Double Bill: Zanetto/ Gianni Schicchi, Opera Holland Park, OHP, July 2012

Mascagni, friend of Puccini and composer of the hugely successful Cavalleria Rusticana, produced more than a dozen other operas. Cav was his second, and L’amico Fritz (OHP last year) the third. Now Opera Holland Park have produced a later one, Zanetto which, like Fritz, suffers from a very weak libretto. But it was gloriously sung by Janice Watson as the wealthy, celebrated, but lovelorn Silvia, and Patricia Orr as the young itinerant musician, Zanetto, who enters her apartment as if sent by fate. He needs looking after, and enquires after the fabulous Silvia, having heard of her fame and wealth. Both protagonists are fearful of love. He sings that it is better to be a dragonfly on the breeze, and although she yearns for a suitable man, this one seems to need a mother or sister, so she advises him to keep away from the famous Silvia. Such is the plot.

Zanetto and Silvia, all images OHP/ Fritz Curzon

Watson and Orr gave this dramatically flat piece a good showing, singing beautifully to the music’s charming lyricism, but what can one do with the wearisome libretto? As Zanetto turned to leave her, two birds flew into the stage rear, as if on cue, and we left this sad vignette knowing a little better why Mascagni’s operas went nowhere after a brilliant start. But we were well set-up for Puccini’s comedy that followed.

Gianni Schicchi is huge fun, though the preliminaries in this staging seemed a bit drawn out, with Buoso groaning relentlessly until his final breath. After the relatives made a right royal mess of the room searching for the will, it all suddenly changed when Jung Soo Yun as Rinuccio burst into song on the glories of Florence. His poetic phrasing was riveting, and the music swelled forth.

O mio babbino caro

As his beloved Lauretta, Anna Patalong was delightful and her O mio babbino caro emerged entirely naturally as she blocked her father’s way to stop him walking out — a pleasant change from the recent Covent Garden production where Schicchi is already outside the room and the aria is delivered directly to the audience.

This opera is perfect for a small venue such as Holland Park, and with Alan Opie as a very engaging Schicchi the three main roles carried it forward with huge wit and lyricism. The relatives were a mixed bunch, but I liked Simon Wilding in the bass role of Betto, and Carole Wilson sang a magnificently strong contralto as Zita.

Good direction by Martin Lloyd-Evans, with designs by Susannah Henry, and exquisite lighting by Colin Grenfell, made the best of both operas, to say nothing of the superb conducting by young Associate Conductor Matthew Waldren.

Performances continue until July 14 — for details click here.

Così fan tutte, Opera Holland Park, OHP, June 2012

This was a second hit for Opera Holland Park this season — a great team performance bringing Così fan tutte fully to life. Fine eighteenth century designs by Alex Eales, plus a cheerful sunny set in the centre of the stage, were accompanied by the chorus as an on-stage audience, and bright lighting design by Colin Grenfell that showed surprising changes at the end.

All images OHP/ Fritz Curzon

This production by Harry Fehr gets to grips with the wittiness of Mozart’s opera by being perfectly serious, but with a lightness of touch. The performers interacted perfectly with one another, the singing was a delight, and there was plenty of drama, from Dorabella baring her cleavage in lamentation during the early quintet in Act I, to Fiordiligi rolling on the floor in emotional agony after her Per pieta in Act II.

Dorabella and Fiordiligi

This opera runs a fair gamut of emotions, from the lovely trio Soave sia il vento, wishing gentle winds for the young men who have been unexpectedly called away for military duty, to those moments of musical discord that are left unresolved. Elizabeth Llewellyn was terrific as Fiordiligi, first coming into her own in Act I when she orders the lovers, disguised as Turks, out of the house, after which the others calm her down, fanning her with napkins, and she launches into Come scoglio immoto resta. Defiantly confirming that nothing can change her devotion, she showed real power, particularly on the top notes. Julia Riley as Dorabella sang beautifully and her acting was just as convincing in this female role as I have seen her in travesti roles. Joana Seara as the maid Despina was a delight, immediately brightening things up on stage with her charmingly resentful Che vita maladetta (What a cursed life). Her subsequent aria casting aspersions on the faithfulness of men and soldiers was very well done, and in her Una donna a quindici anni at the start of Act II, when she says that a fifteen year old girl should know the wiles of love, she accompanied her words with suitably coquettish gestures.

Guglielmo and Dorabella

Nicholas Garrett, who sang Don Giovanni at Holland Park two years ago, was a fine Don Alfonso, relishing the game he plays with the two young men, and his scheming with Despina. Dawid Kimberg sang well as Guglielmo, and his duet with Julia Riley as Dorabella in Act II was terrific. Andrew Staples as Ferrando delivered a beautiful Un’aura amorosa in Act I, and became suitably upset in Act II as he built up the emotion during In qual fiero contrasto, lamenting the turmoil in his own thoughts.

