Figaro and Otello in London

[BgMstr4u]

I will be in London in a couple of weeks, and after checking out the opera scene there, discover that there are only 2 productions on during the days I'll be there: the Royal Opera's Nozze di Figaro and the ENO's Otello.

 

Anyone know anything about these productions?

[+ Charlie]

I am confused. "The Marriage of Figaro" is at the ENO, not Covent Garden.

[whipped guy]

Yes, it seems that both productions are at ENO. Unfortunately I was not familiar with any of the singers involved in both productions. However, video snippets of both are available at the ENO website. The Otello seems to be the more interesting scenically.

[MscleLovr]

It's a great shame you weren't here last week. The Royal Opera House put on a tremendous production of Anna Nicole (great singing and well-acted, stylish sets beautifully lit, and reduced prices to attract younger people meant almost a full house). Depending on the exact dates of your visit, you might see Rigoletto or The Barber of Seville at the Royal Opera House. There will also be The Trial, a new work by Philip Glass and in mid-October, there's early Verdi: I due Foscari.

 

Being candid, I would avoid ENO. They have been struggling for some time.

[whipped guy]

Totally agree MuscLovr! Personally I'm not fond of opera in English either! Furthermore, both the Rigoletto and Barbiere casts look reasonably promising. I think that they would be a better bet.

[BgMstr4u]

Thanks for setting me right on Figaro. The ENO does have a different take on opera production. I haven't been to London for some years, but recall some very strange ENO productions. One in particular began with the men's chorus seated on a row of toilets facing the audience. There is a cult of ugliness in some late 20th century British art which that was surely a manifestation of. I will search out some reviews. I believe I saw the Otello listed on the TKTS site at a reduced price. It is at the Colosseum, which if memory serves is a huge hall. Lots of seats to fill.

[+ Charlie]

Thanks for setting me right on Figaro. The ENO does have a different take on opera production. I haven't been to London for some years, but recall some very strange ENO productions. One in particular began with the men's chorus seated on a row of toilets facing the audience. There is a cult of ugliness in some late 20th century British art which that was surely a manifestation of. I will search out some reviews. I believe I saw the Otello listed on the TKTS site at a reduced price. It is at the Colosseum, which if memory serves is a huge hall. Lots of seats to fill.

And many of those seats, especially the cheaper ones, are pretty uncomfortable. "Cheaper," of course is relative. Last year I paid 25 pounds for the same seat that cost me 25 pence in my younger days living in London, but the production (Marc-Antoine Charpentier's "Medea") was fabulous.

[BgMstr4u]

Thanks to all who advised against the ENO productions. I ended up at St. John's, Smith Square, tonight for an absolutely incandescent concert of Mendelssohn's Elijah.

[+ Charlie]

You made a good choice.

[sydneyboy]

Whipped boy might be interested to learn that the ENO ''Otello'' is an Australian tenor named Stuart Skelton. He gets excellent reviews wherever he appears. In his last appearance in Sydney, as Peter Grimes, critics literally ran out of superlatives to describe his performance. Google him and see what I mean. He is without doubt the leading Australian tenor on the world stage.

[hornytwells]

I am sure Stuart Skelton is very good, but isn't saying someone is the "leading Australian tenor on the world stage" a bit like saying he is the smartest Kardashian? How many leading Australian tenors have we ever had on the world stage?

[+ Charlie]

I am sure Stuart Skelton is very good, but isn't saying someone is the "leading Australian tenor on the world stage" a bit like saying he is the smartest Kardashian? How many leading Australian tenors have we ever had on the world stage?

 

Snarky! Australia is better known for world class sopranos, but that doesn't mean there can't be a great new Australian tenor. How many famous Mexican tenors were there before Domingo? I have seen excellent performances in Sydney and Melbourne with local Australian singers whom I had never heard of.

[hornytwells]

yes, sorry meant it be humourous rather than snarky, and I don't doubt for a second that you have heard good singer in Melbourne,, but the statement sounded like there were a bunch of other world class Australian tenors to choose from.

Am not quite sure why you bring up mexican tenors, or the relevance,but Domingo, Ramon Vargas, Rolando Villazon and Javier Camarena are 4 world famous Mexican tenors who have sung on the stage of every major opera house. I can't think of 4 Australians, but please correct me.....

[+ Charlie]

I brought up Mexican tenors because it would be hard to find any major Mexican tenor before Domingo came along (all those you name are much younger than he), so one might have had the same reaction to the idea of a Mexican tenor as world class when he first appeared. I haven't heard Skelton, so I have no idea whether he is a breakout star or just overhyped by the Australians, but I wouldn't jump to either conclusion.

 

I understand that you were making a somewhat sarcastic comment to amuse, because I used to revel in making such comments. I learned my lesson one evening at a dinner party in London, when the opera fanatics at the table (everyone, it seemed) were discussing a performance of Don Giovanni at Covent Garden, and someone said that the Donna Elvira was particularly vulgar. I thoughtlessly quipped, "Well, what would one except of a character from Burgos?" The table fell silent, and then the very urbane gentleman next to me quietly said, with a tight smile, "I am from Burgos."

