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Lucia di Lammermoor at Royal Opera

The version of Il dolce suono that sticks to my mind was sung by Plavalaguna in The Fifth Element.

I thought Diana Damrau was an amazing Lucia - her acting was fantastic and her voice was wonderful. Charles Castronovo's Edgardo was also pretty good. Their interplay Act One was top notch. Kwangchul Youn was outstanding as Raimondo with a true basso profundo voice. Diana Damrau sang Il dolce suono beautifully in the final act. Top marks musically.



As for the "split screen" stage design. Katie Mitchell's direction worked in the first two acts. The 'background' activities added visual interest and the tight stage gave that claustrophobic / intimate feel to the production. The last act didn't work: the 'killing' and 'miscarriage' scenes were really distracting to the singing that was taking place on the other side of the stage: one required intense concentration to hear the music. Was it necessary to 'fill in the gaps' (of the killing of Arturo)? I didn't think so - as those scenes deprived the audience of their own visual and emotional imaginations.

If this production were to be revised, a little nip and tuck to the direction could make a huge improvement for the audience. Let's see. 
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