Holloway), albeit in a huge ballroom. Holloway played the role with a heavy cod-Russian accent and her demented-brat act palled very quickly. The remainder of act two was patchy, with scenes delightfully staged alternating with heavy-handed ones. The repeated introduction of hypnotism palled.