Rise and Shine! ROH Friends Booking 4th March 2014

Last week The Royal Opera announced a rude awakening for Friends who want to nab those choice tickets.  They have moved the opening of the summer season booking on 4th March from a reasonable and sedate 10.00am to a mind-boggling 8.00am!  Not so bad I suppose if you have no need to earn a crust and get into work or have some lackey do the booking for you.  But for a lot of London and outer-London based Friends 8am is prime commuting time.  And in my case that means being stuck on a train, usually standing up and with no hint of a wi-fi signal.  What with that and the ROH's recommendation that I log in to the computer in good time, basically means I have to drag myself out of bed at around 5.30 to ensure I'm at my desk, logged in and ready to go by 8.00 am,  

Is it worth it?  Let's have a look.

La Boheme - Puccini

The revered and much loved John Copley production starts its final run before being retired for good. There are 11 performances and two casts to choose from.  First cast offers the delights of  Anna Netrebko gracing London with a rare visit....possibly.  I wouldn't lay odds on her actually turning up as the role of Mimi doesn't really seem to fit in with the rest of her current repertoire of Lady Macbeth, Leonora (Trovatore), Manon Lescaut, and Anna Bolena.   She last sang Mimi around two years ago so there's every chance she will....and equally every chance she won't.  However her colleagues are not to be sniffed at with Joseph Calleja as Rodolfo and Jennifer Rowley making her much anticipated (by me) ROH debut as Musetta.

The second cast is actually my preferred - especially if I could do a bit of swapping around.  Lianna Haroutounian, who made a big impression here as Elisabetta in Don Carlo and Helene in Les Vespres siciliennes, sings Mimi, Piotr Beczala is Rodolfo.  For the final performance Placido Domingo takes up the conductors baton - very apt as he was this production's very first Rodolfo.  Tears will be shed!

Don Giovanni - Mozart

Kasper Holten's production of Don Giovanni makes a speedy return to the stage with a brand new cast.  Can't say that I'm overly keen to reacquaint myself with this production as I found it misogynistic and hard to take. However the cast assembled for this revival is very good indeed. Christopher Maltman is the Don, while Alex Esposito returns as his sidekick Leporello. Albina Shagimuratova, Dorothea Roschmann and Julia Lezhneva are Anna, Elvira and Zerlina while Rolando Villazon essays Don Ottavio - sharing the role with the fantastic Michele Angelini.  Alain Altinoglu conducts what should be a musically fabulous revival - if only the production were better.

Guillaume Tell - Rossini

Finally a new production! Damiano Michieletto makes his Royal Opera House debut with Rossini's opera - the one with the famous overture! Antonio Pappano will conduct a strong cast with Gerald Finley in the title role, Malin Bystrom as Mathilde and American tenor John Osborne as Arnold.  One to watch!

Falstaff - Verdi

Verdi's final opera makes a welcome return in Robert Carsen's very amiable production, updated to the 1950's.  The updating doesn't really work but doesn't really jar either so definitely worth seeing if you haven't seen it before.  Casting is fine without being star-driven - but then its not that sort of opera. Ambrogio Maestri returns as the corpulent knight,  Spanish soprano Ainhoa Arteta is Alice Ford (replacing a previously announced Marina Poplavskya) and Roland Wood (who I enjoyed as Roucher in Andrea Chenier) is Ford.

And that's it for opera performances for the 2014/15 season. There are a couple of extras to round off the season.  The Jette Parker Young Artists have their 'end of term' concert on 18th July which will include excerpts from Simon Boccanegra, Adriana Lecouvreur, Les pecheurs des perles, Romeo et Juliette and others.

While on 19th July Placido Domingo's Operalia competition comes to London for the first time.  A great chance to do spot possible stars of the future.

So that's it!  But what does next season hold?  No one quite knows - or at least they're not telling.  A season announcement is not expected until early April so until then why not visit the Future Royal Opera Wiki to keep abreast of matters - or even add some inside information!

I'll leave you with my bit of wishful thinking for next season:

Another moral maze - Don Giovanni, Royal Opera, 14 January 2014

I'm not sure that scheduling Don Giovanni on Valentine's Day isn't asking for trouble - or perhaps the Royal Opera was actually tipping us the wink that this Don wasn't the heartless seducer of old?  Either way, and despite mixed reviews, I was looking forward to this production with some anticipation.

