This Cowboy Song...Girl of the Golden West, ENO 18th October 2014

Photo copyright Robert Workman

Although I have a soft spot for Puccini's 'horse opera' I booked my ticket with slight feelings of trepidation  - but once again only because of the English language issues.  Given my recent experience of ENO's Otello, where the translation let the production down I felt, I wasn't really expecting The Girl of the Golden West to be much better.    But bolstered by positive first night reaction from Twitter friends, loins were girded and off I went.

La Fanciulla del West (as this opera is better known) is a strange beast among the Puccini canon of works. Puccini was drawn towards the unusual and exotic for his plots and to an Italian I suppose you don't get much more exotic that the wild, wild West of the US goldrush period.  The libretto is based on David Belasco's play and as usual Puccini has consigned huge chunks to the dustbin, including Minnie and Dick Johnson/Rammerez first meeting.  Its worth a read if you like digging into the background of this opera.

The musical structure too is advanced with very few standalone set pieces (a couple of tenor arias apart) and even those are skillfully woven into the fabric of the opera.  The whole opera moves at a brisk pace with scene after scene flowing quite naturally without disruptive breaks for applause.

As with quite a lot of my experiences, my first encounter with Fanciulla was via a video recording featuring Placido Domingo in the monumental ultra-traditional Pierro Faggioni production at the Royal Opera House.  I finally managed to catch up with this production live in 2005 with Jose Cura - and that was the last time I saw Fanciulla live on stage....until now.

This new production by Richard Jones is very clear and uncluttered and does the job of telling the story well.  Slightly updated - The Polka now has electric lighting - but it still highlights a group men mining for gold, with Minnie as the only (good) girl in town.  I liked this production although I had a couple of issues with some of the directorial decisions - especially in the second act.  I thought the slap/coffee throwing incident between Minnie and Johnson could have been staged better - or perhaps it was just the view from my seat.  Nothing worse than a fake slap that doesn't quite come off!  The second act set didn't really leave Johnson many places to hide so he ended up under the bed!  Now really, hiding under the bed - isn't that the first place anyone would look?  And rather then letting the poor wounded tenor faint and have a lie down, he seemed to be propped up against the wall while Minne and Rance gambled for his life.  But honestly, these are minor quibbles and certainly didn't spoil my enjoyment.  I found the final scene especially touching - and where Minnie & Johnson normally ride off into the sunset, here the miners are standing on the set start which receded slowly away. Very effective.

Vocally things were competent rather than outstanding although again that is probably just me being picky. I do like Susan Bullock a lot and as Minnie she certainly convinced with her acting.  Her singing was fine and its a tricky part but I did miss a more typical Puccini voice in the role.  These days the casting tends towards Wagnarian sopranos but I did miss a bit of warmth and plushness in the voice. The same could probably be said for Peter Auty who was a sympathetic Dick Johnson but whose voice I found slightly constricted in the upper reaches - and there are plenty of upper reaches in this role.  Craig Colclough as Jack Rance grew on me - again more because of his overall portrayal than having a stunning voice.  He was more than a one-dimensional villain and that greatly added to the drama.

All of the other parts were taken well and the cast made their roles into real individual characters - always a plus when so many of them are on stage at once.  It's hard to know what to do with the Native American Indian characters of Wowkle and Billy.  As written they can come across as horrible stereotypes with lots of "Ugh's" and other nonsense.  On the other hand turning them into dramatic ciphers with no character as here didn't really work either.

Ah and what about the English translation I hear you say?  Well, to my great surprise it actually worked in English.  Somewhere a decision was made down the line to incorporate American accents. I thought this would be distracting but actually I think it helped with the text and translation and the translator Kelley Rourke was very skilled in producing a very singable and yet understandable translation.

If you haven't had a chance to see this opera, do go!  I heartily recommend it and you will leave the theatre will a smile on your face.  I'll leave you with this clip from the Met production of Fanciulla with Placido Domingo and Barbara Daniels.  This is the scene were Dick Johnson has been revealed as the bandit Ramerrez and Minnie confronts him.  It has Spanish subtitles but its very clear I think.  And a particularly good example of a stage slap!

Puccini's Golden Girl - Fancuilla del West, Vienna 5 October 2013

La Fancuilla del West (to give the opera its full title) or 'The Girl of the West' in English, is not the opera that springs most readily to mind when you think of Puccini - Tosca, Boheme and Turandot are probably better known by the general public and even if you don't know the opera you could probably reel off a few of the better known arias - tiny hands, fine days and brightly shining stars spring to mind.  But arias from Fancuilla don't readily spring to mind.   And that's a shame because even though the opera is more through-composed that Puccini's earlier works, there are still musical highlights - mainly for the tenor it has to be said.