Thomas Kemp, conducting the City of London Sinfonia, gave fine support to the singers, letting the music breathe, and allowing Harry Fehr’s production to work its magic.

Performances continue until July 7 — click here for details, and note that evening performances start at 7:15.

Le Nozze di Figaro, Opera Holland Park, OHP, July 2011

I’ve never seen this before — not Figaro, I mean, but such extensive choreography, and I don’t just mean movement among the performers. There were chainé turns as servants enter and exit the stage, along with the occasional pas-de-deux, all very well rehearsed and executed. The Crazy Day is the other title for Beaumarchais’ original play, and this production by Liam Steel, who also did the choreography, certainly gave full rein to the craziness. There was a great deal of busy movement and kissing between servants during the overture, and when two women got together — one dressed as a man — I took this to indicate the libidinous nature of the Count’s household, though in fact the servant en travesti later turned out to be Cherubino.

Near the end of Act II, all photos by Fritz Curzon

For a lively production of Figaro with minimal but effective sets, one could hardly do better. The performers moved and so did the furniture. A legless dining table, occasional table, chair and decapitated mirror join in the choreography, and when someone needed to be seated, the chair helpfully moved into place. It was all rather fun, and Matthew Willis did a fine job in the orchestra pit, giving plenty of zip to Mozart’s music.

Elizabeth Llewellyn and Jane Harrington as the Countess and Susanna

As to the singing, when Elizabeth Llewellyn came on as the Countess in Act II, with her cavatina Porgi, amor asking for love, the whole performance went up a couple of notches. She was terrific, and her Act III soliloquy Dove sono i bei momenti when she laments the apparent loss of her husband’s affections was beautifully done. Jane Harrington gave a lively and strongly sung performance of Figaro’s fiancée Susanna, and George von Bergen, whom I remember as an excellent Macbeth in Bloch’s opera of that name two years ago, was an admirably solid presence as the Count. Matthew Hargreaves, who was an excellent Leporello in Holland Park’s Don Giovanni last year, gave a similar performance here as Figaro, but I felt he lacked the vocal depth and bearing this senior servant of the Count’s household should have. Hannah Pedley clearly relished her role as Cherubino, and Barbarina was prettily sung and played by Jaimee Marshall, who was also a very effective partner in one of the pas-de-deux. Lynton Black was an amusing Dr. Bartolo, with a brilliant facial tick when he finds that Figaro is his own son, Sarah Pring was excellent as his wife Marcellina, and Andrew Glover was a fine Don Basilio and Don Curzio.

By the time we were in Act IV it was fully dark outside and Colin Grenfell’s lighting on stage worked beautifully. There were even fireworks heard from afar, giving an effective end to The Crazy Day.

Performances continue every other day until July 16 — for details click here.

The Caretaker, Trafalgar Studios, March 2010

Who is the caretaker? Is it the smelly old tramp in his battered sandals, who is offered a job of that title in a house that desperately needs doing up? Is it the kindly, young, ex-mental patient Aston, who lives in the house and takes the tramp in, or is it Mick, Aston’s younger brother who keeps an eye on him? This production by Christopher Morahan allows us to ask such questions, and gives an occasional glimpse of doors to the other rooms in the house, where Mick goes, and presumably hides, to catch the old man on his own so as to destabilize and threaten him in a cruelly playful way. It also lets us question who needs whom among these three men, each with his own project to undertake: old man Davies who will retrieve his papers from Sidcup, confirming his identity so that he can then take up gainful employment; Aston who will build a shed in the garden, from which he can then do up the whole house; and Mick who will design the interior so that he can rent out the rooms in a businesslike way, taking care of the financial and legal aspects of his future business.

In the end we are left as we started, each one needing to impress the others with the sincerity of his aims, while going nowhere. In the meantime, Jonathan Pryce gave a riveting performance of Davies, and when I awoke the next morning I saw him clearly in my mind, so strong an impression had he made with his pauses, his facial expressions, and his outbursts of anger. This was the tramp himself who had somehow got onto stage and was confronting the two brothers. They were both well portrayed, Peter McDonald as the strongly impassive, introverted Aston, and Sam Spruell as the playfully aggressive would-be wide boy Mick. Aston’s retelling of his electro-shock therapy was beautifully done, and Jonathan Pryce as Davies somehow managed to inhabit every corner of the stage, furnished with designs by Eileen Diss, showing the flotsam of a life unlived. The stage itself was a single room, the doors to other rooms appearing only when the lighting penetrated the back wall. A sense of time standing almost still, conveyed by Davies’s demand for a clock, was helped by Colin Grenfell’s sombre lighting and the costumes by Dany Everett.

This fine production of Pinter’s Caretaker opened last year at the Liverpool Everyman, and continues at the Trafalgar Studios until April 17.