First of all let me just say that even when I go to a performance some time after the premier, as in this case, I make a point of trying to avoid formal reviews and blogs, lest they cloud my judgement in some way. Twitter however is almost impossible to avoid and there were some fairly vociferous reactions on my timeline including hints of dire goings-on at the finale.  This notwithstanding, I was suitably intrigued and if nothing else, it would be a chance to catch up with the glorious music of Mozart, who can withstand most, of not all of any directorial shenanigans.

While the overture is still playing, the curtain opens on a fairly bland facade of a house, somewhat reminiscent of the set of Kasper Holten's previous directorial outing here, Eugene Onegin.  Given my reaction to that production, I wasn't entirely encouraged but things soon picked up as the highly vaunted light show sprang into life.  Soon dozens of names had been artfully inscribed on the grey background, testament to the Don's many conquests.    I thought the visual aspects of the production were very good and in the most part effective.  Splashes of colour at the appropriate moments worked well and the visual effects were stunning in places.  But....and its a big but...I'm not entirely sure that the visual effects didn't overshadow or overwhelm the singers at times.  While the so-called 'Champagne Aria' was visually stunning (if a little vertigo-inducing) I do wonder if the applause was for the singer or the effect?

And not only did we have the constant changes of lighting but also the ever-whirling cuboid set.  Its a wonder that none of the singers got lost or emerged from the wrong door.  While this was quite effective to begin with, the novelty wore off and towards the end I was just wishing the singers would all stand still for a minute instead of constantly whirling or going upstairs and down.  So on the whole I enjoyed the visuals (including the gorgeous costumes) but felt that perhaps less is more.

So much for the visuals.

The story you would think is a fairly straightforward one - after all the subtitle to Don Giovanni is Il dissoluto punito - The rake punished.  However no modern day director worth his salt can resist tweaking the story to fit a concept and sure enough here our Don is less of a vicious if charming rapist, murderer and seducer...more of a middle-aged rake having a mid-life crisis.  He bounces from woman to woman and none put up even the most token resistance....all fall to his charms including Donna Anna, who right from the start has enjoyed her fling with the charming Don and then finds herself lying to all and sundry about the nature of their relationship, crying rape and then calling for revenge for her father's death.  Donna Elvira and Zerlina barely come off much better in this production, with Zerlina portrayed as a girl on the make and willing to throw over her husband on her wedding day, and Elvira moping about constantly believing she can change the Don's wicked ways.

The Don himself is just a man having a bad day - although given that he at least gets to have sex a couple of times in this production (at least suggested) then he does okay.  Oh and he also murders Donna Anna's father but that seems less of a problem in this production. My problem with the concept (apart from the treatment of women) is that if the Don is not the hell-bent dissolute who murders and deceives...then who is he?  And what is the point of the Commendatore reappearing to extract justice if in fact he doesn't?  Or at least he didn't seem to - hard to tell with the fudged ending.

To be honest, I'm not as up in arms as some about the abbreviated ending as some appear to be.  Given what had gone one beforehand then it actually fit with the directors concept.  From what I can gather the Don doesn't get dragged down to hell but is left in some sort of limbo while the rest of the cast sing from the orchestra pit.   Go figure.

I thought the musical values were very high indeed and for me this (and the music of Mozart) was the saving grace.  Mariusz Kwiecien was on form as the eponymous Don, his voice robust and he cut a lithe and athletic figure.  I much preferred him here than when I saw him as Posa in Don Carlo.  He was well matched in his Leporello here played by Alex Esposito and the two singers struck up a beleivable partnership, less master and servant, more equal partners in crime.  Antonio Poli had the unenviable task of making Don Ottavio interesting or sympathetic...and failed.  Not his fault and his voice was pleasant and mostly up to the task that Mozart set him.  But I have yet to see a production of Don Giovanni where the Ottatvio is anything more than a dramatic cipher.

Malin Bystrom as Donna Anna was a revelation for me.  Her voice was agile, creamy and yet with plenty of dramatic heft when required. Veronique Gens as Elvira was similarly impressive if not quite in the same league - although Elvira has less vocal 'fireworks' than Anna.  Her characterisation of Elvira was dignified and restrained.  Elizabeth Watts and Dawid Kimberg as Zerlina and Masetto were fine but not outstanding.

Final verdict?  I didn't exactly hate the production but found some of the concepts a bit questionable.  The physical production and light show were novel but perhaps a little less would be easier on the eye.  On a side note I do wonder if the full effects of this production will come out well on DVD - which I presume will be on the way?