Perhaps the 'Cowboys and Indians' American West setting is also off putting?  But Puccini was always attracted to the exotic and what could be more exotic than a love story set in the American Wild West at the time of the Gold Rush?  At least that's where the playwright David Belasco set his original story and where Puccini's librettists also set their story.  Not where this production is set but more of that later.

The story itself is relatively simple, boy wanders into bar in a mining town, where he meets girl and they fall in love, despite interference from the local sheriff - your classic love triangle.  However, what the girl doesn't know is that her new love is in fact the leader of a band of renegades who rob and steal from the local community. When she finds out, she throws him out, he is shot by the sheriff's posse but is hidden by Minnie (the girl). When he is found, still bleeding and wounded, by the sheriff, a high stakes poker game takes place - winner gets the bandit (Dick Johnson or Ramerrez).  As you may guess, Minnie wins her bandit and gets to nurse him back to health.

But that's not the end, for as soon as he leaves the sanctuary of Minnie's cabin, he is set upon and captured and about to be strung up for his crimes (but not until he's sung a gorgeous aria naturally).  Minnie rides in and puts a stop to all that nonsense, reminding the assorted miners of their basic humanity until they agree that they won't kill him.  Minnie and Ramerrez ride off into the sunset together. An operatic happy ending? Possibly.

As might be expected, Vienna's new production has very little of the Wild West about it.  Its still a mining community in the US, although given Jake Wallace's audio gig on cassette player, I'm guessing at some time in the 1960's.  All of the miners are dressed in overalls so it loses a lot of cowboy theme and the Act 1 set consists of Minnie's diner surrounded by a steel container town. It actually works quite well providing you ignore some of the ambiguities that always happen when you update opera.  The Act 1 plot basically consists of a lot of back story and set up until a) the soprano arrives and then b) the tenor arrives.  So there are no 'big' tunes, but instead of that we get vivid orchestration and (hopefully) some fine work from the male comprimario singers.

Act 2 takes place in Minnie's cabin and its here that things get more interesting - both dramatically and musically.  Minnie brushes up quite nicely for her new beau and they chatter about this and that and try to ignore their growing attraction - well Minnie tries to ignore, I think Dick is all for it.  On dismissal of Minnie's house-help (here not played in Native American-Indian fashion, but is played pregnant), kissing and rolling around on the floor ensues.  Well, if it was Jonas Kaufmann you would wouldn't you?  

Alas, Dick/Ramerrez thinks better of it and tries to leave but is now stranded by a snow storm.  Minnie (as you might suppose) is not entirely disturbed by this turn of events and they settle down for the night - in separate beds. Damn!  This sweet interlude is only interrupted by the sheriff and his gang turning up on the hunt for Ramerrez - thus unmasking Dick Johnson and Ramerrez as one and the same.  Minnie doesn't give him up to the sheriff at this point but seemingly cannot forgive him for being a lying, cheating bastard!  You go girl.  Personally I think he's just a mixed up guy needing the love of a good woman but that's just me.

All this changes however when he is shot and she is then willing to lie and cheat herself to keep him from the clutches of the sheriff.   They play poker with Ramerrez as the prize.  (I'd play!).  Minnie cheats at cards and she gets to keep her man - for now at least.

Act 3 is short and sweet and basically consists of Dick/Ramerrez being captured, nearly hung out to dry and then Minnie riding to the rescue just in the nick of time.

Apart from updating and not so many cowboys (and no Indians), the story was played pretty much straight in this new production.  Jonas Kaufmann looked very fetching in leather ensemble, Nina Stemme looked less so in unflattering dungarees and red hair.  Her wardrobe did improve marginally for the second act but flattering it was not.  Luckily both were in fine vocal form.  This is not Ms Stemme's first stab at Minnie and the experience showed.  Its a demanding role with very little pay-off in terms of having a belt it out aria - none here for the soprano alas.  But in a succession of duets and quasi-conversations she embodied the character of the good-hearted innocent Minnie and why a man like Johnson/Ramerrez might have been attracted to her.

Jonas Kaufmann's role début as Dick Johnson once again illustrated his winning way with Italian opera but also his understanding of Puccinian line and phrasing.  The high notes were ringing and his two allotted arias gorgeously sung and acted.  As a first outing I thought it was good and I do hope he keeps it in his repertory to develop further.

Tomasz Konieczny played the sheriff Jack Rance as some sub-par Scarpia, a cardboard cut-out villain with very few redeeming features.  That's not how I read the character in the opera but I presume that's how he was instructed to play it. Alas, the voice was also not pretty and sounded pretty strangulated and effortful in places.

The opera ends with Minnie and Dick climbing into a rainbow coloured balloon and sailing off to a new life. Why? Beats me.  I'm sure there's some intelligent and deeply thought out reason by the director Marco Arturo Marelli, but nothing that had gone on previously pointed to this somewhat surreal exit.  Or maybe he just likes coloured balloons. 

But all in all this is a very enjoyable production and if you do get a chance to see it I don't think you'll be disappointed.