[whipped guy]

As suggested by sydneyboy I did Google Stuart Skelton... I watched some video clips... It was difficult to determine if he ultimately would sound like a true heldentenor in the flesh, but he certainly looks like one!

 

As Charlie mentions, while there is not exactly a pedigree a pedigree of great tenors, helden or otherwise, from Down Under... there certainly are a few noted sopranos... From Melba... To Sutherland... and now Jessica Pratt is making a name for herself... who though born in England did move to Australia as a child. It will be interesting to see if she turns out to be the real deal.

[sydneyboy]

Hornytwells

 

I do detect something of a cheap shot about Australian tenors but on quiet reflection we have not produced many that have made their name on the international stage. In my life time we have had 2 truly great tenors Donald Smith and Ronald Dowd, Australians who started their careers in the UK but returned to Australia to be large fish in a small pond. Donald Smith in particular had a magnificent tenor voice, in the Italian repertoire but had a unique ''Australian'' identity. He was truly a ''name'' in Australia. By that I mean people who would never go to the opera or had no interest in opera knew of him. A radio opera commentator, John Cargher, British born but lived in Australia for about 60 years until his death would often state that British critics into the 1970's and 80's hearing a new tenor with great promise would make a remark that ''he sounded like a young Donald Smith''. I have no doubt he would have had an international career if that was the path he would have chosen.

 

In another era we should not forget Lance Ingram who on leaving Australia became Albert Lance and had a great international, in particular European, career.

[whipped guy]

Sydneyboy... Thanks for the info regarding tenor Albert Lance. While I always thought of him as being French... he appeared with Callas at her Paris Opera debut and had quite a distinguished career in France... I knew that he was not. However, I had no clue that he was from Down Under.

 

PS: I have no doubt that Hornytwells had his tongue in his cheek with his Aussie tenor/Kardashian comment as I'm told that he is quite a witty guy...

[sydneyboy]

Thank you Whipped Guy. I took Hornytells comment with good humour. The fact about Albert Lance I heard on John Carghers' radio program ''Singers of Renown" which ran on a Saturday afternoon all over Australia on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He was contracted to do this program for 13 weeks in the 1960's and the program ultimately ran for 42 years until just before his death aged 89 in 2008. It would consist of anecdotes on operas and singers past and present and of course musical excerpts. He had a phenomenal knowledge of opera and singers and a fabulous record collection. He was greatly loved by opera buffs around Australia and would courteously reply to all correspondence (I have written to him to correct a fact) and I learnt so much about opera from listening to him. He is greatly missed.

[BgMstr4u]

In London for 2 nights. The ENO Girl of the Golden West was available at the Leicester Square TKTS for £30 -- for a seat in the left stalls retailing at £105. So I took the chance.

 

Magnificent production. In English, of course, and American English at that. I detected only one pronunciation error -- coyote was sung without the last e pronounced. I am sure the music suffered from not being in Italian, but this opera has always seemed strange to me in Italian anyway. The change to English meant that the story came to the fore in a way I had not experienced before. The chorus (all men, of course) was superb. The extended chorus at the beginning, singing about being away from their families and missing them, brought tears to my eyes. When Minnie arrived, she was a revelation. So often that part is a sort of Annie Oakley figure, smiles and flirting. Not this one. Susan Bullock is a solid looking woman, and she was no nonsense with the miners. She brought a real seriousness to the scripture reading that would make good sense out of the ending. The rest of the leads were solid as well, especially Peter Auty as Johnson and Craig Colclough as Rance.

 

The set design was a little strange at first. Yellow/green neon under the bottles behind the bar made the Polka Bar seem a little like a gay bar of a certain era. Perhaps it was supposed to. The cabin looked like one of the little places touted in the Tiny Houses movement. But the eye opener was the third act - outside the marshall's office. It looked like a Hopper painting brought to life, one of those restaurants at night with the light shining out through the window.

 

The other weak point in this opera has always seemed to me to be the finale. Not musically -- the whole ensemble is an amazing piece of work -- but dramatically. The redemption theme so obviously laid out in the first act usually seems to me to be overwrought at the end. Not here. The realism, the use of English, the choice of settings and costumes, and particularly Bullock's Minnie, all came together, and to tell the truth, I was weeping like a child as it unfolded and Minnie's sheer goodness won out. And I was not the only one clutching my handkerchief! It was truly amazing -- one of the few times I have become totally engaged on an emotional level with an opera. Cathartic is hardly the word.

 

According to the program this production is shared with the Santa Fe Opera. Don't miss it.

[+ Charlie]

ENO productions are hard to predict: I have seen some wonderful ones over the years (a Jenufa and a Siegfried come immediately to mind), and some real clunkers. This one sounds like a winner. I agree that Fanciulla is often a problematic opera dramatically, and your analysis of why this one worked is convincing.

[sydneyboy]

I made reference in this thread to the Australian tenor Stuart Skelton. I discovered by accidental googling that he is opening the 2016-17 Met Season in the lead in ''Tristan and Isolde''. So, my point made. We do still have some operatic talent down here in the antipodes.