Director, David McVicar; Designer, Tanya Mccallin; Lighting Designer, Paule Constable; Figaro, Luca Micheletti; Susanna, Siobhan Stagg (replacing Ying Fang); Count Almaviva, Huw Montague Rendall; Countess Almaviva, Maria Bengtsson; Cherubino, Ginger Costa-Jackson; Bartolo, Peter Kálmán; Marcellina, Rebecca Evans; Don Basilio, Adrian Thompson; Antonio, Jeremy White; Don Curzio, Alasdair Elliott; Barbarina, Isabela Díaz. Conductor, Julia Jones
I saw this production live last year but of course seeing an opera on screen is a very different experience and, besides, the main cast members and the conductor were all different. I remember grumbling a year ago about the Regency setting, the over-monumental sets, and the lack of young UK singers. I won’t go over these again.
It must be very tough for singers, probably 99% of whom spend their time wholly with live audiences in the theatre, to have both to project to a large audience like ROHCG’s and on a large stage, and at the same time be filmed in close-up scrutiny, where every wandering eye or mistimed gesture can be a serious blemish on the whole show. It was a notable feature of this performance that all the singers, without exception, were comfortable and credible in both these dimensions (obviously I couldn’t judge myself how effectively the performance in the theatre went down, but there was certainly evidence of considerable audience enthusiasm during the performance and at curtain calls). The link between these two dimensions must be David McVicar, who the screening showed in rehearsal (impressive that he was doing it despite its being the show’s umpteenth revival) – he clearly works at great depth with these singing actors so that they are not only totally clear about they are thinking and feeling and doing, but know equally well what is happening to and inside the minds of. the other characters they are performing with. Very good personen-regie, in other words.
The three clear stand-out acting stars were Cherubino, the Count and Figaro. In acting terms, I have never seen a more convincing Cherubino than Ginger Costa-Jackson, who was the embodiment of an impetuous, pouting, wayward, awkward, annoying adolescent boy, and had the figure and the face for added credibility. The Count was a master of quizzical twitching eyebrows, stormy expressions, self-righteous indignation, and barely-tethered violence. Figaro was good at sardonic facial expressions, a sneering subtlety of manner towards the Count which was very effective. Ying Fang, the scheduled Susanna, was unfortunately ill for this performance so we heard instead the Susanna of the previous revival, Siobhan Stagg, who must have been panicking at points as to what exactly to do, but came over very well – calm, resourceful, very effective in her crossness with Figaro in Act 4. The Countess was maybe less of an effective presence on stage – she always seemed a little on edge (as well she might be – both in character and being filmed) and distracted. The smaller roles were all well acted – particularly Bartolo and Marcellina.
In terms of singing, this involved more decoration in arias than I have heard in other performances (eg in ‘Voi che sapete’), particularly by Figaro, Cherubino and the Count. The vocal honours went above all to Figaro and the Count, I thought. MichelettI, despite being apologised for as being under the weather, has a most beautiful dark voice, which was flexible and powerful. I would love to hear him as Don Giovanni. Rendall too has a voice clearly destined for great things – sonorous and commanding. Stagg, who must be on stage most of the time, was fresh-voiced till the end, and always with a warmth and generosity of tone. Having heard two months ago Tony Pappano coaching a singer through Susanna’s Act 4 aria ‘Deh, vieni, non tardar’, it was fascinating to see how much Stagg was instinctively using some of the actions and singing styles Pappano was recommending. Bengtsson and Costa-Jackson did not elide memories of many illustrious predecessors in these roles, but were never less than good to acceptable.
Julia Jones is a British conductor who has come up through the German tradition of regional opera houses. I was expecting a fast and insensitive performance after reading some of the reviews of this revival, but, in fact, the orchestra played extremely well, and I wasn’t for the most part aware of speed as an issue. It was a crisp reading but slowed down when it needed to and the reconciliations of Figaro/Susanna and Count/Countess were both beautifully done. I do agree with one reviewer though that Dove Sono was taken at too fast a pace. We were told in the screening that a fortepiano was being used for the recitatives – I realised I wasn’t sure whether that was now the norm or not……….
John's musical journey 